Adios Jojo ($67.82) wins Longacres Mile after Touchy disqualified to second
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Touchy, the Wesley Ward-trained Kentucky shipper who most people thought would win the Longacres Mile, did cross the wire first in that race on Sunday. But after a successful objection from the jockey on 32-1 longshot Adios Jojo, who got nosed out in a photo finish, Touchy was demoted to second, with Adios Jojo declared the winner of the $125,000 race at Emerald Downs.
It was the first time in the race's 91 years that disqualification decided its winner.
Adios Jojo set the pace, guiding the eight-horse field through a quarter-mile in 23.23 seconds and the half in 45.65. Going to the lead was the plan, but trainer Howie Gibson said in the winner's circle afterward that he "was talking myself out of that earlier this morning."
"I'm so glad Kevin had it handled," Gibson said, referring to jockey Kevin Orozco, who filed the objection when Touchy and jockey Yedsit Hazlewood veered in and bumped Adios Jojo in deep stretch.
Touchy, the race's lone out-of-towner and the 3-5 post-time favorite, tracked Adios Jojo closely and took the lead in the stretch. Both 4-year-olds crossed the wire in 1:35.29 on a fast dirt track, with Adios Jojo paying $67.82 to win. The 8-year-old Slew's Tiz Whiz, starting in his fifth consecutive Longacres Mile, finished 1 1/4 lengths back in third under Frank Alvarado for trainer Tom Wenzel.
The Mile was run one race after Wenzel, Emerald Downs's all-time winningest stakes trainer, got his first stakes win of the day with Aloha Breeze in the 1 1/16-mile Emerald Distaff. The 6-year-old mare, a 2-5 post-time favorite, led from start to finish to notch an easy 6 1/2-length win over Precise Timing, who finished 5 1/2 lengths in front of third-place finisher Saleen G T.
The Distaff marked the 10th stakes win at Emerald Downs for Aloha Breeze, giving her the most stakes victories of any female in track history.
"I'm in favor of older women," co-owner Jane Todaro quipped after the race.
The day's two six-furlong juvenile stakes were also won by favorites racing on or near the lead, with Gibson's Mattie Goincoastal taking the Lassies and Jack McCartney's Coal Front Kid capturing the Lads.
Wenzel notched a stakes double when 3-5 favorite Robin Racer took the lead in deep stretch to beat Senor Tequilas in the 1 1/16-mile Muckleshoot Derby.
"It was kind of a tough track for closers today," said Wenzel.
In the day's other stakes race, the 1 1/16-mile Washington Oaks for 3-year-old females, the Blaine Wright-trained Tipitap overcame a tough trip to take the lead at the top of the stretch and beat Storm Harbor by three lengths, paying $3.85 to win.
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