Smiling Goodbye lands in tough spot to start season

There will be fireworks after the races Friday night at Emerald Downs as the track hosts its annual pyrotechnic extravaganza the night before the Fourth of July, when Emerald will be dark.

There were indoor fireworks Monday in the track’s fifth-floor conference room, where the Washington Horse Racing Commission unanimously voted to allow Emerald to drop four Friday dates in August from the racing calendar.

Emerald Downs president Phil Ziegler advocated for the move as a necessary antidote to a dwindling horse population and lagging field size and wagering handle. Ziegler promised that the races carded for the canceled days will be moved to Saturdays or Sundays, creating potential 11-race cards that would be more attractive to bettors.

Several trainers testified that they were skeptical that this would actually come to pass, while others pointed to a perception problem that would accompany the temporary cutback to a two-day race week. Others remarked that Emerald’s racing office should consider rewriting conditions so that races have a better chance of going and more horses have an opportunity to run.

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Smiling Goodbye is one such horse. A 7-year-old gelding owned and trained by Debbie Peery, who has four wins from 30 career starts, Smiling Goodbye hasn’t raced since last August – and not for a lack of trying two months into Emerald’s meet.

“I’ve entered him quite a few times,” Peery said. “I entered him in a $15,000 [claiming race]. One time it had four and they called it off. If I’m going to run him, I have to run him in this 25 to see where he’s at. He’s got to get started.”

“This 25” is Friday’s race 7, a $25,000 claiming event at six furlongs that serves as the nominal feature on an eight-race card. It’s attracted a seven-horse field, and a good one at that.

A pair of horses owned and trained by Sergio Perez have the two best last-out Beyer Speed Figures in the field. Golden River (82) and Elegant Boy (78) have been racing consistently throughout this year.

The always formidable Blaine Wright barn has a pair in Elder Mack and El Bromista who, like Smiling Goodbye, are capable of winning on their best day.

“I was hoping for an easier spot, but I have a lot of confidence in this horse,” Peery said of Smiling Tiger. “I believe he’ll try. It is a very tough race.

“I looked at the Form and said, ‘Oh boy.’ He can’t read, so we’ll be okay. We’ll have a good idea of where he’s at and where he needs to be after this.”

With the Independence Day holiday leaving only two days of racing this weekend, it offers a preview of things to come.

“He [Ziegler] says they’re gonna run 11 races [per day], but when they have a hard time filling the 11, are they actually going to do it?” Peery wondered. “This is a point where management needs to step up and do what they’re saying, and we need to enter, too.”

To accommodate Friday's fireworks, first post will be an earlier than usual 5 p.m. Pacific.

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