AUBURN — If you blinked during the stretch run of Sunday’s Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs, you might have missed it.
The bay-colored blur streaking past the grandstand was Point Piper, who surged past favored O B Harbor and burst away late to win the 81st Longacres Mile in a blazing fast 1:32.9, lowering the track record of 1:33 set by Sky Jack in the 2003 Mile.
After breaking from post position 8, Point Piper saved ground in midpack early as O B Harbor set a blistering pace of 44 3/5 seconds through the first half mile. As O B Harbor began to weaken around the second turn, Point Piper made his move, swinging out from the rail and quickly moving up to the leaders. He turned a tight race into a rout in the final sixteenth of a mile, dashing clear for a 4 3/4- length victory.
It was a perfect trip, courtesy of jockey Mario Gutierrez, best-known for his Kentucky Derby victories aboard I’ll Have Another in 2012 and Nyquist this past May.
“By the time I hit the stretch and I asked him, he just exploded. He had a lot of energy to use at the end,” Gutierrez said. “I didn’t have to push my horse too hard. I just told myself to stay chill today, just try to stay patient. We broke really good. We tried to find our holes and make the right moves at the right time, and today everything worked perfect.”
Point Piper, a 6-year-old trained by Hall-of-Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, has spent the prime of his racing career knocking heads with top-caliber horses such as California Chrome, Dortmund and Melatonin on the tough Southern California circuit — and rarely winning. Sunday’s victory was just his fifth in 24 career tries.
The Mile is the richest race in the Northwest with a $200,000 purse, but it represented a class drop for Point Piper, and a good share of bettors saw that as the perfect cure for an eight-race losing streak. He was sent off as the 5-1 third choice in the 11-horse field and paid $12.20 for the win.
Gutierrez said Point Piper was at his best at the flat mile. The distance is somewhat unusual in top-level racing.
“He ran his best race today,” Gutierrez said. “The distance is perfect for the type of horse that he is.”
The winner’s share of $110,000 increased Point Piper’s career earnings to $389,000. Hollendorfer co-owns the horse with Dan Gatto of Encinitas, California, and Peter and Timothy Russo of Las Vegas.
Cyrus Alexander, another California-based runner for Hollendorfer, closed for second and paid $6.80 to place. O B Harbor did well to hold third after setting such a fast pace. He paid $2.80 to show.
O B Harbor was the 6-5 betting favorite after sweeping the previous stakes races for older horse this season at Emerald Downs. Jockey Jose Zunino said his horse wasn’t relaxed enough early on, and that cost him.
“He fought me today. It was the horse’s decision to go fast early. I didn’t want to do that,” Zunino said.
Second-choice Alert Bay finished fourth, and Stryker Phd, bidding to become the first horse to win the Mile three times, closed late to finish fifth but never threatened the winner. Despite a disappointing effort from the 7-year-old champion of the 2014 and 2015 Miles, he earned a nice ovation from fans.
“He didn’t have the fire,” jockey Leslie Mawing said of Stryker Phd. “But the winner today, he ran a fantastic race. A new track record. How do you beat that?”
Notes: Perhaps a Pie held off Chronologic’sghost for a wire-to-wire victory in the $65,000 Emerald Distaff, the top race of the season for fillies and mares. Sent off as the second-longest shot in the field of eight, Perhaps a Pie paid $42.20 to win.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
