Noosa Beach continued his bid for 2010 Emerald Downs Horse of the Meeting by capturing the biggest jewel in Northwest racing’s crown, the Longacres Mile, on Sunday.
With Ricky Frazier on board, the four-year-old gelding, winner of five of his six starts this season, overcame a rough start and cruised to a 1 ½ length victory over second-place Jersey Town. Noosa Beach completed the Mile in 1:34 4/5. Assessment, the defending Mile champ, finished third.
According to Frazier, Noosa Beach – running in the fifth position – got tangled with Gallon as the gates opened.
“Gallon and I were side by side, but when the doors opened both us broke straight,” Frazier said. “And his horse (Gallon) and my horse (Noosa Beach), I must have come down first and he came down right behind me and stepped right in the middle of my horse’s foot. My horse stumbled hard after he stepped on it.”
Noosa Beach, trained by Doris Harwood, overcame the start, however, delivering Frazier his second Mile win and Harwood her first.
“He’s such a big, strong horse,” Frazier continued. “He’s not a quitter. He won’t quit. It shows just how much class he has. He really and truly just ran a fabulous race and showed so much class. So much class.”
“It’s really the highlight of my career,” Harwood said.
Frazier, the track’s leading jockey in wins and stakes wins, thanked the crowd after the race.
“I’m so proud there is such a big crowd here,” Frazier said. “It’s fun, it’s fun to ride in with this many people here and the cheers I heard. It’s awesome, it‘s just an awesome feeling and I hope you all understand how much you all make us appreciate what we’re dong when you all come out here and cheer like you all did today.”
The win earns Noosa Beach a starting berth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, a Grade 1 to be run Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.
Noosa Beach came into the race at 9-to-5 and paid $5.60, $3.80 and $3. The victory was worth $96,250 for owner Jeff Harwood, who co-bred the winner with his wife and trainer.
Rounding out the rest of the field were Almost Time, Winning Machine, Gallant Son, Teide, Davos, Wasserman, Senor Rojo, Burj Dubai and Gallon.
NOTES: Gallyn Mitchell notched career victory No. 2,500 on first-time starter Mack’s Golden Bullet ($4.80) in the first race. The only jockey to ride all 15 years at Emerald Downs, Mitchell is the track’s all-time leader with 1,234 victories…Mawing speculated Gallant Son might have struggled with the surface switch from turf to dirt. “He started to make his move at the half-mile pole, but he never really gave me his usual spurt,” Mawing said. “It was hard to make up the ground. The leaders were just too far ahead.”…Jersey Town earned $50,000 for his runner-up effort, the second time trainer Tim McCanna has finished second in The Mile. Krigger was happy with the second-place finish. “I had the perfect stalking trip,” he said. “He made his move on the leader, but by then (Noosa Beach) had already made a big lead. He’s a really nice horse, and Tim (McCanna) has done an awesome job with him.”…In addition to becoming the only four-time stakes winner at the meet, Noosa Beach also became the first horse to win five races. He began the meet with a neck victory over Winning Machine in a six-furlong allowance race April 18.
