Emerald Downs: Class Included runs off with Boeing Handicap

AUBURN, Wash. - Class Included solidified her standing as the top filly or mare at Emerald Downs with a runaway victory Sunday in the $50,000 Boeing Handicap.

Winning for the third time in four starts this year, Class Included cruised home with a 2 1/2-length cushion over fast-closing stablemate Sweet Nellie Brown, who was nearly three lengths clear of Carrabelle Harbor in the field of seven.

Class Included, the wagering favorite for the ninth consecutive time, ran one mile in 1:34.48 and paid $4.20.

A homebred for Mike and Amy Feuerborn of Maple Valley, Wash., Class Included has never finished worse than second in 13 career starts. The Boeing was her seventh victory, and her fifth stakes win. She captured the Washington Oaks at Emerald Downs last August, and then won the B.C. Oaks at Hastings four weeks later. She earned $27,500 Sunday, increasing her career mark to $256,823.

With regular rider Juan Gutierrez aboard, Class Included stalked pacesetters Elusive Noise and Carrabelle Harbor, moved up three wide on the turn to collar the leaders and quickly drew clear. Sweet Nellie Brown rallied from the back of the pack to get the place. E Z Kitty, who edged Class Included in the 6 1/2-furlong Washington State Legislators’ Handicap in her last start, never got involved and finished fifth at as the 9-5 second favorite.

The race went just as anticipated for Gutierrez and trainer Jim Penney.

“I expected three horses to go for the lead, and I could just sit behind them,” Gutierrez said. “My filly was really relaxed. I felt comfortable on her the whole way. I was smooching at her a little on the turn to see what she had left. I could tell she had a lot of horse. She went by the leaders very easily. She’s a classy filly. She doesn’t play around.”

Also Sunday, Hollywood Harbor zipped six furlongs in 1:07.23 in a $22,575 allowance race, narrowly missing the track record (1:07) shared by Atta Boy Roy and Noosa Beach, and a first-time-starting 2-year-old filly named Goin to the Window, by Tapit, stormed to a 5 3/4-length victory in a maiden race while running five furlongs in 57.30.