Howie Gibson seems to never know what to expect. Lately, that’s worked to his advantage.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” the Emerald Downs-based Gibson told Daily Racing Form in late April when reminiscing on his first winter at Turf Paradise as a trainer, where he went a very respectable 15 for 65.
Gibson is tied with Tim McCanna for the most wins (eight) among trainers at the current Emerald meet.
“I wasn’t quite expecting that,” he said Monday when asked if he was surprised by his fast start.
Again on Monday, when asked how he felt about one of the newest additions to his stable, Chuckanut Bay, going wire-to-wire for a May 10 victory in a meet-best time of 1:07.77 for six furlongs, Gibson replied, “I wasn’t quite expecting that.”
So, what can be expected from Chuckanut Bay on Saturday in race 7, a $25,000 claiming sprint that’s attracted an extremely competitive field of 11 older horses and is a step up in class from the $8,000 tag he ran for last time?
“He’s doing as good as he was before,” Gibson said of Chuckanut Bay, who worked a bullet five furlongs in 58.60 seconds on May 30. “It’s a lot tougher race. I don’t think he’s going to get as easy a lead.”
He sure shouldn’t, as the race is chockablock with early speed. In assessing his competition, Gibson singled out two rivals – Justin Evans’s Prisoner and Frank Lucarelli’s Golden Ale – who could vie for the early lead and prevail.
“Prisoner, when he’s on it, he’s pretty tough,” Gibson said. “Frank’s horse, Golden Ale, is always really tough when he runs. That’s a really competitive race for $25,000. All of those horses have won their fair share of races. There’s a lot of good horses up here this year.”
Prisoner is the only horse in the field with a better career-best Beyer Speed Figure (95) than the 89 Chuckanut Bay posted last out. Prisoner’s 95 and a subsequent 93 Beyer came while racing at Monmouth Park and Saratoga, respectively, back in summer 2023. He’s 7 now and not quite as spry, but on a good day he’s still capable of topping this field, and Evans is 6 for 12 at this Emerald meet.
Six-year-old Golden Ale has locked horns twice with Prisoner while sprinting at Emerald Downs and Turf Paradise, and he’s gotten trounced by that rival both times. But Golden Ale bounced back from the second of those defeats by notching a career-best 84 Beyer while winning a six-furlong allowance race at Turf Paradise two back in March.
Lucarelli has a 4-year-old in this race who might actually be a better bet than Golden Ale. Don’t Hit Me Bash won his Emerald debut by a head going six furlongs May 11, posting a career-best 78 Beyer, and could have room for improvement here. Same goes for fellow 4-year-old Rollin Dice, a Blaine Wright trainee who won a six-furlong, $25,000 claiming race in his Emerald debut May 11 by a nose while posting a career-best 74 Beyer.
First post Saturday is 1:50 p.m. Pacific.
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