Emerald Downs to host 28 stakes worth $1.45 million in 2018

The 2018 Emerald Downs stakes schedule looks similar to last year, with a notable scheduling change for the statebred Washington Cup events. The schedule comprises 28 stakes worth a total of $1.45 million during a 67-day meet that opens April 22.

The central race on the 2018 calendar is the Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile, which anchors a four-stakes card on Sunday, Aug. 12. That program also features the $50,000 Emerald Distaff – its purse trimmed $15,000 from last year – as well as a pair of $50,000 juvenile stakes, the WTBOA Lads Stakes for colts and geldings and the Barbara Shinpoch for fillies.

The Emerald Distaff is among several stakes that saw purse reductions this year. The Washington Oaks and Muckleshoot Derby – run in 2017 as the Emerald Downs Derby – both are worth $50,000 in 2018 (down from $75,000 last year), and the Gottstein Futurity for 2-year-olds on Sept. 23 was reduced from $65,000 to $50,000. Four stakes early on the calendar are overnight stakes in 2018 and had their purses reduced from $50,000 to $30,000.

The Washington Cup series will spread six stakes for statebreds worth a total of $300,000 over three weekends in 2018 rather than run them on a single day. The series begins Sept. 2 with the $50,000 Juvenile Filly and $50,000 Juvenile Colts and Geldings; continues Sept. 9 with the $50,000 Sophomore Filly and $50,000 Sophomore Colts and Geldings; and concludes Sept. 16 with the $50,000 Filly and Mare Stakes and $50,000 Muckleshoot Tribal Classic.

Two stakes for older runners, the Pete Pedersen Memorial and the King County overnight stakes, were not brought back this year. Overall, the 2018 stakes schedule offers 10 races for older horses (five apiece for males and females), 10 for 3-year-olds (five apiece for males and females) and seven for 2-year-olds. The 440-yard Emerald Championship Challenge, set for Aug. 26, is the lone stakes for Quarter Horses.

Emerald Downs' stable area opens Feb. 2 and training is set to begin Feb. 5. The full stakes schedule is available here.