Give track an assist in record run
AUBURN, Wash. – It speaks volumes about the lightning-fast racing surface at Emerald Downs that when I Keep Saying set a North American speed record for 6 1/2 furlongs here last Sunday, the news barely caused a ripple beyond the post-race excitement in the winner’s circle.
I Keep Saying became the first horse in North America to cover 6 1/2 furlongs on dirt in less than 1 minute, 13 seconds when he stopped the timer in 1:12.94 while running away with a $32,000 claimer for older horses. A front-running 5-year-old by Yankee Gentleman, I Keep Saying sped through fractions of 22.01 and 43.89 to open a comfortable lead and coasted in under Juan Gutierrez to win by 6 1/4 lengths.
I Keep Saying broke the previous North American record of 1:13, set by Sabertooth at Emerald Downs in 2005. His six-furlong split was 1:06.82, a few ticks better than the Emerald track record of 1:07 shared by Atta Boy Roy and Noosa Beach. Those horses won multiple stakes and earned more than $500,000 apiece. I Keep Saying improved to 6 for 16 and pushed his earning to $76,308.
The track was so extraordinarily fast last Sunday that I Keep Saying’s record-setting effort was assigned a Beyer Speed Figure of 89, not far removed from the 85 I Keep Saying earned when he ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.56 on May 11. In other races Sunday, Seattle Game, a $5,000 claimer, ran six furlongs in 1:08.72, and Ethan’s Baby, a 2-year-old filly, won the Angie C. Stakes in 1:09.29.
◗ Trainer Ben Harris and jockey Ricky Frazier will be inducted into the Washington Racing Hall of Fame during ceremonies at Emerald Downs on Aug. 16. The 2014 class also includes male horse Chum Salmon, female horse Delicate Vine, and breeders Barbara and William Nelson Jr.
Harris was the only trainer in Longacres’s 59-year history to win four consecutive training titles. Frazier won five riding titles at Emerald Downs before injuries forced him into a premature retirement. Chum Salmon captured the 1985 Longacres Mile, one of his 13 wins in 29 career starts. Delicate Vine was one of the nation’s top 2-year-old fillies in 1986, with victories in the Grade 1 Arlington-Washington Lassie at Arlington Park and the Grad 2 Sorority at Monmouth Park her crowning achievements.
The Nelsons owned Gunshy Manor, a breeding farm east of Seattle, and bred four Washington champions: Prince Joda, Favored One, Norm’s Nephew, and Margo’s Gift.