The classy No Flies On Doodle and jockey Gallyn Mitchell held on for a neck victory as Emerald Downs opened its 15th season of Thoroughbred racing before a packed house Friday evening.
With the track’s all-time leading rider at the controls, No Flies On Doodle put away Super Dixie on the turn, kicked three lengths clear past mid-stretch and held off Kaweah Princess, a Northwest newcomer that won two stakes last summer in California, by a diminishing neck.
No Flies On Doodle ran 5 ½ furlongs in a very fast 1:02 flat, and paid $5, $2.80 and $2.20. Vann Belvoir is the trainer for owners Keith Swagerty and Appassionato Stables.
Winner of the 2009 Washington Oaks and runner-up in balloting for Top 3-year-Old Filly, No Flies On Doodle earned $11,000 to push her bankroll to $106,052. The 4-year-old Washington-bred filly by Storm Blast has compiled a 5-2-0 record in eight starts.
Mitchell, now with 1,176 wins at Emerald Downs, also teamed with Vann Belvoir to win the fourth race with Amber O and the eighth with Tactical Hide. Coming off a career-high 54 wins in 2009, Belvoir is loaded with 80 horses and figures to contend for the training title in 2010.
Kaweah Princess, ridden by Inoel Beato, paid $3.20 and $2.20. It was 3 ½ lengths back to Perfect Finish, Jennifer Whitaker riding, and a $2.60 show payoff. The venerable She’s All Silk finished fourth and Super Dixie faded to last after dueling with No Flies On Doodle through fractional splits of 21 2/5 and 43 4/5.
Under mostly clear skies, a lively crowd of nearly 10,000 ushered in the new season at the Northwest’s premier racing venue. Forty flat-screen TV sets were given away to lucky fans—Mike Gastineau and Elise Woodward of KJR 950 AM and David Rose and Aaron Levine of KCPQ 13 assisted with name-drawing duties. The Seattle Police Mounted Patrol performed before the races.
NOTES: Ricky Frazier was taken to Valley General Hospital for precautionary X-rays but reportedly was OK after being unseated by Teasha in the opening strides of the second race. No word on whether, Frazier who has won four of the last six riding titles at Emerald Downs, would ride Saturday…Jockey Deborah Hoonan-Trujillo got off to a flying start with victories in both halves of the early daily double…Apprentice Jorge Rosales notched his first Emerald Downs victory as Champali Lace rolled to an easy victory in the fourth race for trainer Junior Coffey. At odds of 5-1, Champali Lace was the first non-favorite to win in 2010…Not to be outdone, apprentice Pedro Terrero got on the board in the sixth race with a front-running score on the favored Classielyte for trainer Frank Lucarelli.
