Defending winner Five Star General is the one to beat in Sunday’s $150,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs. Owned by Elttaes Stable, Five Star General drew post 9 and will make his fifth consecutive start in the jewel of the Pacific Northwest. The Grant Forster trainee was second in 2020, third in both the 2021 and 2022 editions, and reached the pinnacle with a 1 1/2-length win under jockey Joe Bravo as the betting favorite last year. Bravo will return to accept the mount Sunday.Five Star General has had a 2024 campaign quite similar to the one mapped out by Forster in 2023. During each campaign, the 8-year-old has used the Evangeline Mile in Louisiana and the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial at Horseshoe Indianapolis as stepping-stones.Asked to compare remarkably similar performances in Indiana, Forster said, “Both of his runs in the Schaefer were strong, but I think this year’s was the better of the two. It was a daunting pace and he took all the pressure on the inside.”Forster said Elttaes Stable owner Kenneth Alhadeff’s goal with Five Star General “has always been the Longacres Mile, so we’ve tried to design his campaigns accordingly.” Elttaes Stable was the stable name created by Alhadeff’s grandfather Joseph Gottstein, who created the Longacres Mile in 1935 at the former Longacres Racetrack in Renton, Wash.Chief among the opposition to the likely favorite are a trio of 2023 Emerald stakes winners. Slew’s Tiz Whiz was the winner of the 2022 Longacres Mile before he settled for third, beaten 5 1/4 lengths by Five Star General, a year ago. Clovisconnection and Prince Abu Dhabi, both trained by Blaine Wright, are a pair of 4-year-olds who won sophomore stakes at Emerald Downs in 2023.Clovisconnection won both the Irish Day and the Auburn stakes, two early season sprints for sophomores in 2023. The son of Vronsky has raced around two turns on four occasions, three on turf, winning the Robert Dupret Derby over 1 1/16 miles on the Santa Rosa grass in 2023.The latest win by Clovisconnection was in the productive Oak Tree Sprint Stakes on June 29 at Pleasanton. Runner-up Talbot Bay returned to win an allowance at Sacramento three weeks later. More significantly, Top Harbor ran fourth June 29 before returning to win a five-furlong turf race Aug. 3 at Del Mar, complete with an $87 mutuel.Prince Abu Dhabi took the Muckleshoot Derby in 2023 and prepped most recently in the Pleasanton Mile, in which he finished third, beaten 2 1/2 lengths, on July 7. The gelding will add blinkers Sunday.Leading trainer Justin Evans will send out four starters in the Longacres Mile – Neiman, Arma d’Oro, Giant Game, and Surprsinglyperfect. Neiman won the Budweiser Stakes over six furlongs on June 23, and Arma d’Oro later won the Governor’s Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs on July 21. Giant Game recently arrived from Del Mar, where he flashed speed and then finished last, beaten 15 lengths, in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 27.Surprsinglyperfect is a rejuvenated 10-year-old who first attained the 80 Beyer level at age 8, and first reached the 85 Beyer level this year. On July 3, he earned an 87 Beyer winning over a flat mile. Since shipping to Emerald Downs, the son of Perfect Soul is 4 for 4 on fast tracks, all at a mile or longer.Last year’s Longacres Mile runner-up, Il Bellator, is back after a campaign not unlike that of 2023. The Jose Bautista trainee was fifth, beaten 6 1/4 lengths, in the Pleasanton Mile on July 7. He lost the same race by 5 1/2 lengths in 2023 before his second, 1 1/2 lengths behind Five Star General.Phantom Ride, claimed from his last race for $62,500 on June 19 at Churchill Downs, has worked just once since then, a five-furlong breeze in 1:00.40 on July 25 at Hastings.Others in the full gate include Deshambeau, trained by Frank Lucarelli, and Muncey, trained by Howard Belvoir, fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Governor’s Stakes.◗ There are three other stakes on the Emerald card, all $50,000 races, directly preceding the Longacres Mile, which is the ninth race. They are the Washington Oaks, the Emerald Distaff, and the Muckleshoot Derby.