Not much separating top two

It is hard to separate Bullet Drill and La Waun as the they go for hat tricks in a first-level allowance race Wednesday at Emerald Downs. The sixfurlong dash has a $30,000 claiming option. It drew seven horses and goes as race 10 on an 11-race card that begins at 2:15 p.m. Pacific.

Bullet Drill will likely be a slight favorite over La Waun and Windribbon, who is coming off a 12 1/2-length romp in a $25,000 conditioned claimer in his first start at Emerald for trainer Blaine Wright.

Bullet Drill forced the pace when he won an open $25,000 claimer going 5 1/2 furlongs on July 29. The Frank Lucarelli-trained

son of Coast Guard is versatile. He was fifth before he rallied to win a similar race on June 25.

Javier Matias rode Bullet Drill in both wins and will be aboard when the 5-yearold Washington-bred gelding breaks from post 6. With plenty of potential speed in the field, it would not be surprising to see Matias ease Bullet Drill into a stalking position.

La Waun is trending in the right direction for trainer Candice Cryderman. A 5-yearold son of The Pamplemousse, La Waun was an easy fourlength winner of a $10,000 claimer, $12,500 for Washington-breds, on July 8. It was a key race with a couple of next-out winners, most notably Owners’ Prestige, who received 80 and 79 Beyer Speed Figures for his back-to-back front running wins for $12,500 on July 20 and $10,000 on Aug. 20.

La Waun came back to win a $10,000 starter race with a $15,000 claiming option July 29. It also was a key race, with Malibu Bay and Buckley Bay coming back to win their next races. Most notable was Buckley Bay, who received a 74 Beyer for his front-running win going a mile at the same level on Aug. 12.

La Waun does want to be involved early. In nine of his 10 lifetime wins he held the lead at the second call. The only time he won when he was not in front at the call was in his latest, when he was a head behind Buckley Bay at the half-mile point of the six-furlong dash. He eventually took command at the sixteenth pole.

He will break from post 2 with Alex Cruz retaining the mount.

With just one way of going, La Waun could have his hands full with Windribbon breaking from post 4 with Juan Gutierrez riding.

A California-bred 4-yearold by Sway Away, Windribbon could not have been more impressive winning his Emerald debut.

With Gutierrez aboard, he set fast interior fractions before drawing off to win in hand.

This is a lot tougher spot, but Windribbon is lightly raced with just seven starts, and in his blowout win he did show an affinity for the local surface.