One of Emerald Downs’s most promising young trainers, Howie Gibson, has had a helping hand. Or hands, plural, as three of the track’s more well-respected veteran trainers – Vince Gibson, Frank Lucarelli, and Tim McCanna – took him under their wings as he worked his way up to having his own barn. “Vince has always been around,” Gibson said of his uncle. “I learned a lot from all of those guys. I was a part of all their operations. Vince gave me some horses this winter at Turf Paradise, and Frank let me go down to Lone Star, and Tim helped me out by letting me break babies.” The two Gibsons and Lucarelli have the top three horses in a five-furlong claiming race for 3-year-old non-winners of two that goes as race 4 on Emerald’s nine-race Memorial Day card. Howie’s horse, Goin’ South, is the one to beat. With Lucarelli and Uncle Vince’s geldings, Slew o’ Mischief and Red Leader, likely to be among those vying for the lead in a seven-horse field that features a good amount of early speed, Goin’ South can be expected to get a stalking trip under last year’s top jockey, Alex Cruz. It will be Goin’ South’s first race for Gibson, who claimed him from Blaine Wright’s barn out of a five-furlong maiden win at Emerald on May 3. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “We just seen that he was running really competitive down at Pleasanton,” Gibson said of Goin’ South. “He was dropping from maiden special weight to $25,000 and we thought he’d be worth taking a chance on. We’re just putting him in a good spot. We’re hoping he’ll run good coming off the claim. He came from a really good barn. Hopefully we can do the same job because those guys do an amazing job. “I wish it was going farther than five-eighths, but he won going five-eighths. Alex looks like he should fit him really well. There’s a lot of speed in there, which should help us. He doesn’t necessarily need the lead.” Another up-and-coming 3-year-old, West Coast Bull, wasn’t eligible for race 4 after winning the second race of his career on May 3. There, he stalked an honest pace four wide into the stretch before angling in and zipping by Slew o’ Mischief to win the five-furlong race by a length. His winning time of 56.89 seconds was the fastest of the meet at that distance heading into Saturday. Instead, trainer Steve Bullock has West Coast Bull going against older horses for the first time in Monday’s race 7, a 5 1/2-furlong, $24,000 allowance for 3-year-olds and up who either haven’t won two races or are Washington-breds who haven’t won three. As Bullock notes, there’s “a ton of speed in there,” namely the 5-year-old morning-line favorite, Listentothemusic, who makes his first start for trainer Justin Evans. Hence, West Coast Bull will try to stalk and make a run like he did last out. “It’s a salty race, saltier than I wanted,” admitted Bullock, who is not considering scratching West Coast Bull. “We’ve liked him all along and there are not a whole lot of 3-year-olds who’ve won two races.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.