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STREAKING KNIGHT CLUB BAGS ANOTHER VICTORY
AUBURN, Wash. (May 6, 2016) – Knight Club continued her winning ways Friday with a one-length victory in the $11,500 Bet America Purse for fillies and mares at Emerald Downs.
Scoring her second win of the meet and her fourth in five starts this year, Knight Club ran one mile in 1:38.02 under Leonel Camacho-Flores and paid $5.20, $3.60 and $2.20. Rigoberto Velasquez is the winning trainer and co-owner with James Jackson.
A 5-year-old Washington-bred by Matty G-Knight Weave, Knight Club has finished first six straight times but was disqualified and placed second for interference in a January 12 race at Portland Meadows. Since then she has reeled off four straight victories, including Friday’s when she overtook Another Winter on the last turn and held off a late bid from Lizzy Lass for the victory.
“She’s an honest horse, easy to ride,” said regular rider Camacho-Flores. “She always gives you a hundred percent.”
Knight Club is 10-6-2 in 28 lifetime starts with earnings of $69,851, including $6,325 for Friday’s victory.
Lizzy Lass, the longest shot on the board at 12-1, rallied under Javier Matias for second place and paid $8.80 and $3.20. Wise, ridden by Joe Steiner, was a neck back in third and paid $2.10 to show, while Another Winter and Stephanie Plum completed the order of finish.
Quibble and Come On Cozzene were scratched earlier in the day.
NOTES: Jockey Diego Sanchez was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after a third race spill in which Sanchez’ mount, Agate Beach, clipped heels at the three-eighths pole. Sanchez was conscious and talking but was transported to Harborview for evaluation. . .Chaching Pete ($3.40)...
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Red Vine takes on Pletcher duo in G3 Westchester
ELMONT, N.Y. – The ultra-consistent Red Vine, who has been first, second or third in all but two of his 21 career starts, goes in search of his first career graded stakes victory Saturday at Belmont Park when he takes five others, including the Todd Pletcher pair of Anchor Down and Matterhorn, in the Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester.
The one-mile Westchester, the tradition prep for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap on June 11, Belmont Stakes Day, is one of three graded stakes on Saturday’s 12-race Derby Day card. Run as Race 4, the Westchester is joined by the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy (Race 10) and the Grade 2, $200,000 Sheepshead Bay (Race 11), both on the turf. First-race post time is 12:25 p.m.
When last seen on the track, the now 6-year-old Red Vine was finishing a narrow second behind stablemate Tonalist in November in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap. Delighted as he was to have the two best horses in the Cigar Mile, trainer Christophe Clement is very much looking forward to Red Vine starting his 2016 campaign on a positive note.
“I’m excited to see him run,” said Clement of the Jon S. Kelly color-bearer, the 6-5 favorite on the morning line. “He’s been training well. Manny [Franco] knows the horse well; he’s won twice on him. It’s a very tough race. The Westchester sometimes is a weaker race, but this year it’s tougher. But that’s okay.”
Red Vine, who last year also finished third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and the Grade 1 Pacific Classic and second in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap and Grade 3 Salvatore Mile, will leave from post position 5.
Challenging Red Vine...
![Emerald Downs News & Notes Thursday, May 5]()
May 5, 2016
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$50,000 SEATTLE STAKES TOPS SUNDAY CARD,
NEWCOMER FIND JOY RATES BIG LOOK
Emerald Downs’ 28-race stakes schedule begins Sunday with 3-year-old fillies vying 6 ½ furlongs in the $50,000 Seattle Stakes. The seven-horse field includes several highly decorated runners: 2015
WTBOA Champion 2-Year-Old Filly My Heart Goes On, 2015 Emerald Downs’ Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Princess Kennedy, and unbeaten Invested Prospect, a speedster who wired the field in the 2015 Northwest Farms Stakes.
The role of betting favorite, however, could belong to Find Joy, a regally bred daughter of Drosselmeyer-Hurricane Hannah, purchased for $185,000 last year by David Taylor of Seattle.
Find Joy (pictured in her stall on the right) has trained forwardly for her Northwest debut, including a sparkling six furlong gate drill in 1:11 4/5 on April 28. Her five races feature a debut victory at Pimlico last summer followed by four tries against strong California competition, including a third in the Anoakia Stakes at Santa Anita.
“We were going to run her in a little stakes at Golden Gate but she didn’t like the synthetic (surface) much so we just kicked her out with hopes to bring her up here and compete really well in the stakes,” trainer Frank Lucarelli said. “She’s been getting over the Emerald Downs surface really well.
“She has really good speed but she can rate. We’ll probably just settle in behind the speed and we could end up with a really nice trip if three or four of these fillies decide to go for the...
Although the graded stakes schedule was relatively light last weekend, there still were still a couple of notable changes in the latest American Graded Stakes Standings charts.
Olorda (Ger) earned her second graded stakes win of the year when went gate-to-wire in the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland. The 4-year-old daughter of Lord of England captured the G3 The Very One at Gulfstream Park earlier this year for her first stakes win in North America. As a result of the two victories, Olorda moved into a tie for third on the American Graded Stakes Standings list of leading horses.
Piloting Olorda to victory at Keeneland was Julien Leparoux, who earned his ninth graded stakes win of the year. That moved the former Eclipse Award-winning jockey back into a tie for first with Javier Castellano and Florent Geroux on the AGS list of leading jockeys.
In addition to winning aboard Olorda twice, Leparoux has found success with Baciami Piccola (GB) (G3 Florida Oaks), Lightstream (G3 Beaumont), Heart to Heart (G2 Fort Lauderdale, G3 Canadian Turf), and the mighty Tepin (G1 Jenny Wiley, G3 Endeavour, G3 Hillsborough).
