Blazinbeauty collared previously unbeaten So Lucky past mid-stretch and drew off for a six-length victory Sunday in the $65,000 Gottstein Futurity for 2-year-olds Sunday on closing day at Emerald Downs.
Becoming only the third filly at Emerald Downs and 13th overall to win the Gottstein, Blazinbeauty ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:45 flat, and paid $14, $2.80 and $2.20. Isaias Enriquez rode the winner at 120 lbs for trainer Frank Lucarelli and owner Darrin Paul of Bothell Wash.
So Lucky, the 1-9 favorite, lost for the first time in five career starts, setting rapid fractions before giving way in the final furlong. Ridden by Rocco Bowen at 120 lbs, So Lucky paid $2.10 and $2.10 and accounted for $93,056 of $105,815 in the show pool.
Sharkzilla, a 42-1 outsider ridden by Leslie Mawing at 120 pounds, rallied from last to finish third and paid $7 to show, while Mixo, Warspite, Max the Kitty and Ask Not completed the order of finish.
A Kentucky-bred by Tale of Ekati-Rockport Beauty, Blazinbeauty improved to 2-2-0 in four starts with earnings of $81,575 including $40,750 for Sunday’s win. She ended the year with back-to-back stakes wins and was voted the track’s Top 2-Year-Old Filly.
So Lucky set fractions of :22.61, :45.66 and 1:10.50, and still led by two lengths into the lane, but started to tire noticeably in the final furlong.
“I wanted to put my horse in the clear and just waited and waited,” said Enriquez, who rallied the winner from fifth place. “When it was time to go, she just kept getting closer and closer. I thought we could win it at the quarter-pole. She had so much horse and I hadn’t even asked her yet.”
Striking the front between the eighth and sixteenth poles, Blazinbeauty drew off to win with complete authority.
Bowen said the plan to relax So Lucky went awry, as the speedy colt set fast fractions for a two-turn race.
“At the top of the lane, I knew he was getting tired,” Bowen said. “I was just hoping and praying I could keep him together, but I couldn’t get the job done.
“I was trying to slow him down early but I didn’t want to slow him down too much and get him behind horses. He’s such a good horse. I know he can go two turns.”
So Lucky earned $16,500 to increase his total to $103,835 for owners Pegasus Too and Rising Star Stable. Trained by Howard Belvoir, So Lucky compiled a 4-1-0 record in five starts, and was voted the meet’s Top 2-Year-Old and Top Washington-Bred. In fact, Belvoir trained two of the meet’s top four earners – Barkley ($110,775) and So Lucky–and led all trainers with seven stakes wins.
Notes
Sharkzilla is owned by John Parker, owner of 2015 Gottstein winner Gold Rush Dancer and honorary steward for this year’s race. … Trainer Guy Winchester picked up his first win of the meet in the season finale, as Fearless Fiona ($41.40) and jockey Francisco Diaz-Lopez led gate-to-wire in the 11th race. … Juan Gutierrez, Erick Lopez and Javier Matias rode two winners apiece. … Rocco Bowen closed out his first Emerald Downs riding title with a victory on Lots of Prayers ($7.40) in race five. It was his 110th victory, 10 more than Julien Couton rode while winning the 2015 title. … Blaine Wright was two-for-two closing day and captured his first Emerald Downs training championship with 39 wins, edging Frank Lucarelli and Jeff Metz by two wins for the title. … He’s Cagey, trained by Wright, became the meet’s lone six-time winner with a 6½-length victory in race nine. A 7-year-old Idaho-bred, He’s Cagey was voted the meet’s Top Claimer. … Paul Johnson had a big weekend, collecting Owner of the Week honors Saturday and a second straight victory with 4-year-old gelding Meatball Paul ($5) in Sunday’s fourth race.
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