Tequila Gold unleashed a furious rally and won a three-horse photo in the $15,100 feature race for 3-year-olds Saturday at Emerald Downs.

Ridden by Troy Stillwell, the winner prevailed by a head and paid $7.20, $3.80 and $3.20. Tequila Gold, trained by Charles Essex and owned by Kimberly Nobles, ran six furlongs in 1 minute, 9 1/5 seocnds on a fast track.

Cat On Base, ridden by Kevin Krigger, nosed out Howmuchisit for second place and paid $3.40 and $3.20. Howmuchisit, ridden by Gallyn Mitchell, finished third and returned $4.

Howmuchisit, with Mitchell bidding for the 2,500th victory of his 29-year-career, ran a resilient race to just miss the victory. The Slewdledo gelding battled back for the lead past mid-stretch and looked like the winner. Tequila Gold, however, rallied in the middle of the track, surging to victory in the final strides.

Cat On Base also passed Howmuchisit in the final stride to gain the place by a nose.

Tequila Gold—unbeaten in four starts at the meeting—became the sixth horse to win four races at Emerald Downs in 2010. One of the four-time winners—Noosa Beach—is one of the favorites Sunday in the $250,000 Longacres Mile (GIII).

A Washington-bred gelding by Harbor the Gold, Tequila Gold has a 4-0-0 record in five career starts with earnings of $27,390.

Blame the Jockey, the 8-to-5 betting favorite, finished fourth, followed by Jiddaw and Cyber Bell.

News and Notes

Classielyte ($4.20) also improved to 4-for-4 at the meet with a two-length victory in the fourth race. It was the 5-year-old Memo gelding’s first start since May 14….9-year-old Starbird Road ($14) returned to the winner’s circle for the first time in over 3 years with a 1-½ length victory under Ricky Frazier in the seventh race. It was the 11th career victory for the Count the Time gelding, a multiple stakes winner at Emerald Downs for owners Jockey Francisco Duran and trainer Doris Harwood combined for back-to-back victories with Debbie’s Ferrari ($6.60) and Fueled by Kaffine ($19.40) in the second and third races…Jim Penney also saddled consecutive winners with Classielyte in the fourth and Tullamore Dew ($16.40) in the fifth…Frazier, Duran and Juan Gutierrez rode two winners each on the nine-race card. It was the 24th multiple-win day for Frazier, who owns a 92-69 lead over Gutierrez in the jockeys’ standings…Tim McCanna, who got a win with Run Tin Tin ($5.20) in the sixth race, leads Vann Belvoir and Frank Lucarelli 48-43 in the jockeys’ standings…Live racing continues Sunday with the 75th Longacres Mile. First post is 2 p.m. The Mile is Race 8 at 5:53 p.m. (approx.) with Gallant Son and jockey Leslie Mawing listed as the 5-to-2 morning line favorite…The $75,000 Emerald Distaff goes as Race 6 with Christmas Ship the 5-to-2 morning line favorite.