Knight Raider put the exclamation point on a remarkable Saturday for trainer Doris Harwood with a resounding 6-¾-length victory in the $50,000 Angie C Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Emerald Downs.
Ricky Frazier won his fourth win of the day aboard Knight Raider winning the six furlongs in a stakes record 1 minute 9 2/5 seconds and paid $3.40, $2.40 and $2.10.
The victory was Harwood’s fifth of the day, tying the track record for training wins in a day set by Jim Penney in 1998, and also tying a state record set on four occasions at Longacres and Yakima Meadows.
“You are going to have to pull me out of the clouds,” said Harwood. “When I looked at The Racing Form, I thought I had a chance to win six races, and it worked out well. It’s just such an honor to tie a man like Jim Penney in the record books.”
A Washington-bred by Tribunal, Knight Raider has won her last three starts by a combined 30 ½ lengths, including a 13-length score in the July 12 Knights Choice Stakes. The $24,750 first prize bumped the filly’s earnings to $44,693 for co-owners Harwood, Nina Hagen, Hollis Sturgeon, Delores Christiansen and Colleen Caufield.
Sheyenne Girl, an 8-1 long shot with Seth Martinez riding, rallied for second place and paid $7.40 and $4.60. It was three lengths back to Rewritten, Javier Matias riding, and a $3.60 show payoff.
Knight Raider sprinted clear immediately, opening a five-length lead after a quarter-mile in 21 3/5. She extended the lead to eight lengths into the lane and was home free to the wire.
“I thought we were the big-time speed of the speed in this race,” said Frazier, the meet’s leading rider with 116 wins. “We wanted to separate from the field and relax.”
Harwood tied Tim McCanna at 43 in the trainers’ standings, and she also ranks first with seven stakes wins in 2009. Harwood won the second race with Jasmine’s Melody ($7.60), the third with Topper’s Gem ($12.40), the seventh with Jadie Cahill ($11.60), the eighth with Proud Nicholas ($3.40) and the ninth with Knight Raider.
Proud Nicholas, also ridden by Frazier, scored a 9-¾-length romp in the co-featured eighth race, a $21,500 allowance test for 3-year-olds at one mile. Owned by Frank Gaunt, the Proud Citizen gelding was timed in 1:36, and is yet another talented sophomore in the Harwood barn that also features stakes winners Noosa Beach and Winning Machine.
Harwood’s only non-winners Saturday were Ochocho See Me Go, who finished fourth in the fourth race, and Terrific Tiffany, who pressed the pace before finishing sixth in the Angie C.
NOTES:
• Longacres Mile contender Sierra Sunset breezed four furlongs in 1-4/5 Saturday morning for trainer Jeff Bonde.
• Longacres Mile nominee Talkin to Mom Roo finished third to Zensational ($2.80) in the Grade I, $300,000 Big Crosby Handicap at Del Mar.
