BY VINCE BRUUN
Director of Media Relations at Emerald Downs

With only five weeks remaining in the 2015 season, it’s time to contemplate the meet’s top horses at Emerald Downs.

Official voting is closing week, Sept. 25-27, and things could change over the meet’s final 15 days.

Nevertheless, here’s one man’s opinion for Horse of the Meeting, Handicap Horse, Washington-bred, Older Filly or Mare, 3-Year-Old, and 3-Year-Old Filly.

Horse of the Meeting – Stryker Phd

Stryker Phd figures to join Noosa Beach (2010-11) as the only two-time winners of Horse of the Meeting at Emerald Downs. Perfect in two seasons and the only two-time Longacres Mile winner at Emerald Downs, Stryker Phd might be the best horse in track history. That’s a big statement, one that could be argued by several camps, but there’s no denying the 6-year-old is the best horse on the grounds.

Kudos to Larry and Sharon Ross for once again mapping out a perfect schedule for Jim and Mona Hour’s gelding, and jockey Leslie Mawing obviously fits the horse to a tee, riding Stryker with utmost confidence. Next stop is the $60,000 Muckleshoot Tribal Classic for Washington-breds on Sept. 13.

Honorable mention: Belle Hill, Lady Rosberg

Top Handicap Horse – Stryker Phd

Fleet Eagle ran the meet’s fastest 6½ furlongs, 1:14.27, while winning the Governor’s Handicap by a stunning 6¾ lengths and Noosito came closer to beating Styker Phd than any horse in two seasons, missing by a neck in the Budweiser Handicap.

Honorable mention: Fleet Eagle, Noosito

Top Washington-bred – Stryker Phd

Things could change; especially with four 2-year-old stakes scheduled in September, but Stryker Phd and Lady Rosberg are the first Washington-breds in eight years to sweep The Mile and Emerald Distaff in the same year.

Honorable mention: Lady Rosberg

Top Older Filly or Mare

Lady Rosberg was brilliant in two starts, winning by 5 ½ lengths in the one-mile Boeing Handicap and by 3¾ lengths in the 1 1/8-mile Emerald Distaff. Although she didn’t face Kikisoblu, easy winner of both sprints stakes, Lady Rosberg gets the nod for winning the meet’s top event for older fillies and mares.

Honorable mention: Kikisoblu

Top 3-Year-Old Colt or Gelding

This was a wild category, with four races producing four different winners and $2 mutuels of $19, $18.40, $68.60 and $3.60. Prime Engine scored runner-up finishes in the Coca-Cola and Seattle Handicaps before adding blinkers for a six-length romp in the Emerald Downs Derby. His overall consistency, along with the powerful win in the Derby, makes a compelling case for Prime Engine. Next stop for the Northern Afleet colt reportedly is the $400,000 Super Derby (Grade 2) at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 12.

Honorable mention: Betrbegone, Thetrailerguy, Fooled Again

Top 3-Year-Old Filly

Belle Hill wasted little time developing into a top-notch filly for Aithon Stable and the Ross’, sweeping all three routes in the four-race series, capped by a five-length triumph in the 1 1/8-mile Washington Oaks. Hard to believe she was unraced at the beginning of 2015, and her quarter-million price tag is looking like a bargain.

Honorable mention: Suva Harbor, Ethan’s Baby

Top tier $25,000 allowance Sunday

A field of seven 3-year-olds and up, including two horses exiting the Longacres Mile, is entered in Sunday’s $25,000 allowance race at six furlongs.

Fleet Eagle, whose only sprint at Emerald Downs was a 6 ¾-length victory in the Governor’s Handicap, comes off a seventh in The Mile and gets a rider switch to Juan Gutierrez. Del Rio Harbor, fifth in The Mile, finished a strong second to Herbie D in his previous six-furlong start July 4.

Coach Royal, winner of four straight and the meet’s only five-time winner, drew the rail and gets his toughest assignment yet for trainer Howie Gibson, who claimed the 6-year-old Lemon Drop Kid gelding for $2,500 in May.

Botch, 3-2-0 in six starts at the meet, looks to rebound from a distant fifth to Scat Daddybaby in the one-mile Pete Pedersen Memorial on Mile day.

Remembertobreathe earned a career-high 89 Beyer while finishing runner-up to Scat Daddybaby, but the 4-year-old D’wildcat gelding is more adept around two turns.

The field for Sunday’s $25,000 Muckleshoot Casino Purse, Race 9, 6:09 p.m.: Coach Royal, Javier Matias, 118 pounds; Trick Or Retreat, Leslie Mawing, 122; Grinder Sparksaglo, Rocco Bowen, 118; Fleet Eagle, Juan Gutierrez, 124; Botch, Jake Barton, 122; Del Rio Harbor, Julien Couton, 118; Remembertobreathe, Francisco Duran, 122.

Italy comes to Emerald Downs

Emerald Downs honors the country of Italy on Sunday by celebrating the region’s rich and festive culture with the track’s annual Italian Day.

Italian cuisine, tarantella dancers, bocci ball, prize drawings and specialty Italian wines will paint Emerald Downs green, white and red throughout the day’s races, which begin at 2 p.m. Weather permitting, kids will have a chance to jump in a wine barrel for Italian Day’s classic grape stomp.

Incidentally, Italian horsemen will also be recognized over the weekend. On Friday, Victor “The Predictor” Cozzetti will accept the award for WA-Bred of the Week for Chaching Pete, and on Sunday, Frank Lucarelli will be awarded Emerald Downs Trainer of the Week.

Finish lines

Weekly Honors #19-Jockey – Debbie Hoonan; Trainer – Frank Lucarelli; Owner- Bullseye Racing; Groom – Hector Cardenas (Don Munger); WTBOA Washington-bred – Chaching Pete (Vic-Tory Stables VII). … With 15 days left in the 70-day meeting, Julien Couton is closing in on the Thoroughbred riding title. The 34-year-old Frenchman leads Juan Gutierrez 75-63 with defending champion Leslie Mawing third with 60 wins. Gutierrez leads in win percentage (23.4) while Mawing is No. 1 in stakes wins (7) and earnings ($1,037,834). … Mawing has an incredible record in stakes races the last two seasons at Emerald Downs: 42-18-17-3-$796,552. That total, of course, includes a 6-for-6 mark on Stryker Phd and back-to-back Mile wins. … In the Thoroughbred trainers’ standings, Jeff Metz is closing in on a third straight title with 46 wins and has a good chance to top last year’s total of 49 wins. … In Quarter Horses, Javier Matias leads the jockeys with a 7-for-13 mark while Pablo Madrigal leads the trainers with a 7-for-20 record. … Saturday’s 10-race card begins with a pair of Quarter Horse allowance events for older horses. Jacango , already with meet-fastest times at 220 and 300 yards, tries his luck at 400 yards in the opener. He is also the only Quarter Horse with three wins at the meet. … Saturday’s $1,250,000 Travers Stakes (Grade 1) with American Pharoah will be shown on the Daktronics big screen at 2:46 p.m. (pacific). … Saturday’s fifth race at Golden Gate Fields, a $33,000 allowance for fillies and mares at five furlongs on turf, features the last two winners of the Seattle Handicap: 2015 winner Deb’s Wildcard and 2014 winner City by the Bay. … Former Emerald Downs rider Joe Crispin is atop he standings at Ferndale with a 7-for-25 mark. The California track finishes its eight-day meet Sunday with the traditional $20,000 Humboldt County Marathon at 1 5/8 miles. … At Del Mar, Washington-bred My Palmilla ( Tribal Rule-Bella Campana ) is entered in Friday’s $125,000 Generous Portion Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. … Sunday at Del Mar, Auburn Handicap winner Fooled Again is entered for an $80,000 tag in an optional claiming race at one mile on turf.