River of Aces an Essex family affair

AUBURN, Wash. – River of Aces has been an in-house production from the very start – she was bred by the husband-and-wife team of Dean and Judy Anne Essex, and is trained by their son Charles Essex. The family owned her sire, Sam’s Ace, and River of Aces was foaled at the family farm in Granite Falls, Wash.

The 5-year-old mare has a quick turn of foot, with gate-to-wire victories in three of her past five starts, and that speed could serve her well Sunday in the feature race at Emerald Downs, a $32,000 claimer at six furlongs.

River of Aces has won 6 of 13 lifetime starts, all at Emerald. In her first start of 2014, she set a moderate pace and then held on to capture a $25,000 claimer on April 12. While she will face a tougher group Sunday, her M.O. will be the same: sprint for the lead and take the shortest path to the wire. Smokin’ Grey, a late-running sprinter, and the fast-improving Tabled With Gold figure to be formidable foes.

“River is doing good,” Charles Essex said Friday. “She just seems to be one notch under those stakes-quality and top allowance horses, so she picks away at this level. I’m hoping she fits in this race. There are a couple of horses dropping down, and that Smokin’ Grey beat her up pretty good a couple of years ago. But Smokin’ Grey has been off for a while, so maybe we have a bit of an edge. But I don’t think we’re going to get away with an easy lead this time.”

River of Aces, who will break from post 3 with regular rider Eliska Kubinova, inherited her quickness from her late sire. Sam’s Ace, by In Excess from a Meadowlake mare, boasted speed influences on both sides of his pedigree, and in his best start, he finished fourth behind Barbaro in the 2006 Florida Derby. But Sam’s Ace suffered career-ending injuries in his next start, in the Snow Chief Stakes at Hollywood Park, and later was sold to the Essex clan for stud duty.

“My dad liked him, with a little bit of speed,” Essex said. “He was meant to be a pretty nice horse before he got hurt. He died a couple of years ago, and his crops were small. I think I only saw 10 or 12 of them, and all of them had a lot of speed, like River of Aces. I have about 26 horses here right now, and a bunch more getting ready. But River has gotta be the best horse in the barn right now.”