Longacres Mile field firming up, 12 likely to start
The field is firming up for Sunday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Longacres Mile, and there is a strong possibility 12 horses will start in the most prestigious race at Emerald Downs.
Anyportinastorm, the highweight at 123 pounds, has been confirmed. He finished second in the 2019 Mile for trainer Blaine Wright and owner Peter Redekop. Last year, Wright and Redekop teamed to win the Mile with Anothertwistafate. Anyportinastorm is now based in Southern California with trainer Peter Miller.
The next three horses in the weights, Five Star General, 122; Background, 121; and Papa’s Golden Boy, 121; are all supposed to be in the field after entries are drawn Thursday.
Hastings-based Five Star General was the runner-up behind Anothertwistafate for owner-trainer Glen Todd. Due to COVID-19, Todd will not be making the trip from Vancouver. Sandi Gann has been overseeing Five Star General’s training at Emerald and will saddle him in the Mile.
With a plethora of speed signed on, the race could set up nicely for the Neil Drysdale-trained Majestic Eagle, who is next in the weights at 120 pounds. However, the Grade 3 turf winner has yet to run a decent race on dirt, and Drysdale had not made a final decision about entering him as of Sunday.
Joining Five Star General from Hastings is Sir Bregovic. The 5-year-old British Columbia-bred is perfect in four starts at the Vancouver oval this year. He was especially impressive winning his last race as he dueled early, was passed at the top of the stretch, and fought back to win the third-level allowance race with a top claiming price of $43,500 on July 26.
All of Sir Bregovic’s wins this year came at 6 1/2 furlongs. However, last year he won going around three turns, 1 1/16 miles, in a $10,000 claiming race for nonwinners of three.
Like many in the field, the Jim Strachan-trained son of Sir Gallovic likes to have his head in front early.
Coastal Kid was nominated to the Mile, but instead will be a short price in an allowance race for nonwinners of two or nonwinners-of-three Washington-breds on Thursday at Emerald. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up drew five horses and goes as the third race.
The seventh race is a sprint at the same level. Perfect Dude could be favored in the six-furlong dash that drew seven horses.
Trained by Jeff Metz, Coastal Kid is coming off a couple of strong races in California, the latest a third-place finish going six furlongs on Tapeta in a first-level allowance race with a $50,000 claiming option on July 31 at Golden Gate Fields.
In two starts at Emerald last year, he romped going six furlongs in a maiden special weight race when he debuted on Sept. 9. He also looked like the winner of the $75,000 Gottstein Futurity in his second start on Oct. 1, but he came to almost a complete stop while making a right-hand turn shortly after taking the lead in midstretch of the 1 1/16-mile race.
His recent Beyer Speed Figures stand out and, if he runs his usual race, he will be very tough to beat.
If Perfect Dude runs as well as he did the last time we saw him, he also will be a handful in the seventh race. However, he has not raced since he won the $50,000 Seattle Slew as a 3-year-old in 2019.
The Washington-bred son of Majesticperfection has been working like he is ready to fire a big shot coming off the bench while making his first start for trainer Kay Cooper, though.