Mile Preview Day, Sunday, Aug. 1, is the final chance for local aspirants to prepare for the 75th running of the $250,000 Longacres Mile Grade 3 on Sunday, Aug. 22.
The stakes doubleheader features the $50,000 Mount Rainier Handicap for older horses at one and one-eighth miles, and the $50,000 Boeing Handicap for older fillies and mares at one and one-sixteenth miles. The latter stakes is the final tune-up for fillies and mares on the road to the $75,000 Emerald Distaff, also on Aug. 22.
The Mount. Rainier has accomplished what it was designed to do. In fact, history says it’s a good bet the Mount Rainier winner will also prevail in The Mile. Assessment (2009), The Great Face (2007) and Flamethrowintexan (2006) all swept the Mount Rainer and Longacres Mile en route to Horse of the Meeting honors. And in 2008, Wasserman missed by a head to Chhaya Dance in the Mount Rainier before posting his stunning upset in the Longacres Mile.
Assessment, back in form after a 6-to-1 score over Noosa Beach in the July 11 Governor’s Handicap, and Wasserman, who just became the all-time leading earner in races at Washington tracks, are back for another crack in the Mount Rainier. Noosa Beach, the early favorite for Horse of the Meeting, lost little in the Governor’s defeat. The 4-year-old has had a brilliant campaign that includes victories in the Seattle and Budweiser handicaps.
The 2009 Boeing produced the first dead-heat for win in an Emerald Downs stakes race, as Elusive Horizon and Holy Nova hit the wire as a team.
Veterans Clair Annette and Gadget Queen will be formidable in the Boeing. A triple stakes winner at Emerald Downs, 7-year-old scored a 5 ½-length gate-to-wire victory in the July 4 King County Handicap. Gadget Queen, a 6-year-old, has finished first, second or third in eight stakes at Emerald Downs, including victories in the 2009 Washington State Legislators Stakes and 2008 Belle Roberts Handicap. Cliff’s Secret, on the other hand, is a 4-year-old filly nominated to her first stakes after three straight victories in claiming races.
