Late-starting Stratojet making up for lost time
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Veteran trainer Kay Cooper has enjoyed one of the best meets of her career, winning 13 of 41 starts for a 32 percent strike rate that ranks second among the 10 Emerald Downs trainers with the most wins this year.
“I’m sorry to see the meet end,” Cooper said of the 2026 Emerald season, which will hold its final day of racing on Sept. 7. “My horses are doing well and my owners were all having fun doing it. I’ve got more who could run another time or two.”
In Saturday’s sixth race, a $24,000 allowance at six furlongs for non-winners of two or Washington-breds who have not won three races, Cooper will find out whether the late-blooming 4-year-old Stratojet is the best horse in her barn.
Cooper never considered racing Stratojet at 2 because the son of Conveyance’s “knees were very immature,” recalled the trainer. She wanted to race him at 3, but after enduring a first workout that “was way too fast and way too far,” Stratojet suffered an injury in his stall, pushing his first potential racing opportunity to this year.
He finally made it to the races on June 21, finishing ninth of 10 after getting roughed up at the break.
“His first start, he got smashed on both sides coming out of the gate and it just stopped his momentum,” said Cooper. “He was just confused. When we came back and worked him, he relaxed and everything kind of clicked.”
Did it ever. Going off as the odds-on favorite in a five-furlong, $10,000 maiden-claiming sprint, Stratojet went gate to wire to prevail by 5 3/4 lengths, earning a 77 Beyer Speed Figure. In a $15,000 claiming race on Aug. 22, he bested that performance, winning a six-furlong sprint by 14 1/4 lengths and notching an 81 Beyer under Kevin Orozco, who retains the mount on Saturday.
“He’s just a good-feeling horse,” said Cooper. “The horse is a fast breaker. Just get him into contention and get him to relax. Once he has the easy lead, he just excels. We’ll see what kind of race he has because he’s going to step up, big time.”
If he runs back to his last race, Stratojet should prevail in front-running fashion. If he falters, Ole’s Surprise, who gets a four-pound weight allowance as a 3-year-old and has been running in stakes company for trainer Mark Cloutier, could vie for top honors, as might the Howard Belvoir trainee Impassable and Verdi, a 4-year-old trained by Frank Lucarelli.
◗ Howie Gibson’s 8-year-old gelding Coastal Jazz posted a stunning seven-length victory over 3-5 favorite Si That Tiger on Sunday in the $30,000 Owners’ Handicap. Sent off at odds of 4-1, Coastal Jazz covered the five furlongs in 55.46 seconds, tying a track record for the distance.
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