Daffodil Sweet heavy Coca-Cola favorite; Gold Crusher one to beat in Seattle Slew

A couple of $40,000 stakes races for 3-year-olds going 6 1/2 furlongs share the spotlight Thursday at Emerald Downs. First up in race 2 is the Coca-Cola for fillies, where Daffodil Sweet will be heavily favored to remain undefeated in three starts. The Seattle Slew for colts and geldings isn’t as obvious, but Gold Crusher does look like the one to beat. It goes as race 9 on an 11-race card that begins at 5 p.m. Pacific.

Daffodil Sweet was spectacular in her first two starts. Trained by Chris Stenslie, she broke sharply in her debut and after setting a pressured pace drew off to win a maiden special weight race by 8 3/4 lengths on July 2. She surprised more than one person as she paid a whopping $36.80 for her romp in the 5 1/2-furlong dash. She showed it was no fluke when she did the same in a conditioned allowance race. She paid quite a bit less, $3.20, for her 7 3/4-length victory in the six-furlong sprint.

The California-bred daughter was so much the best in her two races that it is hard to say if she is just a speed horse. She drew the inside post, so she may have to rate if she does not break alertly with Juan Gutierrez retaining the mount.

“There seems to be a lot of speed in the race, so I am a bit concerned about her drawing the rail,” Stenslie said. “I don’t think she is a need-the-lead type, so she should be okay if someone wants it more.”

There is plenty of speed in the field, which could help Windy Point, who can stalk.

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Trained by Jose Navarro, she is the only three-time winner in the field and is coming off a sharp score in a conditioned allowance race in her first start of the year on July 1.

Last year, she won the $50,000 Washington Cup Juvenile Fillies before finishing last in the $100,000 Gottstein Futurity, where she was stretching out to a middle distance for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile race.

Gutierrez has ridden her in all six of her previous races. Alex Cruz will be aboard when she breaks from post 4.

Gold Crusher took a huge step forward for leading trainer Frank Lucarelli when he won a $50,000 starter race going five furlongs on turf at Golden Gate in his second start this year on June 5. The 79 Beyer Speed Figure he received is a career best, and the top figure among the horses entered in the Seattle Slew.

He can handle dirt, too. The Washington-bred son of Harbor the Gold won a $25,000 maiden claimer at Emerald in his second start for trainer Vince Gibson last Aug. 17. He was claimed out of the race by Lucarelli, who was acting on behalf of Chad Christensen. Josh McKee is now a part owner.

Lucarelli thinks the Jack McCartney-trained Unmachable is a big threat. The Washington-bred son of Macho Uno has not shown any early speed in his four races, which includes a victory when he debuted in the $50,000 Washington Cup Juvenile Colts and Geldings on Sept. 8.

The Seattle Slew sets up nicely for Unmachable, who might be closer to the pace than usual as he is adding blinkers for the first time.

Lucarelli loves the way Gold Crusher is coming up to the race, but he has good reason to be a bit concerned about Unmachable.

“I trained his dam, and she was pretty special,” he said.

He was referring to Point of Reference, who won 10 races and retired with earnings of $328,627. She closed her 27-race career with back-to-back stakes wins at Sacramento and Fresno.