Trackattacker will skip Auburn Handicap

AUBURN, Wash. – An anticipated rematch between the speedy 3-year-olds Prime Engine and Trackattacker will have to wait. Prime Engine will start Sunday in the $50,000 Auburn Handicap at Emerald Downs, but Trackattacker, the fastest 2-year-old at Emerald last summer until Prime Engine eclipsed him in the season-ending Gottstein Futurity, will not.

Trackattacker, who captured his first four starts by a combined 36 1/4 lengths, made his season debut May 10 in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race, and while he held on to win by a neck, Trackattacker did not run particularly fast – he received a Beyer Speed Figure of 58 – nor did he finish with much energy. He returned to work a fast six furlongs last Monday, but trainer Frank Lucarelli wanted to see more.

“I just want to wait,” Lucarelli said of skipping the Auburn. “I don’t think he’s 100 percent, though there’s nothing wrong with him physically. He worked fast, but I don’t feel like he’s ready yet. That’s why we ran in the allowance, to get a prep and try to sharpen him up. He’s not training as good as he should be. He’s not as sharp.”

Lucarelli was reluctant to hook Prime Engine, O B Harbor, and others over the Auburn’s 6 1/2 furlongs.

“It’s a good race,” he said. “You better be ready. I don’t want to go unless I’m 100 percent.”

Ross likes Gloria’s Angelo

Gloria’s Angelo likely will be an outsider in the wagering for the Auburn Handicap, but trainer Larry Ross is enthused about his horse’s chances against the track’s leading 3-year-olds. Gloria’s Angelo finished sixth, beaten 4 1/2 lengths, in the $81,100 San Pedro Stakes at Santa Anita in his last start.

“He’s a pretty nice horse, I think. He’s been training great,” Ross said. “That’s what he likes to do; he’s real serious about it. I would expect a good run from him.”

Owners Jim and Mary Beth Perkins paid $110,000 for Gloria’s Angelo, plucking him last July from a sale of horses of racing age at Keeneland. By City Zip, Gloria’s Angelo has won two of four starts. He won a maiden race at Presque Isle Downs last June and captured a first-level allowance at Golden Gate Fields in January.

When he starts Sunday, Gloria’s Angelo will run up against Prime Engine, the runaway winner of the 2014 Gottstein Futurity, and O B Harbor, an impressive allowance winner in his last start.

“They’ll be tough, but we’ve got a little bit of a fitness edge,” Ross said. “I really like this horse. That race at Santa Anita, he ran a pretty credible race, and one of the horses that beat him, Kentuckian, came back and won a Grade 3, so I’m looking forward to it. But the longer the races, the better he’s going to be. He stretches out pretty well.”

Stryker Phd eyes Budweiser

Stryker Phd, the leading handicap horse at Emerald Downs, is getting closer to his first start of the year. The 6-year-old Stryker Phd jogged Friday morning for Ross, readying for the one-mile Budweiser Handicap on June 14.

“Stryker looks great, knock on wood,” Ross said. “He’s going forward.”

Stryker Phd was 3 for 3 at Emerald Downs last year, with victories in the Budweiser and Mt. Rainier handicaps preceding his late-running victory in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile. He made two subsequent starts in California, finishing second behind Regally Ready in the Big Bear Stakes at Santa Anita and third behind Pepper Crown in the Grade 3 Berkeley Stakes at Golden Gate. Ross said Stryker Phd has returned a “little bit bigger, a little bit stronger” following five months off.

“The start at Santa Anita I was really happy with,” Ross said. “The horse that beat us won the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He’s for real. And then in the Berkeley, Stryker never really got to run. He got stuck inside and never was able to make his move. I wasn’t disappointed. It was nothing he did.”

Horse population tops 1,000

There were 999 horses on the Emerald grounds before a pair of horses showed up at the barn gate last Saturday – pushing the horse population beyond 1,000 for the first time since 2011.

Emerald officials said a more lucrative purse structure in 2015 has prompted the influx. Overnight purses are up 20 percent from a year ago, leading several new trainers from Turf Paradise in Phoenix to choose Emerald Downs as their summer destination. Field sizes spiked over the weekend to an average of 7.9 entrants over 20 races Saturday and Sunday. The average field size at Emerald last year was 6.27 horses per race.