Noosa Beach etched his name into the record books Sunday at Emerald Downs with a hard-earned half-length victory over Winning Machine in the $50,000 Mt. Rainier Handicap.
Carrying a record 126 pounds, the 5-year-old Washington-bred ran one mile and one-sixteenth in 1 minute, 41.13 seconds on a fast track and paid $2.60, $2.10 and $2.10. Gallyn Mitchell had riding honors for trainer Doris Harwood and owner Jeff Harwood of Kent.
With the victory, Noosa Beach moved past Handy N Bold into sole possession of first place all-time in Emerald Downs’ stakes wins with 11. The defending Horse of the Meeting also joined Flamethrowintexan and Poker Brad as repeat winners of the Mt. Rainier, and stamped himself squarely as the horse to beat in the $200,000 Longacres Mile (G3) on Sunday, Aug. 21.
Noosa Beach has won 10 of his last 11 starts, at distances ranging 5-½ furlongs to 1-1/8 miles, and the defending Longacres Mile champion is undefeated in four career starts at one mile. By Harbor the Gold-Julia Rose, Noosa Beach has a lifetime mark of 14-3-2 in 20 starts with earnings of $480,722. At Emerald Downs his record is 13-3-1 in 18 starts with $421,555 in earnings.
Unlike most of his victories, this one remained in doubt until the final yards as Noosa Beach finally edged away from his old nemesis and stable mate Winning Machine. In third place on the last turn, Noosa Beach rallied three deep into contention, collared Winning Machine past mid-stretch and held sway to the wire.
Winning Machine, ridden by Leslie Mawing at 117 lbs., paid $3.20 and $2.40.
Assessment, the only horse to defeat Noosa Beach the last two seasons, was 1-½ lengths farther back in third place. The 5-to-1 second choice ridden by Juan Gutierrez at 118 lbs., Assessment paid $2.20.
Saratoga Boot and Davos completed the order of finish.
Allowed to set relatively soft fractions of :23.94, :47.65 and 1:10.88, Winning Machine had something left when Noosa Beach and Mitchell came a calling three deep into the stretch.
“There was a lot of pressure to win today, especially since we were spotting the field nine pounds,” Mitchell said. “Luckily, (Noosa Beach) is such a big horse that the weight didn’t bother him.
“I thought that somebody else would go to the lead because they had to try something to beat my horse. I just wanted to make sure not to take Noosa Beach out of his game. He knows what his job is. The leaders were going pretty easy up front, but I just bided my time. When I got the lead, the other horses never came back to me. I think he’s on top of his game.”
Although she’s accustomed to watching her horse throttle the opposition, Doris Harwood said she was pleased with the effort by Noosa Beach. Especially since he was able to rate off both Winning Machine and Assessment.
“When you’re in front at the wire, that’s a good effort,” Harwood said. “He can run, and he has the heart to finish.”
AWESOME GEM POSSIBLE FOR LONGACRES MILE
West Point Thoroughbreds’ $2.5-million earner Awesome Gem could make another trip to Emerald Downs for the $200,000 Longacres Mile (G3) on Sunday, Aug. 21, trainer Craig Dollase said Sunday.
Reached at his Del Mar stable, Dollase said the 8-year-old Awesome Again gelding, runner-up to Assessment in the 2009 Longacres Mile, would at least be nominated to The Mile. “It’s a possibility, one of the races we’re considering,” Dollase said.
Already in 2011 Awesome Gem has raced in six races at six different tracks including a victory in the Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap on May 30. Most recently, Awesome Gem finished fifth in the Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup, a race he won over odds-on favorite Rail Trip in 2010.
Lifetime, Awesome Gem has an 8-14-5 record in 45 starts with earnings of $2,578,270. He has appeared in 34 graded stakes including four Breeders’ Cups, finishing third to Curlin and Hard Spun in the 2007 BC Classic at Monmouth Park.
Nominations close Aug. 7 for the 76th Longacres Mile.
WAY TO GO, WHITAKER
Jockey Jennifer Whitaker of Snohomish made a triumphant return to action with a $27.20 upset aboard Libby Creek for trainer Howard Belvoir in Sunday’s second race.
The track’s No. 1 female rider with 372 victories, Whitaker, 40, missed the first 48 days of the meet after undergoing pre-season shoulder surgery. In Whitaker’s absence, Deborah Hoonan-Trujillo steadily narrowed the gap and ranks second all-time among women jockeys with 360 wins at Emerald Downs.
NOTES: Cliff’s Secret ($3.60) ran the fastest six furlongs of the meeting—1:08.21—and improved to six-for-eight lifetime with a 5-¾ length victory under Juan Gutierrez in the seventh race for $20,000 claiming fillies and mares. A 5-year-old mare by The Cliff’s Edge owned by Michael and Amy Feuerborn and trained by Jim Penney, Cliff’s Secret also owns the fastest 5-½ furlongs of the meet, 1:02.33 on April 29.
Live racing resumes Thursday with first post at 6 p.m. Emerald Downs is open for simulcast wagering Wednesday-Sunday, and the Quarter Chute Café offers simulcast wagering Mondays and Tuesdays.
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