The 6-year-old Washington-bred mare Reba Is Tops capturing the $61,000 Raise Your Skirts Stakes at Hollywood Park Friday, Nov. 26. The turf sprint specialist improved her career record to 12-6-3 from 26 starts with earnings of $361,229.
“She just exploded in the stretch,” said co-owner Gordy Jarnig. “It was one of the most thrilling things I’ve seen in a long time.”
Bred by Rich and Ann Richardson, Reba Is Tops began her career at Emerald Downs in 2007, winning three of six starts while being claimed for $17,500 by Jarnig, Eric Schweiger, Ken Marshall and Dave Wakefield.
All of the owners were on hand Friday as Reba Is Tops prevailed as the 2.80-to-1 second choice under Pat Valenzuela for trainer Mark Glatt. Among the horses she beat was betting favorite Waveline, a participant in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Reba Is Tops has won or placed in eight stakes in California, and she isn’t finished yet. According to Jarnig, she will race Jan. 2 in the $100,000 Monrovia Handicap (GIII) on Santa Anita’s hillside turf course
Jersey Town takes Cigar Mile
Jersey Town scored an upset in the $250,000 Cigar Mile (GI) at Aqueduct in New York. Jersey Town ran second in the 2010 edition of the Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs in August.
The longest shot on the board at odds of 34.75-to-1, Jersey Town prevailed by a head over Haynesfield in 1:34.43 on a fast track, earning a 110 Beyer Speed Figure.
It’s interesting to consider Haynesfield defeated Blame by four lengths in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and that Blame emerged from that race to defeat Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Emerald Downs’ track announcer Robert Geller, on holiday in New York, was on hand for the Cigar Mile and said he told New York announcer Tom Durkin to watch out for Jersey Town.
“It was interesting to be in a crowd of New Yorkers, and they were absolutely shocked by the result,” Geller said. “I think we can now say Noosa Beach (winner of the Longacres Mile) would have made an impact in the Breeders’ Cup (Dirt Mile).”
Trained by Barclay Tagg for owner-breeder Charles Fipke, Jersey Town is 5-5-1 in 12 starts with earnings of $394,001. In between stints with Tagg, Barbara Heads trained Jersey Town for his second-place finish in the 2009 British Columbia Derby and Tim McCanna was the conditioner for two races last summer at Emerald Downs including the The Mile.
Gallyn Mitchell finalist for George Woolf award
For the second consecutive year Gallyn Mitchell is a finalist for the 62nd George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, which is considered one of the top honors in the riding profession.
The other finalists are Joe Bravo, Javier Castellano, Corey Lanerie and Garrett Gomez. The award is presented by Santa Anita, but voting is done by members of the Jockeys’ Guild including riders at all Northwest tracks .The winner will be announced in January, and presented in late March or early April.
Mitchell, Emerald Downs’ all-time leading rider with 1,252 wins, has finished in the top five all 15 seasons at Emerald Downs including third with 79 in 2010. The Enumclaw resident also ranks first in earnings with $12,710,057, and second in stakes wins with 67.
“To even be mentioned with the other guys is special,” Mitchell said. “To be one of five jockeys in all North America on the ballot is quite an honor.”
Odds and ends
Bijou Barrister and Ernie Owl, both finalists for Top Claimer at Emerald Downs in 2010, continue on their winning ways in Oregon and Arizona. Bijou Barrister won two recent stakes at Portland Meadows and is 10-3-1 in his last 15 starts for trainer H.R. Mullens and owners Ed Zenker and Swede Larson…Ernie Owl returned from a three-month break to score by a neck under Anne Von Rosen in a $16,000 claimer at Turf Paradise. The 5-year-old gelding is 6-2-2 in 10 starts this year, including five wins in six starts for trainer Mike Chambers…Chambers, incidentally, was 17-for-27 at Turf Paradise thru Nov. 28, for a nifty 62.9 win percentage…Jerry Hollendorfer, meanwhile, was faring almost as well at Portland Meadows, where his runners had tallied in 26-of-43 starts or 60.4 percent…Joe Crispin has ridden most of the Hollendorfer horses and owned a 47-25 lead over Javier Matias in the jockeys’ standings. Crispin tied his own track mark of seven wins in a day Nov. 17, including stakes victories on Bijou Barrister in the Mt. Hood Handicap and El Gaucho for Hollendorfer and owner Mark Dedomenico in the Dennis Dodge Memorial for 2-year-old colts…Ten-time Emerald Downs training champion Tim McCanna has settled in nicely at Golden Gate Fields with a 6-for-28 mark, including a second straight victory by Ron Crockett’s 3-year-old filly Cozzena Angelina…Emerald Derby winner Saratoga Boot finished sixth vs. older horses in the Grade III American Handicap at Golden Gate. Chinook Pass Stakes winner Slew the Man finished fourth in the same race…Ricky Frazier won his fourth straight riding title at the Big Fresno Fair including a triumph aboard Quindici Man in the $50,000 Bulldog Stakes. The leading rider at Emerald Downs five of the last seven years, Frazier plans to ride this winter in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
