AUBURN, Wash. – While there is no stakes race this weekend at Emerald Downs, a band of potential stakes-caliber horses will be on display Saturday in the day’s fourth race, a 4 1/2-furlong dash for 2-year-old maidens. Harbor the Gold, the Northwest’s leading stallion, will be represented by four of the eight entrants, and the field includes the siblings of three recent Emerald Downs stakes winners.
AUBURN, Wash. – The future looked bright for Carrabelle Harbor after she won her first two starts, both stakes races, back in 2010. Yet when she starts Saturday in the feature race at Emerald Downs, the 5-year-old Carrabelle Harbor will be trying to get back to the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly two years. Her lengthy losing streak aside, she is likely to start as the favorite in a field of five fillies and mares racing 6 1/2 furlongs in a first-level allowance with a $32,000 optional claiming price. First post for the nine-race card is 2 p.m. Pacific.
AUBURN, Wash. – Jerry Hollendorfer took a look at the $65,000 Washington Oaks, nominated two fillies, and then decided to pass. One of the top fillies in British Columbia was nominated but isn’t coming. So one thing is certain heading into Emerald Downs’s marquee event for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday: The race will be won by a locally based horse for the fourth consecutive year.
AUBURN, Wash. – Carrabelle Harbor, the leading 2-year-old filly at Emerald Downs in 2010, pushed her way to the top of the 3-year-old filly division with a hard-fought victory Sunday in the $50,000 Kent Handicap. Carrabelle Harbor ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.73 on a track labeled wet-fast to defeat 4-5 favorite Class Included by a length. She paid $15.
AUBURN, Wash. – Trainer Doris Harwood holds a strong hand Sunday at Emerald Downs – two aces in one stakes race, and the wild card in another.
Harwood, fresh from a victory with Noosa Beach in the Longacres Mile, will send out the top two contenders in the $50,000 Barbara Shinpoch Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Carrabelle Harbor, already a double stakes winner, figures to be a short-priced favorite. Kids Kooler, an eye-catching maiden winner two weeks ago, is her most serious challenger over the Shinpoch’s eight furlongs.
AUBURN, Wash. - Carrabelle Harbor made short work of six rivals Sunday in the $50,000 Angie C. Stakes for 2-year-fillies at Emerald Downs. A daughter of burgeoning stallion sensation Harbor the Gold, Carrabelle Harbor won for the second time in as many starts and did it easily, by 9-1/4 lengths. She ran six furlongs in 1:10.40 and paid $4.
The Gang and I finished second, a neck ahead of Wings of Pegasus. Iforgottobeme, Giacomina, Boogie to Seattle, and Ms Moscow Mattie completed the order of finish.
AUBURN, Wash. - Harbor the Gold, a rising star in Northwest breeding circles, was represented by two juvenile stakes winners Sunday at Emerald Downs. Couldabenthewhisky captured the $30,000 Strong Ruler Stakes for colts and geldings, and first-time starter Carrabelle Harbor prevailed in the $30,000 Knights Choice Stakes for fillies.