$65,000 Gottstein Futurity set for Sunday at Emerald Downs | Horse Racing

Emerald Downs will conclude its 16th season on Sunday, which features an 11race card highlighted by the $65,000 Gottstein Futurity, the 2-year-old championship event at 1-1/16 mile.

Stakes winners Chu and I and Sweet Saga present the race’s most intriguing match up as both juveniles come off route-stakes wins in their respective divisions. Incidentally, it was the filly Sweet Saga that earned the higher Beyer Speed Figure, receiving a 72 after cruising the one-mile Barbara Shinpoch Stakes in 1 minute, 36.97.

On the boys’ side, Chu and I, the meet’s only 2-year-old to win two stakes races, received a 64 Beyer for his effort in the one-mile WTBOA Lads with a winning time of 1:38.43. However, assistant trainer Kay Cooper said the pace scenario Sunday should favor the speedy Chu and I.

“There just isn’t a whole lot of speed in the race,” Cooper said. “We should be able to get out in front and then Juan (Gutierrez) can try to slow the pace down.”

Gutierrez mastered those tactics last Sunday, when he won three Washington Cup races via wire-to-wire, which catapulted him into a tie with Gallyn Mitchell for the meet’s most stakes wins with seven. Mitchell, the track’s all-time leader with 74 stakes wins, will ride Sweet Saga. Assistant trainer Sharon Ross said Sweet Saga has been on a mission since her stakes score.

“She’s really figured things out since her last race,” Ross said. “She’s been much more aggressive in her training and working with a lot of purpose.”

The Gottstein Futurity is race nine on an 11-race card at 6:09 p.m.

The field for the 74th running of the Gottstein Futurity: Talk to My Lawyer, Leslie Mawing, 117 lbs.; Havanna Red, Leonel Camacho-Flores, 120; Sweet Saga, Mitchell, 117; Leadership, Jennifer Whitaker, 120; Chu and I, Gutierrez, 120.

BLUE-COLLAR BUNCH TAKES AIM AT ASHBAUGH BEAL

West Seattle Boy, the all-time leader with 20 wins at Emerald Downs, will headline the Ashbaugh Beal Claiming Challenge Sunday, which features six races worth an aggregate $76,000 in purse money. To be eligible for the Ashbaugh Beal, each horse must have started for the established claiming tag*$3,500, $7,500 or $15,000*or less in 2011.

Per usual, the claiming challenge could be the deciding factor in which “blue-collar” Thoroughbred the voters select for Claimer of the Meet. West Seattle Boy, entered in Sunday’s “The Bob Stories”, has certainly thrown his name in the hat. The 12-year-old gelding surpassed the 100-start mark and notched two victories this season.

The early favorites, however, appear to be Touch of Elegance, the meet’s only 7-race winner, Buddy Dave (10-6-2-1) and Untilifindyou (11-5-1-0). While Touch of Elegance, claimed for $12,500 after her Sept. 9 victory, has finished her 2011 Emerald Downs’ campaign, Buddy Dave and Untilifindyou have one last chance to sway the voters on Sunday, when they face off in “The Market Master.”

The claiming challenge will kick off in Sunday’s second race with “The Sassie Jo Lassie”, which features Editor Vanessa R N, undefeated in three starts, and Judging Mimi, second in last week’s John & Kitty Fletcher Stakes.

The claiming challenge’s sponsor Ashbaugh Beal, formerly known as Stanislaw Ashbaugh, is a Seattle law firm founded in 1987.

BIG FIELDS AS CURTAIN SETS ON 2011 MEETING

The 2011 Emerald Downs’ season will finish on a high note as 283 horses are entered in the 31 races*an average of 9.1 horses per race*on closing weekend of the track’s 16th season.

Here’s the daily breakdown:

Friday, first post 6 p.m. 9 races, 83 horses, 9.2 per race.

Saturday, 2:05 p.m., 11 races, 101 horses, 9.2 per race.

Sunday, 2 p.m., 11 races, 99 horses, 9.0 per race.

NOTES: Week 23 Honors*Jockey-Juan Gutierrez (3 Wa Cup wins) Trainer-Alan Bozell (1st stakes win) Owner-Vic-Tory Stables IV (1-for-1) Groom-Policarpo Fernandez (Larry Wolf)*Vic-Tory Stables IV’s He’s All Heart earned an 85 Beyer Speed Figure for his 10-¼-length romp in the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic.

Belle Roberts winner Sweet Nellie Brown and Chinook Pass victor Our Eagle Boy received 79 and 78 Beyers, respectively.

Brady’s Kat, owned and bred by Keith Swagerty of West Coast Racing LLC, closed eight lengths in the stretch to notch the week’s top 2-year-old Beyer earning a 58 for his head victory in the Dennis Dodge Stakes.

Sunday’s sub-feature, a $21,000 allowance race for fillies and mares*includes last year’s Top 3-Year-Old Filly Sis’s Sis and stakes winners Feeling Fancy and Rewritten.

Trainer Howard Belvoir said Thursday that 2009 Horse of the Year Assessment would run in the $100,000 British Columbia Premier’s Stakes on Oct. 2 at Hastings. Noosa Beach and Winning Machine are also expected to run in the BC Premier’s*Gallyn Mitchell, the track’s all-time leading rider with 1319 wins, will join host Jacob Pollowitz on Sunday for the “Paddock Preview Show.” Mitchell, who rode Sweet Saga to victory in the Barbara Shinpoch Stakes, will discuss the filly’s chances against the boys in the Gottstein Futurity.

The show will take place in the Emerald Downs’ paddock from 1-1:20 p.m*Frank Lucarelli leads Howard Belvoir 51-to-48 in the chase for the 2011 trainer’s championship with three racing days remaining.

2011 division honors will be awarded between races during Sunday’s 11-race card. Honors for Top Claimer and Top Juvenile Male and Top Juvenile Filly won’t be decided until Sunday, as the Gottstein Futurity and Ashbaugh-Beal starter allowance races could impact voting in those categories.

In the Thoroughbred jockeys’ race, Leslie Mawing has clinched his first riding title with a 125-96 lead over Juan Gutierrez with three days remaining. The 125 wins are ninth highest in track history, and Mawing figures to surpass Kevin Krigger’s 126 wins in 2005 to finish with the eighth highest total in track history. Ricky Frazier holds the top two places with 157 wins in 2007 and 155 victories in 2009. Vann Belvoir is third with 148 wins in 1996, followed by Frank Gonsalves and Kevin Radke tied with 144 wins in 1997 and 2003.

Saturday’s 11th race at 440 yards is the final Quarter Horse event of the season. Connie Doll clings to a 4-3 lead over A.L. Gutierrez in the QH riders’ standings, and they both have mounts in Saturday’s race. John Harris has clinched the Quarter Horse trainers’ title with a 4-3 lead over Bill Hoburg. Harris has two horses entered in Saturday’s race while Hoburg does not have a starter.

The first annual Fab 5 Handicapping Challenge, in which we monitored season-long Emerald Downs stakes selections by five public handicappers*is going down to the wire. Heading into Sunday’s Gottstein Futurity finale, Vic Cozzetti leads in wins 9-8 over track announcer Robert Geller and Nick Rousso of Daily Racing Form. In money accrued, Geller leads Rousso $312.40 to $307.20, with the Seattle Times’ Gary Dougherty in striking range with $295.60.