Jockey Juan Gutierrez rode Noosa Beach to a half-length victory in the $30,000 Auburn Stakes this Sunday, narrowly defeating Rooster City in the six furlong event.
Noosa Beach captured the stakes win for 3-year-olds with a 1:09 3/5 time, paying $3.40, $2.40 and $2.10.
“It was a nice group of horses today,” Gutierrez, who rode at 117 pounds on Sunday, said. “I knew there was going to be some good competition. I ride him all the time, so I knew I could let him go a little and use his speed. I wasn’t too worried when we were on the lead because I knew he could hold his own with these horses. He ran a great race.”
Gutierrez hustled Noosa Beach to the lead early in the inside post position and maintained it while setting fractional times of :22 and :44 3/5.
The gelding held a one-length lead past mid-stretch, running five furlongs in :56 4/5, and held sway against the fast-closing Rooster City.
Rooster City, ridden by Ricky Frazier at 119 pounds, finished second at odds of 8-1 and paid $4.60 and $2.60. The two horses beat third place Alpakapaluza, ridden by Gallyn Mitchell, by more than 10 lengths.
Enumerator and 2-1 second choice Snake Attack completed the order of finish.
Noosa Beach has a 3-1-1 mark from five starts and earnings of $71,875.
Noosa Beach, who was last seen racing against Gallant Son in the Gottsteinc Futurity seven months ago, is trained by Doris Harwood and owned by Jeff Harwood of Kent, Wash.
“Juan (Gutierrez) and I knew (Noosa Beach) had trained well and showed great speed in his workouts,” Doris Harwood said. “I didn’t tell him how to ride him, it was his decision and he made the right one. It kind of looked like they all took back and maybe they wanted to bait him up in there, but Juan handled the situation perfectly and the horse ran a wonderful race.”
Harwood ranks third among trainers with 29 stakes wins at Emerald Downs while Gutierrez ranks fifth among jockey with 24 all-time stakes wins.
ALSO: Through six days of racing on-track attendance is up 20 percent over last year and total handle is up 10.5 percent from 2008…Jockey Robert Burney rode his first Emerald Downs winner in the fifth race Sunday, piloting Portland Meadows shipper Best Indy West to a $66 upset on the front end. A 22-year-old Idaho native, Burney rode 14 winners this winter at Portland Meadows…Howard Belvoir continued his torrid streak by saddling Prairie Grove ($3) to a score in the first race and Media City ($3.80) to a romp in the seventh. Belvoir has won at least one race on all six cards at the meet and leads the standings with 10 wins…2008 riding champion Seth Martinez returned to the Emerald Downs winner’s circle for the first time in 2009 after guiding Blow It Up ($4.40) to a wire-to-wire victory in the sixth race. Trained by Bill Tollett, Blow It Up returned from a 20-month layoff for the score…2008 Claimer of the Meet Clair Annette returned to action with a speedy score (1:03 for 5 ½ furlongs) in the $20,000 co-feature for fillies and mares, but was disqualified and placed last for causing interference at the break. Elusive Horizon ($8.20), last year’s Washington Oaks winner, was promoted to first and gave both Harwood and Gutierrez their third winners of the day…Cassie Papineau rode two winners and is the leading apprentice with five wins…Ricky Frazier and Gallyn Mitchell each rode a winner and are tied with nine wins apiece…Racing resumes Friday with first post at 6 p.m…Saturday is Kentucky Derby Day and special first post time for the Emerald Downs card is one hour earlier than usual at 1 p.m.
Posted by Shawn Skager
