Jewell has shot to finally score with Seas of Normandy

Ian Jewell enjoyed his best year as a trainer in 2025, saddling 10 winners from 54 starts at four different racetracks. Six of those wins came at Emerald Downs, so it was reasonable for Jewell to expect that success to continue at the Auburn, Wash., oval in 2026.

That hasn’t happened. After going 0 for 28 at Turf Paradise to start the year, Jewell’s bout with futility has continued at Emerald, where he is 0 for 14.

“This year has been a patience-tester for me,” Jewell conceded. “Good years always come with bad ones. You have to trust your system and press on and hope it turns around.”

It did for Jewell after 2024, a year that saw him go 1 for 43 while testing deeper waters at Oaklawn Park. He has a live contender, the 6-year-old gelding Seas of Normandy, in Friday’s sixth race at one mile.

Seas of Normandy returns to the $20,000 claiming level of his debut at Emerald, where he finished second by 5 1/2 lengths to Background, who won for a second time at the meet on Sunday for a $15,000 claiming tag.

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Seas of Normandy took a mild step up to first-level allowance company in his next two starts, finishing second and fourth while posting identical 76 Beyer Speed Figures. All of those races were run at a mile, a distance on dirt at which Seas of Normandy has two wins, two seconds, and two thirds from 13 career starts.

“The competition has been tough,” Jewell said of Seas of Normandy’s Emerald starts. “I think a drop in class should help, but it’s just as tough.”

That’s true, to a certain extent. Friday’s seven-horse contest is relatively wide open, but its entrants have had only nominal success when routing. Elder Mack, a Blaine Wright trainee who posted a career-best 81 Beyer in a July 3 win at six furlongs, will undoubtedly attempt to dart to the lead under leading jockey Silvio Amador, but staying power could be a question.

“We do have tactical speed,” Jewell said. “I would love to sit just off the pace, but we also could be on the lead if Elder Mack doesn’t get away well.”

Same goes for Counteract, who hasn’t gone farther than 6 1/2 furlongs in over a year.

“He’s a real nice horse, nice stride,” said trainer Dan Markle, who claimed Counteract for $15,000 in June and has sprinted him twice. “He’s run around two turns in Canada a few times, so I’ve been looking forward to seeing him go around two turns. He doesn’t break real good, but going a mile, you’ve got a chance to recover.”

The likeliest winners could be a pair of late-runners, Baie Lounge on the far inside and Afjan on the far outside. The two locked horns on July 12 at a mile, with Afjan scoring a narrow win and Baie Lounge finishing a surging third. Separated by a head, both horses earned 80 Beyers.

◗ This will be the final Friday card of the Emerald meet, with four previously scheduled August dates having been canceled due to a declining horse population and simulcast handle.

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