Wright doesn't expect to repeat as top trainer

The 2016 race for leading trainer at Emerald Downs came down to the last week of the meet, and with two wins on closing day, Blaine Wright edged Jeff Metz and Frank Lucarelli to capture his first title. Wright won 39 races. Lucarelli and Metz tied for second with 37.

Metz was the leading trainer the previous three years. Lucarelli led the trainer standings five times, most recently in 2012. All three are back with strong stables for the 2017 meet, which begins Saturday.

Wright has 34 horses on the grounds and said he should have 40 pretty soon. He wasn’t expecting to be the leading trainer last year and doesn’t think he has a big chance of repeating.

“It was one of those years when everything came together,” Wright said. “I’m not expecting that to happen again. I just plan on giving my owners a good shot at winning races by spotting them in the right place.”

Wright has been doing just that since he took out his trainer’s license in 1995, winning with 19 percent of his 2,496 starters.

Wright likes the way his stable is shaping up, and he gives a big edge to the horses who have been racing.

“Things look halfway decent,” he said. “We brought some fit horses up from California, which should help us get off to a good start. The horses that stayed in Washington probably won’t be ready until the first week in May. With all the rain, it has been tough to get the local horses fit enough.”

The star of his barn is Alert Bay, who is coming off a win in a one-mile allowance race on Tapeta at Golden Gate Fields last Sunday with Juan Hernandez riding. It was the California-bred millionaire’s first start since he finished fourth in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile last August.

“I was nervous about running him last week because I wasn’t sure if I had him fit enough,” said Wright. “Juan could see I was nervous in the paddock. He told me not to worry because he knew the horse was fit and he was very confident. I felt better after that, and then he ran a huge race. Great horses make trainers look good.”

Wright said that although the Longacres Mile on Aug. 13 is a long way off, the most important race in the Pacific Northwest is certainly on the radar.

Track in good shape

Track superintendent Steve Breckling is in his second year on the job. He moved to the Seattle area to avoid the cold winters in Arkansas, where he held the same position at Oaklawn Park for nine years.

“That worked out well, didn’t it?” he said. “We had record amounts of rain and snow this year.”

Nonetheless, he’s happy to be at Emerald.

“The weather has made it hard to get the track the way we want it,” he said. “But the few good days we’ve had, we’ve been able to pull the track back together in a day or two.”

Emerald has one of the fastest surfaces in North America. Last year, two track records were set: 1:06.86 for six furlongs by Kaabraaj and 1:32.90 by Pied Piper in winning the Longacres Mile.

“It is a fast surface, but horses seem to come off the track pretty good,” he said. “I am not sure if it will be as fast this year. We added approximately 1,000 tons of new material before the bad weather moved in, and we were able to get an exact 5 1/2-inch cushion the whole way around. In all the tests we’ve taken, the soil is very consistent as far as fiber, silt, clay, and sand. My main goal is to create a fair and safe surface for the horses.”

Bowen fresh for new meet

Rocco Bowen dominated the jockey standings at Emerald last year, winning 110 races. Leslie Mawing was a distant second with 70. After Emerald closed, Bowen rode at Golden Gate Fields prior to taking a short break.

“I took some time off and went to Barbados,” he said. “I wanted to be fresh for this meet. I feel good and strong, and I am looking forward to getting going.”