Dirt Road Red tries to get back on winning track with drop

Dirt Road Red, the winningest horse to date at Emerald Downs in 2023, will try to regain his winning form in Saturday’s $25,000 claiming feature.

The 6-year-old, now trained by Candice Cryderman, began the season with a nose loss in swift time on opening day before reeling off five consecutive wins through July. Claimed from his last winning race, the son of Clubhouse Ride then tried allowance foes who were just a bit too tough for him.

Back in the claiming ranks and drawn suitably on the outside, Dirt Road Red figures to have every chance to return to winning form Saturday.

“He is sharp and wanting to go,” Cryderman said. “I’m just hoping for a better result than last time.”

His chief rival figures to be stakes winner A Man’s Man, who last raced in the $150,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 13. He set the early pace in the Mile before checking in fifth, beaten 8 3/4 lengths by Five Star General.

While A Man’s Man has yet to finish in the top four in three Emerald Downs starts, he should relish the switch from a steady diet of the local stakes competition to the $25,000 claimers he’ll face Saturday.

When last raced for a claiming tag, A Man’s Man won a $20,000 claiming event on July 4, 2022, at Pleasanton. He won the Bull Dog Stakes on Oct. 16 at Fresno and has been successful in his last three starts on dirt when not among the Emerald stakes ranks.

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Stepping down out of allowance company is Lucky Lad, a 4-year-old trained by Luciano Gabriel. Lucky Lad was the winner in a May 13 allowance event at Emerald Downs that came at the direct expense of Tax Code. That foe was the winner of the Aug. 20 allowance dash in which Dirt Road Red backed up to finish sixth, beaten 12 1/4 lengths.

Lucky Lad has raced with a claiming tag only once previously while landing in the top four in 9 of 10 career starts. The 4-year-old has been idle since July 23, when he finished third, beaten two lengths, in an allowance race. The son of Finnegans Wake can be effective whether setting or stalking the early pace and should have plenty to say about the outcome. He worked a half-mile last Sunday in 45.80 seconds and seems ready.

Overly Fast is a Tom Wenzel trainee who has raced just once during the past 53 weeks, but that was just three weeks back, when he checked in fourth, beaten six lengths, in a race much like Saturday’s feature. The recent prep earned just a 55 Beyer Speed Figure, but Overly Fast has every right to go much better with that race under foot.

Quite a group will be battling for perhaps the lower rungs of the exotics, including Coastal Jazz, a Steve Bullock trainee who has been third at this class level in three consecutive races.

Executive Chef is a Blaine Wright charge who has won two straight for the same claiming tag, though probably lands in a tougher group this time.

Others in the field are Peso, trained by Preston Boyd, and Smoken Shadow, trained by Debbie Peery.

Saturday evening racing begins at 5 p.m. Pacific, with temperatures expected to be near 80 degrees.

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