James First Affair brings fastest qualifying time into Emerald Downs Championship Challenge
Quarter Horses will take center stage at Emerald Downs on Sunday in the $54,000 Emerald Downs Championship Challenge. The 440-yard dash for 3-year-olds and up drew 10 horses and goes as race 8 on a nine-race card that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.
James First Affair should be favored.
Trained by Mark Hanson, James First Affair is the top money earner in the field with $87,882. He won the quicker of the two trials for the Challenge that were held at Emerald on Aug. 6. The final time for his race was 21.92 seconds, while it took 22.19 seconds for his stablemate Rtm Mr Caccia to win the other division.
Nakia Ramirez rode both horses and will ride Rtm Mr Caccia from post 2 on Sunday. Eddie Aceves picks up the mount on James First Affair, who drew post 6. Since 2014, Aceves has won with 36 percent of his mounts from Hanson.
Roddina Barrett is the leading trainer of Quarter Horses at the meet, with an excellent 7-5-1 record from 19 starts. She has two solid chances of winning the Challenge with Sorelli and Stella Corona, who were the runners-up in the Aug. 6 trials.
The 4-year-old filly Sorelli has won half of her six starts at the meet; she finished second in the other three. She came up a head short after dueling the whole way with James First Affair in her last start. It was her first time going 440 yards and the first time she was ridden by Eswan Flores.
Stella Corona had the early lead but ended up losing by a nose to Rtm Mr Caccia in the other trial. A 3-year-old filly, Stella Corona has a win and two seconds at the meet.
Sorelli drew post 3, with Flores retaining the mount.
Stella Corona will break directly to her right, with Luis Gonzalez riding.
In five previous Challenges, the only filly or mare to win the race was Chicks Angel, who was a 6-year-old when she won in 2014.
The best Thoroughbred race on the card is a $20,000 claiming race for fillies and mares, where Barrett has entered Seeking the Light and Iwannabeadivatoo.
The horse to beat in the six-furlong dash that drew six horses is Dance With Effie, who is coming off a runner-up finish in an optional $25,000 claiming race for trainer Candi Tollett. With leading rider Rocco Bowen retaining the mount, she likely will be a prohibitive favorite.