Forener lived up to billing Saturday with an impressive victory in his first start as a 3-year-old at Emerald Downs.
With Gallyn Mitchell riding, Forener shook off double stakes winner Koala Beach in upper stretch and edged clear for a 1 ¾-length victory in the $18,0000 allowance feature for 3-year-olds.
Forener ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1 minute,3 seconds on a fast track and paid $2.80 and $2.40. The Kentucky-bred gelding by Lost Soldier is now 3-for-3 with earnings of $29,700 for trainer Vann Belvoir and owners Swag Stables and Appassionato Stables.
Clear to Canada, Mario Gutierrez riding, rallied from last to finish second, and paid $4.40 for place. Rescue Plan was third and Koala Beach finished fourth and last.
Boundtogetbusy and Saintly I Ain’t were scratched earlier in the day.
Breaking from the rail, Forener set a pressured pace from the inside, as Koala Beach and jockey Ricky Frazier pushed the winner through fractions of 22 1/5 and 45 1/5. Forener kicked clear into the lane, drew well clear past mid-strech after five furlongs in 57, and appeared to have something left.
“What a pleasure to ride a horse like (Forener),” said Mitchell, noting it was Forener’s first start since last July. “It makes my job easy.”
The $50,000 Auburn Handicap on May 23 is the first major race for sophomores this season, and the 6 ½-furlong dash could mark the stakes debut for Forener. Hollywood Harbor, the Top Juvenile of 2009, has yet to run in 2010.
News and Notes
* Hall-of-Fame trainer Jim Penney continued his torrid pace with back-to-back wins in the third and fourth races by Private Fortune ($9) and Denkenesh ($33). Penney is 5-for-8 at the meet and 8-for-11 in 2010. He ranks third all-time at Emerald Downs with 463 wins, just four behind third place Howard Belvoir.
* Congratulations to the grand dame of Emerald Downs, Lorna Brown, as her 4-year-old Silver Mench ($9.40) scored in the fifth race. The gray gelding gave jockey Matt Hagerty his first win of the meet.
* Francisco Duran made it two wins in two days as the newcomer steered Denkenesh to the upset in the fourth…Seeking Ema, stakes-placed three times last season as a 3-year-old maiden, finished third as part of the heavily-favored Northwest Farms entry in the third. In 10 starts, the kin to the great Ema Bovary has four seconds, four thirds and earnings of $43,042.
* The sixth race produced one of the most exciting finishes of the young meet as Pete’s Glory Girl ($6.60) and Ricky Frazier prevailed by a nose over both Button Em Up and Dolly Varten, who dead-heated for place.
* Inoel Beato book-ended the card, winning the first on Mobius ($16.60) and the last aboard Smoken West ($5.40), for his second double in five days…The second week of racing wraps up Sunday with first post at 2 p.m.
