City by the Bay fresh danger in Hastings Handicap

AUBURN, Wash. – The first stakes race of the meeting promises to be a free-for-all Sunday at Emerald Downs. Ten horses were entered in the $50,000 Hastings Handicap for fillies and mares at six furlongs, and at least six profile as legitimate contenders. First post for the nine-race card is 2 p.m. Pacific.

The likely Hastings favorites, City by the Bay and Madame Pele, will be making their first start of 2015. City by the Bay, a speedy 4-year-old by City Zip, has raced sparingly for Northern California-based trainer Bill Morey, winning four of her seven starts over the past two years. She captured the 6 1/2-furlong Seattle Handicap last June in her only previous start at Emerald Downs.

Following her win in the Seattle, City by the Bay raced to a 5 1/2-length victory in the $60,000 Harvest Handicap at Fresno and then finished third in two allowance sprints at Golden Gate. She hasn’t competed since November.

“She’s very talented, but she needs time between races,” Morey said of City by the Bay, who arrived at Emerald Downs on Thursday. “Like last year, this race fits her schedule nicely.”

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Madame Pele, a stakes winner at Emerald and Turf Paradise, might be the best local hope, though she too is coming off a long layoff. After capturing the restricted Pegasus Training Center Stakes at Emerald in September, Madame Pele finished off the board in the Grade 3 Ballerina Stakes at Hastings on Oct. 13 in her final start of 2014. She has been training smartly for trainer Jim Penney.

It’s unclear who will set the pace, but Tinkerbelle Tops is a candidate. In her only previous Emerald start, which came as a 2-year-old in 2013, Tinkerbelle Tops opened an early six-length lead in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden race and won with speed to spare.

KEY CONTENDERS

City by the Bay (Last 3 Beyers: 79-80-84)

◗ Julien Couton, Emerald’s leading rider, takes the mount from Juan Hernandez, who has ridden City by the Bay in all seven of her starts. Couton has a history with Morey, scoring his first stakes victory aboard Positive Response for Morey in the 2010 Gold Rush Stakes at Golden Gate.

◗ Morey has been superb over the past five years with horses returning from layoffs lasting two to six months – 19 for 79 (24 percent) – and City by the Bay runs well fresh. She captured her career debut at Santa Rosa in 2013, won the Seattle Handicap after a nine-month layoff, and then took the Harvest at Fresno following a four-month break.

Madame Pele (Last 3 Beyers: 62-75-77)

◗ One of the most versatile mares in the Northwest, Madame Pele has thrived on dirt, synthetic, and grass surfaces and recorded stakes victories both sprinting and routing. The Hastings distance, six furlongs, might be her best – two wins and three seconds in six starts.

Tabled With Gold (Last 3 Beyers: 83-86-75)

◗ An improving 5-year-old trained by Roy Lumm, Tabled With Gold is coming off her best effort, a third-place finish in the $55,660 Camilla Urso Stakes at Golden Gate in March.

◗ She is proven on the dirt surface at Emerald, having won five of 12 local starts.