Season heats up as top older horses meet
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Emerald Downs fans will not have to wait for the start of stakes racing on June 21 to see a stakes-caliber race. That will come in Sunday’s fourth race, a $26,000 no-conditions allowance that will be contested at 5 1/2 furlongs.
While the five-horse field is as small as they come, it features a Grade 3 winner (Rondelito), two local stakes winners (Slew’s Tiz Whiz, Si That Tiger), and two low-level allowance types (Executive Chef, Jin Tong) who are capable of finding their way into the winner’s circle against the likes of these on their best day.
Referring to Rondelito, the 2025 British Columbia Derby winner at Hastings who will be making his Emerald debut, Blaine Wright, who trains Si That Tiger and Executive Chef, said, “I know he’s got impeccable form on him, as does every horse in this race.”
Six-year-old Jin Tong figures to go off as the longest shot on the board, but he has a recency edge on his rivals. He’s the only horse to have raced since fall, going 3-1-1-0 this year at the recently concluded Turf Paradise meet.
Seven-year-old Executive Chef has been on a sharp springtime work pattern to rival that of his more decorated stablemate, this despite Wright saying Executive Chef “is not the most [diligent] work horse.”
“He likes to lay back a little and make a run,” said Wright, who has Kevin Krigger tabbed to ride. “It usually takes a race or two for him to get going. He’s kind of a big, soggy horse.”
The other elder is Slew’s Tiz Whiz, one of the most accomplished and popular horses in Emerald Downs history. Trained by Tom Wenzel, the 8-year-old is coming off a meet in which he was runner-up for horse of the meeting honors while being voted top older horse and top Washington-bred. The 2022 Longacres Mile winner, who added two stakes wins to his résumé in 2025, typically employs a stalking style and will have veteran jockey Frank Alvarado aboard.
The race’s most compelling entrants, however, are the two who are making their 4-year-old debuts. Si That Tiger and Rondelito were voted top 3-year-olds at their respective tracks last year. Rondelito won five straight races – including three stakes, two of them routes – at Hastings. Si That Tiger won three straight – including two sprint stakes – at Emerald.
Familiarity and distance give Si That Tiger a clear edge here, something Rondelito’s owner-trainer, Steve Henson, doesn’t deny.
“It’s not something I’d normally do, 5 1/2 furlongs, but you’ve got to go somewhere,” said Henson of Rondelito, who has five official works at his new base. “He’s taken everything we’ve given him down here. He’s worked lights-out every single time, and I don’t think we’ve set him down yet.
“This is a good starting spot. We’ll mull and monitor when we can stretch out after that. I’m not really too concerned about who we’re running against. They’re all legit horses. I’m freakin’ ecstatic about it. I can’t wait to run him.”
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