Including the seven-race card that begins at 7:05 p.m. Pacific on Friday, there are eight racing days remaining at Emerald Downs this year. Given the limited amount of days left it is safe to assume that jockey Alex Cruz will be the leading rider for the third straight year and Jorge Rosales will win his first trainers’ title. With 78 wins, Cruz is not as big a cinch as Rosales. Sitting second in the standings is Juan Gutierrez with 68 wins, and the local Hall of Fame jockey could get hot enough to catch Cruz. On the other hand, it is unlikely, though maybe not impossible, that trainer Blaine Wright could win enough races to catch Rosales, who with 33 wins has seven more than Wright. Rosales also has a couple of bullets to fire Friday and with no horses entered, Wright will be watching from the sidelines. Cruz rides both of the horses Rosales has entered, beginning with Curling Secret in a $10,000 claimer for 3-year-olds and up that drew six horses and goes as race 4. :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! Curling Secret will not be favored. However, the California-bred son of Curlin to Mischief has a reasonable chance and could be dangerous if he gets the jump on the other speed. Upo will be a short price to win a $3,500 starter race for Rosales that goes as race 5. The mile and 70-yard race drew six horses, with Upo clearly the one to beat. A 7-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Archarcharch, Upo is coming off a third-place finish behind Pistol Power and Mike Operator going a mile in an $8,000 claimer Aug. 5. Pistol Power repeated going the same distance in a $10,000 claiming race Aug. 26 with a 72 Beyer, and Mike Operator was given a 64 Beyer for his victory going 6 1/2 furlongs in an $8,000 claimer on Aug. 28. Hey Sequoia, who finished a distant fifth, came back to win as the heavy chalk for $5,000 on Aug. 27. In his first two starts at the meet, both at a mile, Upo overcame trouble to win a $3,500 starter race June 24 and then may have bounced when he finished second in a similar race July 2. Upo will break from post 2 and should get a nice trip stalking what figures to be an honest and contested pace. Gutierrez will be aboard the Jill Soranno-trained Upper Room, who rallied to win a $5,000 claiming race going six furlongs on Aug. 15. The 8-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Harlan’s Holiday has won four races going around two turns. He could make a big impact moving from a sprint to a route for a trainer who is winning races at a 21 percent clip at the meet. Upper Room also is a stalker, and with more than one confirmed front-runner in the field, there should be speed coming back to him.