Olympic Lights shines in Saturday feature at Emerald Downs | Horse Racing

Veteran speedster Olympic Lights routed six overmatched opponents Saturday by 5 ¼ lengths in the $11,900 American Horse Transportation Purse for older horses at Emerald Downs.

With Robert Skelly riding, Olympic Lights ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1minute, 2.63 seconds on a wet-fast track and paid $12.20, $6 and $4. Charles Essex is the trainer and co-owner with Moon Glow Farms and Dennis Trenkenschuh.

A 7-year-old Washington-bred by Tropic Lightning, Olympic Lights thrives at Emerald Downs where he has won nine of 19 starts including the fastest six furlong clocking of the entire 2008 meeting. Overall, the gelding is 10-6-1 in 28 starts with earnings of $84,212.

Rescue Plan, ridden by Matt Hagerty, finished second and paid $12 and $6.20. Snake Attack, Juan Gutierrez riding, finished third and paid $4.20.

Hi and Goodbye, the 3-to-2 betting favorite, encountered a troubled trip and finished sixth. Immigration was scratched earlier in the day.

Olympic Lights dueled with Rescue Plan through fractions of :22.29 and :45.10, and then poured it on in the lane to win with complete authority.

Skelly, a 40-year-old Irishmen riding at Emerald Downs for the first time since 2007, had two winners Saturday and said Olympic Lights was a breeze to pilot.

“My mother could have won on him today,” Skelly said. “When I asked him at the top of the lane, he exploded.”

 

NOTES

 

• The Early 50 cent Pick 4 on 2-2-2-7 paid $5,3777.40 to one winning ticket. All four winners paid double digits including a $19.40 victory by Look At Maddie Go in the third race…The track record for a $1 Pick Four is $18,223.20 set April 17, 2009.

• Trainer Bill Tollett, who saddled a winner opening night, had two more victories Saturday including a 3 ¾-length triumph by 6-year-old Grandest Slam ($12.20) in the second race…Juan Gutierrez doubled for the second straight day and has an early 4-3 lead over both Joe Crispin and Deborah Hoonan-Trujillo in the jockeys’ standings.

• Hoonan-Trujillo also rode two winners Saturday…Skelly and Essex also combined to win the fifth race with Glo Bou Liza ($10.60) …Glo Bou Liza was claimed for $5,000 by owner John Coonan and trainer Steve Fisher.

• It was already the seventh claim in the first two days.

• Double-digit winners ($2 win price $10 and higher) prevailed in six of the nine races.

• Full brothers Avalon Beach and Koala Beach competed in the seventh and eighth races with first-time starter Avalon Beach ($6.60) prevailing as the betting favorite in the $16,600 maiden special weight for 3-year-olds. Koala Beach, the 2009 Gottstein Futurity winner, then finished fifth after setting the early pace against Olympic Lights in the feature race. Avalon Beach and Koala Beach are both Washington-breds by Harbor the Gold-Kittyzallwet.

• Gallyn Mitchell, was up for the victory at Emerald Downs and the 48-year-old rider has now won at every meeting in the track’s 16-year history. Mitchell, of course, ranks first all-time with 1,253 wins at Emerald Downs.

• The track’s all-time leading trainer, Tim McCanna, saddled second-time starter Pokomoko ($8.80) to a victory in the nightcap and has one win on each of the first two cards of the season. McCanna leads Frank Lucarelli 772-623 in the all-time standings.

• Smiley Mylie finished third as the 7-to-10 favorite in the nightcap and has lost as the betting favorite in six of her nine career starts. On the plus side, she has earned $9,763 while racking up four seconds and three thirds…Washington-bred Windy Sails finished second in the $75,000 Golden Poppy for 3-year-old fillies at Golden Gate Fields.

• Racing resumes Sunday with first post at 2 p.m.