44-day meeting gets started

Emerald Downs begins its 25th season of racing with a 10-race card Wednesday. As per the new normal, there will be no fans in attendance. Owners of horses running will be permitted to watch from the tarmac. They are only allowed to watch races in which their horses are participating.

The current schedule is for live racing on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Post time for Wednesdays is 2:15 p.m. Pacific. The first race on Thursdays is 5 p.m.

The 44-day meet runs through Oct. 4.

Emerald ran three days per week last year. Track president Phil Ziegler is hoping that going to two days per week will enhance field size. So far, so good. Last year, Emerald averaged 6.8 horses per race. Prior to scratches, the field size average for the first two days of the 2020 meet is 8.7.

“Since we aren’t going to have fans, it makes sense to race twice a week in order to have full fields for people to wager on,” Ziegler said. “Nothing is set in stone, though. If fans are permitted to attend, we will probably go back to racing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Nobody knows if that will happen, though. It is exciting to get going. Plus, it marks the return of professional sports in Washington.”

In an effort to entice bettors from around North America, there will be a 15 percent takeout on superfectas.

“It’s a great play for the smaller players who are always going up against people with larger bankrolls in the pick five and six,” Ziegler said. “With the smaller takeout, they will also get more money back.”

Ziegler is looking forward to seeing people in the building soon.

“We are going to open offtrack betting areas on Friday,” Ziegler said. “People won’t have a good look at the track, but hopefully when we are running they will be betting on our product as well as the other tracks. We are not expecting large crowds and certainly aren’t promoting this as a live-racing experience.”

The highlight of the meet is the Grade 3, $100,000 Longacres Mile on Sunday, Sept. 13. The $40,000 Angie C Stakes and $40,000 King County Express on Aug. 2 kick off the 16-race stakes schedule worth a total of $720,000.

Trainer Frank Lucarelli again has a strong stable at Emerald. The all-time leading trainer at Emerald, he won a record 81 races last year.

Blaine Wright, leading trainer in 2017, and Jeff Metz, tops in 2018, also will make their presence known.

Gary Wales returns to defend his jockey title. Alex Cruz is a nice addition to a strong jockey colony. Cruz was the leading rider at Turf Paradise this winter. Juan Gutierrez needs 46 wins to tie Gailyn Mitchell’s all-time record of 1,419 wins at Emerald Downs.

The first race Wednesday has been named after Strawberry Morn, who won the US Bank Stakes, which was the first race ever contested at Emerald.

“The only other time we opened in June was Emerald’s first year,” Ziegler said. “We thought it would be nice to honor Strawberry Morn.”

The opening-day feature is a first-level allowance race with a $15,000 claiming option. Wine at Nine, a 17-time winner at Emerald, will be among the favorites in the six-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up.