Arrowthegreat cooks up rail trip to win Longacres Mile
Arrowthegreat took advantage of jockey Manny Americano’s ground-saving trip after breaking from post 1. He closed into a 2 1/4-length win Sunday at Emerald Downs in the 90th running of the $125,000 Longacres Mile.
It was a Pacific Northwest triumph for the 5-year-old Arrogate gelding who was the 3-2 post-time favorite. The owner Radley Equine is led by celebrity chef Brian Malarkey, an Oregon native whose mother was a trainer and father was a horse owner at tracks in the region.
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Trained by Southern California-based Dan Blacker, Arrowthegreat settled as many as seven lengths off the pace set by Masen (35-1). The honest, early fractions on the fast main track were 23.19, 46.39 and 1:10.00.
Arrowthegreat still was in fourth place as the field of 10 horses, ages 3 and up, moved out of the second turn. When Masen and his closest pursuer What a Dude (7-1) faded, early stalker Clovisconnection (7-2) accelerated down the middle of the track to lead through a mile at 1:22.27.
All the while Americano had Arrowthegreat moving along the rail, taking the lead near the sixteenth pole. From there Arrowthegreat extended his advantage to complete his second consecutive win with a final time of 1:34.41. Last month he won an $80,000 allowance race going a mile at Del Mar.
Arrowthegreat paid $5.08, $3.42 and $3.10. Clovisconnection and leading Emerald Downs jockey Kevin Krigger finished second to pay $4.66 and $3.94. Bearings (30-1) returned $7.70 to show under Kevin Orozco, who stepped in when originally named jockey Alex Cruz was injured in a fifth-race spill riding I’m Noble. Cruz was not seriously hurt and was in and out of a nearby hospital. San Andres, ridden by Julien Couton, clipped heels with I’m Noble in the upper stretch. Couton rode his remaining mounts Sunday including Slew’s Tiz Whiz (9-2) to a seventh-place finish in the feature. The two horses avoided serious injury.
Bred in Kentucky at Hinkle Farms, Arrowthegreat is out of Arch dam Burning Arch. He was sold for $60,000 as a yearling. His record is 18: 4-6-1 with all the wins coming at a mile at Del Mar, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and now Emerald Downs. This was his first stakes triumph in five tries.
Bettors wagered an Emerald Downs’ single-day record of $3,305,806 on the 11-race card, just missing the state record of $3,339,087 set Sept. 21, 1992, on the last day Longacres ever hosted races.
The Longacres Mile is named for the track where the race was held from 1935 to 1992. It was run at Yakima Meadows in 1993, 1994 and 1995. It has been run since 1996 at Emerald Downs.