Ice Needs Whiskey hopes to get first and last call

Ice Needs Whiskey will make his first start for a claiming tag in Friday’s $15,000 claiming feature race at Emerald Downs over 6 1/2 furlongs. The speedy 5-year-old has raced just five times in his life, and he won for the first time in his second career start nearly two years ago.

The Kay Cooper trainee has always had talent and has yet to be beaten to the first call in any of his starts. His dam is a half-sister to former Longacres Mile winner Edneator, and Ice Needs Whiskey is something of a family favorite around Cooper’s barn.

Cooper’s father was the late Jim Penney, who ranks highly among all trainers in Washington history. Cooper said that Ice Needs Whiskey “has a soft spot in our hearts. We nicknamed him ‘J.P.’ after our father,” mentioning that “ice needs whiskey” was one of Penney’s favorite sayings.

Chief among Friday’s opposition will be Napoletano, trained by Faustino Patino and ridden by Luis Negron. Napoletano will be making just his third start of 2023 after he broke poorly over sloppy going in his most recent race on June 10.

The son of Orb doesn’t have much early speed, and Napoletano’s backers will hope that Ice Needs Whiskey and others will supply sufficient pace to set things up. Napoletano does boast the top Beyer Speed Figures earned this year by any of Friday’s cast, though he would be vulnerable in the event of an uncontested pace.

While Ice Needs Whiskey is clearly the most determined speed horse in the field, there are others, including Mister Mafioso and Contejas, who can be expected to prompt the pace in good order.

Time ’er Too, also trained by Cooper, was a maiden winner June 23 and has good tactical speed but will be making the challenging move from maidens to winners on Friday.

Contejas is another lightly raced prospect who will be making his third start of the year for trainer Candice Cryderman. The son of Harbor the Gold bobbled at the start and then lost by a neck on June 17 when in for the same $15,000 claiming price as on Friday. Next time out, on July 2, Contejas tried the allowance ranks, where he forced the pace set by Ice Needs Whiskey and then steadily retreated to finish eighth, beaten 24 1/2 lengths.

Rounding out the nine-horse field are Howdoyalikemenow, trained by Alan Bozell; Ice Tower, trained by Vince Gibson; Sargent Kline, trained by Frank Lucarelli; and Reign of Speed, conditioned by Sergio Alvarez.

Daytime high temperatures near 80 degrees should have conditions quite comfortable by post time of 7 p.m. Pacific on Friday.