AUBURN — The starting gate bell rings.
Whips crack, dirt flies, numbers flash on the tote board.
Cheers and choice words rumble from the crowd, increasing in volume as the blur of thoroughbreds careen to the finish fine.
It’s all over in about a minute, but it’s a long, wonderful 60 seconds.
In that heart-pounding minute, the horses upstage the backdrop of mighty Mount Rainier. The hum of nearby trains and planes goes unnoticed.
All eyes are trained on the masked horses mounted by jockeys standing in the stirrups, lurching forward as the gallop lifts all four feet off the ground.
“I have goosebumps,” spectator Jan Frieseke said.
There are seven to 10 races daily at Emerald Downs racetrack, which recently started offering live racing through Sept. 27. Simulcast off-track betting goes on year-round.
The track has special events, such as Saturday’s Kentucky Derby party with a hat contest, mint juleps and family activities. In the summer, there are pony rides for kids. On Saturdays, there are stable tours.
There’s nothing quite like a day at the track. It’s like a trip to a museum, zoo, arcade and sporting event rolled into one. Plus, you can make noise and say bad words and nobody cares.
Emerald Downs is a new track, as far as tracks go. It opened in 1996, replacing Longacres Racetrack, which closed in 1992 after 60 racing seasons.
The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe owns and operates the track. The place is kept so tidy that the Herald photographer couldn’t get the shot he wanted of the ground littered with losing tickets. No sign of hot dog wrappers or tossed beer cups, either.
There’s about 30 minutes between races, and time flies.
Tired of looking at Mount Rainier or freight trains?
People-watching never gets dull. Women in tight dresses and high heels. Hiker types in REI jackets. Kids perched on their fathers’ towering shoulders.
It’s not just a bunch of old guys in crumpled shirts with binoculars around their neck. Though there are still a bunch of them.
Anybody can play the horses. All it takes is a racing form, a theory and a wish. Add maybe a beer, for good luck.
“It’s cheap entertainment,” said Matt Maloney, leaning on the fence as the horses strolled to the starting gate to, hopefully, ride out his 5-7 exacta ticket.
“I’m a CPA and so I like the numbers,” he said. “I try to look at the statistics and how it has done in the past to balance everything I can find about it.”
Does it work?
“Not so much,” he said.
If picking horses was an exact science, there’d be no heart-racing fun.
“It’s horse racing. Anything can happen,” said Margo Lloyd, a track employee whose job is to help people win.
Sure, the track wants to take your money, but it’s also there to help you take some home.
Lloyd hands out free wagering guides and educates newbies who stop at her kiosk near the entrance.
“We go through how to make bets, exotic bets and straight bets, then what to say at the window,” said Lloyd, a former horse trainer of 35 years.
What’s the most asked question?
“Who’s going to win the race?” she said. “I say, ‘If I knew that I wouldn’t have to have this job.’ ”
Track novice Suzi Aydelott came up with her own system for a race with a field of five horses.
“I thought if I bet on each horse I shouldn’t lose any money,” she said. “That is my reasoning.”
Let’s just say it didn’t turn out quite like she expected.
First-timer Laura Kraut hit pay dirt in the gift shop where she scored a wide brim straw hat with bow for $20.
“I saw a little girl and two ladies with a hat. Then I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, they really do wear hats.’ I had to have one,” she said.
It’s lovely enough to enter in Saturday’s Derby Day hat contest, should she return.
Butch Ducolon studied the horses in the post parade with his grandson, Tyler Cornwall, 8. It was the little guy’s first time at the track, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he scrunched his face while crunching the numbers.
This pair had a strategy. “The odds, the name of the horse and some connection,” Ducolon said.
He bet Buddy Dave to place second and Tyler took the horse to win.
Their buddy Dave didn’t do either.
Tyler shrugged it off, a lesson picked up from his grandpa.
“When it’s over, it’s over,” Ducolon said. “You can’t dwell on it.”
After all, there’s another race in about 30 minutes.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
If you go
Emerald Downs, 2300 Emerald Downs Drive, Auburn. For more, go to www.emeralddowns.com.
On Fridays, the first race is 6:45 p.m. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, post time is usually at 2 p.m. On Kentucky Derby day it is at 1 p.m.
General admission is $7 and includes access to the first five levels of the stadium. Children 17 and younger are free. Ages 13 and younger must be accompanied by parent or guardian. Admission is free for military personnel with current ID. Simulcast admission is $3.
Free parking in general lots. Preferred parking is $7. Valet parking is $10.
Packages available for corporate picnic, office party, birthday, anniversary parties.
The track has free Saturday morning stable tours during live racing and facility tours during the off-season. Tours are available by appointment. For more information or to make reservations, call 253-288-7711.
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