Dirt Road Red goes for fifth straight win
Dirt Road Red will attempt to win for the fifth consecutive time in Friday’s $25,000 claiming feature at Emerald Downs. The son of Clubhouse Ride is owned and trained by Justin Evans, who has retained Alex Cruz to ride in the six-furlong contest.
Having begun his career at Emerald Downs as a 2-year-old in 2019 with four straight losses, Dirt Road Red is a nose away from being a perfect 5 for 5 in his 2023 Emerald Downs campaign. Those are his only nine starts at Emerald.
During his win streak, the gelding has conquered his opponents at six and 6 1/2 furlongs as well as at a mile and 70 yards. He brings a versatile style and has 24 exacta finishes from 41 career starts.
Dirt Road Red’s chief opponents are fellow Evans trainee Gold Crusher and Brady Boy, trained by Blaine Wright.
Gold Crusher, a son of Harbor the Gold, broke poorly in his most recent start July 8. He rated kindly and finished second, beaten 2 1/4 lengths. On June 23, Gold Crusher was in front all the way when beating a field of starter-allowance foes in the brisk running time of 1:07.41 for six furlongs.
Brady Boy is a lightly raced son of Twirling Candy out of Thunderina, by Curlin. On Friday, Brady Boy will be making his first start for a claiming tag. According to DRF’s Formulator, his trainer has nine wins from his past 18 starters in such a scenario in races run at Emerald Downs (excluding first-time starters).
Wright reports that “Brady Boy is doing pretty good” and that he is “trying to get him running in a cycle with no hiccups.”
Also in the Friday feature race are Holiday Hustle, trained by Howard Belvoir; Coastal Jazz, trained by Steve Bullock; and Hard to Deny, trained by Marshall Allen.
Hard to Deny last raced in the 2022 Longacres Mile, finishing 11th, beaten 13 3/4 lengths. The son of Hard Spun scratched out of a slightly tougher race last Sunday to race on Friday. Now 7, Hard to Deny ran a strong second off a layoff in 2022, and once won by 8 1/2 lengths off of a 10-month layoff. He last raced for a claiming price in his third career start back in 2019.
Holiday Hustle was claimed for $15,000 on June 10. On July 8, he raced in traffic on the turn before finishing fourth, beaten 5 1/4 lengths behind Dirt Road Red.
Coastal Jazz has successfully employed various running styles in the past. In his latest race, he was used considerably when dueling early with razor-sharp Dirt Road Red and could only finish third.
Each of the starters in Friday’s headliner possesses good tactical speed and that should make for quite a contest with none especially compromised by race shape.
Racing begins at 7 p.m. Pacific with temperatures likely to be in the 70s at first post.
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