Records fall in Budweiser, Hastings stakes
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Tax Code recorded the fastest Budweiser Stakes time in Emerald Downs history on Sunday, pulling away from heavily favored stablemate Si That Tiger in the stretch to cover the six-furlong distance in 1:08.31.
Tax Code, who paid $12.22 to win, was running in his first stakes for trainer Blaine Wright at age 7. Wright had intended that inaugural stakes start to come two years ago, but Tax Code injured himself while racing over a muddy surface and went to the bench for a year.
Breaking from the outside of a field scratched down to five, Si That Tiger (1-2) didn't break as well as usual and immediately ceded the lead to Tax Code. The opening quarter-mile went in a pedestrian 22.57 seconds before Si That Tiger pulled even, with the pace quickening to a 44.86-second half.
The two were roughly even at the top of the stretch before Tax Code pulled away, winning by 2 3/4 lengths. It was another 2 1/4 lengths back to Slew's Tiz Whiz (7-2) in third.
"He stepped out of the gate in front," winning jockey Kevin Krigger said of his mount. "Si That Tiger didn't break as sharp as he usually does. We hooked up on the turn and I had a lot of horse left."
"Kevin recognized the other horse didn't break real sharp and adapted to what was in front of him," said Wright, who cited the "slow first quarter" as crucial to the result of the race.
Hastings Stakes
Two more track records fell when reigning Horse of the Meet Aloha Breeze wired six rivals in the $50,000 Hastings Stakes for fillies and mares, covering six furlongs in 1:08.80 to beat Stay Sassy by 6 1/4 lengths. It was another three-quarters of a length back to late-running Saleen G T in third.
In winning her eighth career stakes at Emerald, Aloha Breeze ($3.04), a 6-year-old mare trained by Tom Wenzel, became the top-earning female in the track's history with $315,390 in local prize money. And with his 68th career stakes win, Wenzel broke a tie with Doris Harwood to become Emerald's all-time winningest trainer.
"I just told [jockey] Carlos [Montalvo] to go after it today and try to run them off their feet, and that's exactly what he did," said Wenzel in a winner's circle interview.
"I was Wenzel's neighbor for years, and I watched how hard this man works," said the retired Harwood, resplendent in a hot pink cowboy hat and matching vest. "There isn't anybody who deserves to break this record more than he does, and they're meant to be broken."
The Hastings Stakes, named for the dormant Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver, British Columbia, had a distinctly Canadian feel. Veteran Hastings track announcer Dan Jukich made the trip south to guest-call the race, while former Daily Racing Form correspondent Randy Goulding, who covered the races up north, presented the winner's trophy.
*** There were also two six-furlong stakes for 3-year-olds on the card. Steve Henson, long one of the top trainers at Hastings, got his first stakes win at Emerald when Chase ($10.30) chased no one in the Auburn Stakes for 3-year-old males, going gate to wire for a 3/4-length win over late-charging Robin Racer. In the Seattle Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, Bewitching Joy ($14.30) mounted a late bid to pass Falling Leaves, who ran out of gas midstretch after setting a blistering quarter in 21.26 seconds and the half in 43.54.
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