Jockey Nunnally having strong meet at home track
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Blake Nunnally grew up in the rural Pierce County town of Orting, Wash., a place he still calls home. Orting is equidistant from Mount Rainier and Emerald Downs – some 30 miles to each – and Nunnally, whose mom, Jennifer, trains horses at Emerald, cadged his first career mount at the Auburn, Wash., track as a teenage jockey in 2023.
Blake’s mount finished eighth of nine in that $2,500 claiming race. The following week, it was off to Grants Pass, Ore., to start learning how to really ride.
Nunnally would go winless at the Grants Pass meet, but having hailed from a multi-generational horse racing family, he knew he had dues to pay before a breakthrough would come. For a guy who’s never permanently resided anywhere but the tiny mountain town he grew up in, he’s exhibited a remarkable willingness to travel to just about any track that will have him, donning silks of various colors in Oregon (Crooked River, Tillamook, Union, Grants Pass), Nevada (Elko, White Pine), Nebraska (Fonner, Omaha, Columbus, Lincoln), Colorado (Arapahoe), and Arizona (Turf Paradise).
“It was real tough for me when I started. I’ve learned a lot,” Nunnally said. “Everywhere you go, everybody kind of does things a little differently. As a rider, you pick up on a lot of things that some people do and some don’t and realize if you do this, it may help a horse in a different way.”
Nunnally, now 21, said his time on the Nebraska circuit in 2025 was “when it started clicking for me.” He used that as a springboard to Turf Paradise later in the year, and through Sunday ranked a surprising fourth in the Emerald jockey standings with 15 wins from 78 starts.
As one would suspect, he regularly rides horses trained by his mother, who has two wins at the meet, but he’s also been first or second call for the likes of Jorge Maravilla (four wins this season) and Howie Gibson (tied for second atop the trainer standings with 10 wins).
On Friday night, Nunnally will ride the 6-year-old gelding Lucky Code for trainer Scott Freeman in a wide-open $15,000 conditioned claiming race at six furlongs. It will mark the first 2026 start for both horse and trainer. Though he has just two wins from 19 career starts, Lucky Code has typically performed decently off layoffs, has tactical speed, and has been competitive at this level.
Nunnally has never ridden Lucky Code in a race, but the jockey has been aboard for several works, including a bullet three furlongs in 36 seconds on June 19.
“He’s one of my favorite horses to get on in the mornings because he likes to stand and chill out for a minute, then when he trains, he’s all business,” Nunnally said. “He has been one I have clicked with from Day One, and I’m super excited for his first out of the meet.”
First post Friday is 7 p.m. Pacific.
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