As is customary on closing day at Emerald Downs, the year of racing will end with a glimpse into the future.
While there are two marquee stakes, the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic and the Muckleshoot Tribal Distaff, for older horses at a mile and a sixteenth on Sunday’s card, they will be bracketed by babies in the Muckleshoot Juvenile Filly Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs and the Gottstein Futurity at a mile and 70 yards. All four races have purses of $50,000.
Emerald Downs does not card a robust slate of juvenile races, and none of the 10 entrants in the Gottstein Futurity have raced at more than 6 1/2 furlongs. Five of them ran in WTBOA Lads on Aug. 17 at that distance, with the Frank Lucarelli-trained Cantcatchthiscat defeating Robin Racer by a length and a half. It was another 1 1/4 lengths back to favored Lead the Charge in third.
Unlike his Gottstein rivals, who have only raced at Emerald, Cantcatchthiscat got his 2-year-old campaign underway in early spring at Turf Paradise, where he was stakes-placed.
“The last two years, I’ve gotten horses ready down there,” said Lucarelli. “You can get through a little bit of the aches and pains earlier. With Emerald being as short a meet as it is, you get one hiccup and you’re kind of out of the action.”
The morning-line favorite at 5-2, Cantcatchthiscat has shown enough versatility to handle whatever pace scenario is thrown at him.
“He’s a really mellow-minded horse, and with 2-year-olds, that’s great,” said Lucarelli. “You can put him where you want. If they’re setting up a good, hot front end, he can sit back, and if not, he can be right there as well.”
Trainer Blaine Wright’s Lead the Charge (4-1), a son of Take Charge Indy, has speed and Wright thinks he’ll relish the added distance.
“His pedigree seems to be pretty strong to go a distance,” said Wright. “We always felt the horse would eventually like the route. It’s new for everybody. I think the key for him is he’s gonna need to settle early and keep himself composed. I look forward to it. Even though he’s a maiden, he’s done well enough and we’re gonna take our shot.”
Robin Racer has justifiably been assigned 7-2 on the morning line, the second-shortest odds in the field, but trainer Tom Wenzel intimated that it would be unwise to overlook his other Futurity colt, the 15-1 shot Vino Viking, who was fifth in the Lads.
“Vino Viking, I’ve run him in two stakes and he hasn’t gotten warmed up until almost the wire,” Wenzel said of the son of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso. “From a pedigree standpoint, you’d think he’s begging for more.”
Muckleshoot Juvenile Filly
Wenzel started the heavy favorite, Falling Leaves, in the WTBOA Lassies Stakes, only to watch the filly completely run out of steam after setting a blistering half-mile pace of 44 seconds in the 6 1/2-furlong race. She managed to hold on to finish a distant third in that race and has been assigned morning-line odds of 5-2 for the Juvenile Filly Stakes.
“I was surprised she backed up as much as she did, but we’ve tried to make a few adjustments,” said Wenzel. “It’s the same distance this time. We’ve definitely got to try to gear her down a little bit.”
Bewitching Joy showed quite the closing kick to win the Lassies Stakes by 7 3/4 lengths. She’s the 8-5 favorite here for Lucarelli, whose barn swept the two juvenile stakes on Aug. 17, with Isaias Enriquez riding both horses.
“Usually, with babies, you get a pretty good front end,” said Lucarelli. “She’s versatile. I’m not too worried about the setup. Isaias knows her and will put her in a good spot.”
Muckleshoot Tribal Classic
Had Wright opted to run 3-year-old Si That Tiger in the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic, horse of the meet honors would have been his for the taking. But Wright said he and the multiple stakes winner’s owners thought the 1 1/16-mile distance of the Classic to be a bit much, especially considering he’d be facing the likes of 5-year-old stablemate Clovisconnection, who finished second for the second straight year in the $125,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 17.
Instead, the lone 3-year-old in the six-horse Tribal Classic is He’s Not Talking, who defeated Si That Tiger by 4 1/2 lengths in the Aug. 17 Muckleshoot Derby to earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 89, the best last-out figure in this race.
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“He’s doing very well off his last race and he’s gonna get the rest of the winter off, so we thought we’d take a shot with him,” said owner-trainer Doug McPhee. “It’s something [running 3-year-olds against elders] I don’t ordinarily do, but it’s the end of the year.”
Muckleshoot Tribal Distaff
The Muckleshoot Tribal Distaff pits Emerald’s top two finishers from the Washington Oaks, Chatty Leroybrown and Ima Margarita Girl, against Stay Sassy and Aloha Breeze, the top two finishers in the Emerald Distaff. Both of those races were run Aug. 17. Chatty Leroybrown and Stay Sassy scored as enormous longshots that day, one on which something was slightly amiss with the heavily favored Aloha Breeze, who is 8-5 on the morning line for this race.
“For some reason, this filly just kind of sped up in the middle of the race a little more than we would have liked to in the last race,” said Wenzel, who trains Aloha Breeze. “For her, it’s trying to harness her speed early so she has something left at the end.”
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