Budweiser Stakes lures Longacres Mile possibles, tops four-stakes card
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In 1999, 5-year-old Budroyale – a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed in Southern Calfornia – shipped north to Emerald Downs to capture the then-Grade 3 Longacres Mile by a half-length, notching a 106 Beyer Speed Figure.
Budroyale, owned by Jeffrey Sengara, would cap his year with a win in the Grade 2 Goodwood with a 118 Beyer and a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at odds of 26-1. This Sunday at Emerald, Sengara’s son, Kevin, who heads up a local syndicate called Claim To Fame Racing, will start 7-year-old Baladi in the Budweiser Stakes with the Longacres Mile on his mind.
The Budweiser is the first of four six-furlong stakes, each worth $50,000, on Sunday’s 10-race card, which will get underway at 1:50 p.m. Pacific.
As recently as April, Baladi raced for the elder Sengara and was trained by Craig Dollase in Southern California, occasionally running against Quarter Horses in mixed-breed dashes at Los Alamitos. On May 25, he made his Emerald Downs debut for the younger Sengara and trainer Mike Puhich, hopping at the start and immediately spotting two lengths to the field in a six-furlong claiming sprint.
Baladi did not give up, launching a furious stretch drive to win by a half-length under Pablo Castillo. The 84 Beyer he earned is the best last-out figure in the six-horse Budweiser field.
“We just try to keep him happy, and Mike’s been doing a great job with that,” Kevin Sengara said of Baladi. “This is a race that could keep him on track for the Longacres Mile if he does well. My dad’s dream as a kid was to win that race one day, and he did with Budroyale. That race means everything to our family and the people of the Pacific Northwest.”
In the Budweiser, Baladi will face three Blaine Wright trainees – Executive Chef, Tax Code, and the multiple local stakes winner Si That Tiger – who are racing near the top of their games, as well as the 4-year-old Hastings stakes winner Rondelito and the 8-year-old stalwart Slew’s Tiz Whiz, who has run second in this race the last three years.
Despite a seventh-place finish in last year’s Longacres Mile, a race he won in 2022, Slew’s Tiz Whiz is by far the most accomplished of the Budweiser entrants. But he finished third behind two of the Wright trainees in his first race of the year on May 24, posting his lowest Beyer since 2021, a 67.
“It does concern me a little bit,” trainer Tom Wenzel said. “I don’t think I had him that cranked up, although he was pretty ready. I think part of it was just getting used to a new jock. Last year, maybe I peaked him a little early. On Mile Day, maybe he was just a little flat. My goal this year, if he’s doing well, is to peak him for that race.”
Frank Alvarado, who was aboard Slew’s Tiz Whiz last time, rides again Sunday.
Si That Tiger, voted the track’s outstanding sprinter and 3-year-old male of 2025, won that May 24 race, while Executive Chef finished second. A stakes winner at 3, 7-year-old Executive Chef will make his first start in a stakes since then.
“We tried him in high-level allowances as a 4-year-old and wound up having to drop,” Wright said. “He always seemed to get better later in the year.”
Wright’s other 7-year-old Budweiser entrant, Tax Code, will be making his stakes debut off a May 16 win at 5 1/2 furlongs and a career-best 83 Beyer.
“The first year I trained him [2024], we had every intention of jumping into the stakes category,” Wright said. “His second start, running in the mud, he got hurt and that cost him basically a full year. This will tell us whether he can run in these races or if we need to keep him in the optional $30,000.”
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In the Hastings Stakes, the female counterpart to the Budweiser Stakes, Emerald’s 2025 horse of the meeting, 6-year-old Aloha Breeze, should go off heavily favored, having achieved a new Beyer benchmark of 86 in winning her 2026 debut May 25.
“I’m confident in Aloha. She’s never let me down, ever,” said Wenzel, whose mare is 11 for 16 at Emerald and has won six of her last eight starts.
Wenzel also has entrants in each of the 3-year-old stakes, with Robin Racer likely to go off favored in the Auburn Stakes and Falling Leaves on shakier ground in the Seattle Stakes. If any of his stakes entrants win Sunday, Wenzel will become Emerald’s all-time leading stakes trainer, breaking a 67-win tie with Doris Harwood.
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