Feeling Fancy loves to race at Emerald Downs.
The Sky Mesa filly is 3-for-3 at Emerald Downs including her first stakes win Sunday in the $50,000 Federal Way Handicap for 3-year-old fillies.
With Francisco Duran up for his first Emerald Downs stakes victory, Feeling Fancy rallied from just off the pace for a 2 ½-length victory over Knight Raider in 1 minute, 15 1/5 seconds for 6 ½ furlongs on a fast track.
Trained by Enumclaw resident Frank Lucarelli and owned by Chris Randall of Bellevue, Feeling Fancy carried 115 pounds and paid $5, $3 and $2.60. The $27,500 first-place check improved her earnings to $51,835.
Feeling Fancy is undefeated at Emerald Downs, but she’s 0-for-3 in California, where Lucarelli said the Kentucky-bred struggled with the synthetic racing surfaces.
Knight Raider, ridden by Ricky Frazier at 120 pounds paid $3 and $2.80. It was the first start of the year for the track’s Top Juvenile Filly of 2009 and, racing with blinkers off, she uncharacteristically raced in fourth place before finishing well for the place.
Private Fortune, with Gallyn Mitchell riding at 116 pounds gained a shot lead past mid-stretch but weakened slightly to finish third. Private Fortune paid $5.
Include the Baby was the 8-5 betting favorite at post time, but she flipped during the loading process and was a late scratch. Instead, Feeling Fancy wound up as the 3-2 choice with Knight Raider right behind at 8-5.
Duran said he and Lucarelli figured Feeling Fancy would make the lead, but the jockey called an audible after Snowbound Marquita rushed up inside to claim the front after breaking slowly.
Feeling Fancy put away Snowbound Marquita entering the lane, and then repelled a fresh challenge by Private Fortune.
“Private Fortune did get ahead of me in the stretch, but I knew I had more horse,” Duran said, a 32-year-old Stockton, Calif. native who has ridden mainly in the Bay Area. “It’s great to get my first stakes win at Emerald Downs. I’ve got to start somewhere. I know that Feeling Fancy and I will win some more stakes races this year.”
Frazier, who rode Knight Raider to three stakes wins last year, said he was surprised to be in fourth place early.
“I felt we’d be on the lead, but she wouldn’t get on the bridle at all,” Frazier said. “She was the ultimate professional in the paddock, but somewhere she just totally lost focus. It took a quarter-mile to get her to run. I had a couple openings on the inside, and I really had to ride her to get up there. She had already switched to her left lead early and that’s to far to run on the left lead.
“I don’t have any excuses for why she didn’t run her race. She was so relaxed that maybe I should have wound her up more.”
News and Notes
• Kaweah Princess, second to No Flies On Doodle in the opening night allowance feature, finished second in the $50,000 Brighouse Belles for fillies and mares at Hastings Racecourse. Concert Music ($5.20) was the winner.
• Fresh off the training title at Turf Paradise, Mike Chambers is off and running at Emerald Downs with three wins in four starts including a hard-earned triumph by Positive Force ($4.40) in the co-featured eighth race. The royally bred son of Storm Cat ran six furlongs in 1:08 1/5.
• It was a bittersweet day for trainer Jim Penney, who won the third with first-time starter Squeallin By ($36.60) and the fifth with Get You ($11.60), but then had Include the Baby scratched at the starting gate.
• Congratulations to jockey A.L. “Tony “ Gutierrez as he broke into the 2010 win column with the gate-to-wire score aboard Squeallin By.
• Live racing resumes Friday. Emerald Downs is open for simulcasts Wednesday-Sunday, and Saturday’s action includes the 135th running of the Preakness Stakes.
