Vivacious Tribute broke sharply from the outside and made every pole a winning one in the $50,000 King County Express Stakes for 2-year-olds at Emerald Downs on Sunday. Owner Margaret Root had the comfort of owning each of the two top betting favorites in the 5 1/2-furlong feature with Vivacious Tribute returning $5.76 to win and favorite Big Bowie checking in third at 6/5. On the glib Emerald surface Vivacious Tribute sped a quarter-mile in 21.51 and a half-mile in 43.97 seconds, before stopping the timer in 1:03.79 for 5 1/2 furlongs. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Debuting Bodi Zafa saved ground much of the way and flew home between foes to get second by a head in front of Big Bowie, who was another head in front of Da Smoke in the field of six. It was a group comprised of a trio of debuters and three with limited race experience.  A Blaine Wright trainee, Vivacious Tribute had been a swift maiden winner on June 9 with Karlo Lopez in the saddle for each success. The gelding is a homebred by Tom's Tribute out of Vivacious Beauty and Sunday's victory marked the first Emerald Downs stakes win for Lopez. Da Smoke forced the early pace and held on very well considering the torrid early splits. He found himself precisely two lengths back at every point of call, a considerable improvement over his debut face-off with Vivacious Tribute, in which Da Smoke was second, but beaten 5 1/4 lengths by the winner. The next stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings on the Emerald schedule is the Aug. 4 WTBOA Lads. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.