It’s been a long time coming for Frank Lucarelli.

Since getting his license in 1979, the Enumclaw-based trainer has been a fixture at Washington and California tracks, compiling the second most career wins at Emerald Downs.

But in the 31 years Lucarelli has been training Thoroughbreds, one race has eluded him, the Longacres Mile.

That all changed Sunday when Lucarelli saddled two horses – Gallant Son and Winning Machine – for the 75th running of the $250,000 Grade III Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.

Winning Machine finished fifth and Gallant Son was sixth. Noosa Beach won.

Jersey Town was second. In third was Assessment, ridden by Enumclaw jockey Gallyn Mitchell, who notched career victory No. 2,500 on Mack’s Golden Bullet in the first race. The only jockey to ride all 15 years at Emerald Downs, Mitchell is the track’s all-time leader with 1,234 victories.

Before Sunday’s race, Lucarelli said being in the Mile was a big deal.

“It’s something that is important to us and something we’ve always wanted to do,” Lucarelli said. “I’ve always wanted to run in the Mile and win the Mile. And I haven’t had the opportunity, so this is a good chance to give it a go. I get excited about winning any race, so winning the biggest race up here would be a big deal.”

Lucarelli got his first taste of training as a youth.

“My dad owned horses, so when I was a little kid I used to go out with him in the mornings on Saturdays and watch him train,” Lucarelli said. “So I started working out there when I was 13 in the summers.”

A promising pitcher who was drafted by the Pittsburg Pirates after graduating from Newport High, Lucarelli said he concentrated on his baseball career, playing college and minor league ball. After four years of playing baseball, Lucarelli returned to horse racing.

“I knew that I liked that business,” he said. “I’m not a big gambler, but I like the business of it. It’s a sport with athletes, horse athletes, and I just liked it a lot.”

He ran his first horse, Ebony Spirit, in 1979 at Portland Meadows and won his first race by five lengths.

“I thought it was a pretty easy game at first, but it was a few months until my next win,” Lucarelli said.

Soon the wins started coming, including stakes wins at Emerald Downs.

“I’ve had some good young horses, just not ones that have gone on to be good older Mile kind of horses,” he said.

This year, 4-year-old Gallant Son appeared primed to deliver a Mile win.

After Gallant Son won the Premio Esmeralda, the Washington Thoroughbred Owners Association Lads Stakes and the Gottstein Futurity in 2008, Lucarelli shipped the horse to the California circuit.

To win the Mile, Gallant Son would have had to get past Noosa Beach. It was Winning Machine that gave Noosa Beach a run in the early going. Noosa Beach took command nearing the half and opened a lead into the stretch to hold off Jersey Town. Gallant Son made a run.