Dutton, who won a stakes in his debut, tries for encore performance in allowance

It is hard to go past Dutton in the feature race at Emerald Downs on Friday. After all, he dominated the $36,000 WTBOA Lads when he debuted on Aug. 27 and he is moving down in class into a first-level allowance race. He will be a short price in the six-furlong dash, which drew eight horses and goes as race 9.

The first race Friday is 2 p.m. Pacific. The 10-race card was supposed to go Wednesday. However, due to concerns about the air quality caused by wildfires in Oregon and Washington, the card was moved to Friday.

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Trained by Howard Belvoir, Dutton could not have been more impressive winning the 6 1/2-furlong Lads. With Jennifer Whitaker aboard, he broke sharply and held a three-length advantage when he posted a half-mile time of 44.05 seconds. Under mild urging from Whitaker, he started to open up turning for home and cruised to a nine-length victory over Seattlesbestsecret.

A Washington-bred son of Noosito, Dutton came back to work a sharp half-mile in 46.80 seconds on Sept. 6. Belvoir planned to work him again last weekend.

“We skipped the work because the air was so bad,” said Belvoir. “He’s been jogging and galloping, and hopefully he’s got enough ability to get it done. I am kind of anxious to run him again to see if his first races was just a fluke. I think he’s a pretty nice horse, though. “

Dutton drew post 7 with Whitaker retaining the mount.

The Tom Wenzel-trained John’s On Point was favored in the Lads, but after chasing Dutton for a half-mile he retreated to finish eighth.

John’s On Point was an easy front-running winner going five furlongs in a maiden special weight race on Aug. 12. With the blinkers going on and in his first race as a gelding, he could rebound from his disappointing effort in the Lads.

A Washington-bred son of Abraaj, John’s On Point will break from post 5 with Eddie Martinez riding.

Zeynep is reunited with trainer David Martinez after finishing fourth in a $50,000 starter race at Golden Gate Fields for trainer Leobardo Rivera on Aug. 27.

A daughter of Sixthirteen, Zeynep won a $15,000 maiden claimer for Martinez when she debuted at Emerald on July 15. In her race at Golden Gate, she settled early and made a strong middle move before tiring late.

Zeynep drew the outside post, from where she could get a nice trip from a stalking position with Javier Matias riding. She might pick up the pieces if an all-out duel develops between Dutton and John’s On Point.