A HUGE UPSET IN WEDNESDAY’S FEATURE RACE
Auburn, Wash. (July 15) – On a beautiful Auburn day, a huge upset occurred in Wednesday’s $21,200 feature race. It was the much anticipated return of 2018 Longacres Mile champion Barkley in the 6-horse contest at 5 1/2 furlongs. The Howard Belvoir-trainee ran just once in 2019 – winning very impressively in May for his 10th win in just 18 EmD starts.
Barkley, who was sent off as the prohibitive even-money favorite, was no match for the biggest-longshot in the group. Take Charge Deputy at 24-1 rallied convincingly to score by 3 1/4 lengths.
Take Charge Deputy, who was making his first start of the year, was trained by Jorge Rosales and ridden by Emerald Downs newcomer Cerapio Figueroa. Take Charge Deputy, who is owned by Rosales racing F1, collected five stakes victories at Portland Meadows including the final Portland Meadows Mile in 2019.
Barkley, who was off slow nosed out Rally Cat for the place finish. Grinder Sparksaglo was a head back in fourth.
The first stakes race for older runners is set for August 13 – The $40,000 Mount Rainier Stakes
Notes: Wednesday 10-race handle was $2,132,921…Jockey Alex Cruz tripled for the first time at the meet and now has 11 wins. Figueroa and leading rider Gary Wales each won two races on the afternoon. All three jockeys have won at least one race on each of the seven days of racing…The Ron Crockett Inc.,Terri Balcom and trainer Terry Gillihan’s Raise the Woof made his 4-year-old debut a winning one, holding on to defeat 18-time winner Wine At Nine. The Washington bred is now a perfect 2-for-2…No winners in the 20-cent Jackpot Pick 7 making for Thursday carryover of $16,664. The first of 11 Thursday races starts at 5 PM.