Emerald Downs: Kooky Saluki wins first stakes in Mukleshoot Tribal Classic

AUBURN, Wash. – Kooky Saluki raced to a mild upset Sunday in the $37,836 Mukleshoot Tribal Classic at Emerald Downs. In winning Emerald’s showcase event for statebreds, Kooky Saluki recorded his first career stakes victory while leaving multiple stakes winners Couldabenthewhisky and Jebrica in his wake.

Only four horses started in the Muckleshoot. Our Eagle Boy, the longest price on the board, set a relaxed pace through the first five furlongs before the complexion of the race changed dramatically nearing the far turn. Javier Matias, riding Kooky Saluki, inched forward to join the leader, and from there it was a sprint to the finish. Kooky Saluki edged clear at the top of the stretch and held off Couldabenthewhisky to prevail by three-quarters of a length. Jebrica, the 4-5 favorite, was a nose back in third, with Our Eagle Boy another three-quarters of a length behind in fourth.

Kooky Saluki ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.51 and paid $8.80.

“The first quarter was slow, and at the three-eighths I started looking back and saw a couple coming,” Matias said. “At the quarter pole, I asked him for everything, and he gave it to me.”

Kooky Saluki is by Tribunal, a son of Deputy Minister, from the Demons Begone mare Just an Angel. He was bred in Washington by Renee Larrabee and purchased by owner Dan Lewis of Sammamish, Wash., for $6,000 at the 2009 Washington Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Associations summer yearling sale. Sunday’s victory, his fifth in 13 starts, increased his career earnings to $71,046.

In other Washington Cup races:

* Makors Finale ($2.80) coasted to a record-setting victory in the $35,000 Chinook Pass Stakes for 3-year-old colts and geldings. Winner of the Emerald Derby in his last start, Makors Finale ran one mile in 1:34.75 while leading past every pole and kicked away strongly in the stretch to win by 15 lengths, the largest winning margin ever in a stakes race at Emerald Downs. Jockey Rocco Bowen was aboard for trainer Tom Wenzel and owner/breeder Karl Krieg of Oak Harbor, Wash.

* Music of My Soul, a full brother to two-time Washington horse of the year Noosa Beach, recorded his maiden victory in the $35,000 Dennis Dodge Stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings. Ridden by Leslie Mawing for trainer Doris Harwood, Music of My Soul ($7.60) put away a pace rival on the turn and kicked away to win by 3 3/4 lengths. He ran six furlongs in 1:09.25. Owner Ken Alhadeff of Seattle purchased the colt, by Harbor the Gold, for $82,000 at the 2011 WTBOA summer yearling sale.

* Talk to My Lawyer, who defeated males in the Gottstein Futurity in 2011, got her second career stakes victory in the $35,000 John and Kitty Fletcher Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Trained by Chris Stenslie for an ownership group headed by Jody Peetz of Issaquah, Wash., Talk to My Lawyer rallied from just off the pace to win by 3 3/4 lengths while running one mile in 1:36.33. She paid $15.60, with 3-5 favorite Royal Moses a distant second. Jennifer Whitaker rode the winner.

* Trainer Don Munger recorded his first Emerald Downs stakes victory when Roveing Patrol ($12.40) raced to an easy front-running score in the $35,000 Diane Kem Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Making her first start since a victory in a $12,500 maiden claimer in June, Roveing Patrol sprinted clear early en route to an 8 1/2-length victory. Ridden by Leonel Camacho-Flores, she ran six furlongs in 1:09.57. Munger, 88, bred the winner, campaigned her dam, Gutty Gerddy, and stands her sire, Nacheezmo, at his farm in Enumclaw, Wash.

* Cielator ($10.20) capped the Washington Cup with a front-running victory in the $35,000 Belle Roberts for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Owned by Ron Crockett of Seattle and trained by Junior Coffey, Cielator won for the third time in five career starts and for the first time around two turns. Cielator covered the distance in 1:41.50 and on by 5 3/4 lengths under Mawing.