Emerald celebrates 20th anniversary with special Monday program
It was 20 years ago on Monday when Strawberry Morn delighted the opening-day crowd at Emerald Downs with a 10-length win over Ever Lasting in the $35,000 U.S. Bank Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. It was the first Thoroughbred race in the Seattle area since Longacres closed in 1992.
Emerald will celebrate its 20th anniversary Monday with a seven-race card that begins at 6:30 p.m. Pacific.
Keeping with tradition, the most important race at Emerald Downs is the Grade 3 Longacres Mile.
“It’s going to be a party,” said Joe Withee, Emerald’s director of publicity. “We will be honoring past Mile winners, jockeys, and people that have made contributions to the local industry. There will be autograph tables set up. Mario Gutierrez will be one of the jockeys here.”
Gutierrez, a two-time Kentucky Derby winner, won the 2012 Mile aboard Taylor Said.
Currently pensioned in Europe, Strawberry Morn was based at Hastings with trainer Allan Jack. She was ridden in the U.S. Bank by Dave Wilson, who is making the trip down. However, Jack won’t be there for the celebration.
“We’re going to show the stretch run of Strawberry Morn’s race, and we also have film of her in Europe,” said Withee. “A.J. was excited about coming, but he said he was having troubles updating his passport.”
Former track announcer Robert Geller will call Monday’s featured Washington Legislature Stakes. Geller called more than 16,000 races at Emerald before becoming the announcer at Woodbine in 2015. The Washington Thoroughbred Hall of Fame honored Geller with a lifetime achievement award last year.
Emerald wouldn’t have existed without the vision and money of Ron Crockett. Crockett was the president of Emerald until the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe took it over last year. He still consults and has an office at Emerald.
The King County City Council will be honoring Crockett at a council meeting earlier Monday. The mayor of Auburn, Wash., Nancy Backus, will make a presentation to him at the track Monday evening.
“It should be a great night of celebrating,” said Withee. “The handle should also be decent. There won’t be any other tracks running, and TVG is taking the whole card.”
Kikisoblu will try to rebound from a disappointing performance in the Hastings Stakes on May 22 when she runs in the $50,000 Washington State Legislature. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for fillies and mares drew nine horses, including the first two finishers in the Hastings, Estellara and Ethan’s Baby.
Kikisoblu, trained by Tom Wenzel, won the Legislature by 6 1/4 lengths last year. She went into the race off an easy win in the Hastings. Following a rough trip in her first route attempt in the one-mile Boeing Stakes last July 15, she didn’t race again until she went unplaced as the even-money favorite in the Hastings. She had a bit of an excuse as she broke a bit flatfooted and then got squeezed back.
She came back with a solid six-furlong move out of the gate in 1:12 on June 11 and could be dangerous if she breaks alertly.
Estellara, trained by Len Kasmerski, came from a stalking position to edge Ethan’s Baby by a head for her second straight win at Emerald.
Ethan’s Baby was game in defeat. Trained by Blaine Wright, she forced the pace, and after taking command on the turn, she came up just short.