Longacres Mile not just another stakes win for Glatt

Trainer Mark Glatt said that Law Abidin Citizen would get a break following his dramatic win over Anyportinastorm in last Sunday’s Grade 3 Longacres Mile.

“He came back great, but he ran hard so we’re going to give him a little time,” Glatt said. “As of now, we have no specific plans for him.”

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Glatt, who is based in Southern California, was a bit emotional in the winner’s circle.

“I grew up here, and to win this race in my home town is pretty special,” said Glatt, who began his career at Yakima Meadows.

Sunday’s race was one of the best of 84 renditions of the Longacres Mile. Law Abidin Citizen and Anyportinastorm hooked up at the six-furlong mark and battled to the wire, with Law Abidin Citizen bobbing his head at the right time. Restrainedvengence joined the battle late and finished a neck behind Anyportinastorm. Another few jumps and he probably would have been the winner.

It appeared Anyportinastorm was going to win when he drew off slightly in midstretch, but he couldn’t quite get it done. Anyportinastorm was packing high weight of 124 pounds. It is possible the five pounds he was giving Law Abidin Citizen made the difference.

Trainer Blaine Wright wasn’t sure when Anyportinastorm would race next, but he was looking around for an appropriate spot.

“He really rebounded well,” Wright said. “The way he was bouncing around the barn the next day you wouldn’t have known he had run so hard. We’ll take him back to Golden Gate and go from there.”

It was a heartbreaking loss for Wright, who also grew up in the Northwest.

“There is a big hole in my stomach,” he said. “This race is so important to everyone around here, and it really hurts to come that close.”

Adding to the excitement was the call of Emerald’s director of publicity, Joe Withee. Rushed into service when there were technical difficulties in the announcer’s booth, Withee did an excellent job subbing for announcer Tom Harris.

Withee called the race from a monitor he uses on the ground floor where he goes over the card between races with racing analyst John Lindley.

“I was told I had to call the race about a minute before the first horse was loaded, so I didn’t have time to get nervous,” Withee said. “I called two days at Longacres and two days at Yakima, so it wasn’t a completely new experience. I’ve also called about 20 races at Emerald. I just hope I didn’t screw it up.”

He didn’t.

◗ Trainer Frank Lucarelli said Killarney Lass came out of her 9 1/4-length romp in the Washington Oaks in excellent shape and would be pointed to the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks on Sept. 7 at Hastings.

After struggling to keep up in the $50,000 Kent on May 12, Killarney Lass won a first-level allowance race with a $30,000 claiming option by more than 18 lengths on July 6.

“We thought she might be bleeding, but when we scoped her she was clean,” Lucarelli said. “We thought she may have been swallowing her tongue, so we put a tongue tie on. It obviously made a huge difference.”

◗ The Wright-trained Crazy for Gold looks like the one to beat in a $15,000 conditioned claimer that will serve as the feature for Friday’s seven-race card.