For only the second time in 17 seasons and 571 races, a stakes event at Emerald Downs wound up in a dead-heat for first place.
D’honorable One, the 11-to-10 betting favorite ridden by Leslie Mawing, and Makors Finale, the 9-to-2 third choice ridden by Gallyn Mitchell, hit the finish line together, both running 6-½ furlongs in a stakes record 1:14.53 on a fast track.
D’honorable One, carrying high weight of 122 lbs, paid $2.60, $2.80 and $2.60. Blaine Wright is the trainer for Nelson Family Racing (Heidi Nelson, Bothell).
Makors Finale, carrying second high-weight of 120 lbs, paid $4.20, $4.80 and $3.20. Tom Wenzel is the trainer for owner-breeder Karl Krieg of Oak Harbor.
It was three lengths back to third-place finisher Brady’s Kat, a 40-to-1 long shot ridden by Javier Matias, and a $6.20 show payoff.
Makors Finale, whose previous seven races were all at Turf Paradise, sprinted clear immediately and set fractions of :22.22 and :44.31, but D’honorable One challenged outside Makors Finale into the stretch, and the two colts hooked up in a virtual match race to the wire.
D’honorable One appeared to have a slight lead past mid-stretch, but Makors Finale dug back in and got back to even terms at the finish.
“For a split second, I did pass him, but (Makors Finale) was game on the lead,” Mawing said. “Both Gallyn (Mitchell) and I rode our horses past the wire. We both thought the other had won, but I guess the wire couldn’t separate us.”
For Mitchell, the track’s all-time leader with 75 stakes wins, the outcome was in doubt, even on the gallop-out.
“I never really knew if we ever got back by the other horse,” he said, “but coming back (to the winners’ circle), I called it a dead-heat.”
D’honorable One and Makors Finale earned $18,750 apiece for their efforts.
A 3-year-old Florida-bred by D’wildcat, D’honorable One has compiled a 4-0-2 record in six career starts with earnings of $67,815. The Auburn Handicap was his first stakes victory.
A 3-year-old Washington-bred by Makors Mark, Makors Finale is 3-4-0 in eight starts with earnings of $63,352. He finished runner-up in two stakes at Turf Paradise, the one-mile Tempe Handicap on turf and the mile and one-sixteenth Turf Paradise Derby on dirt.
City Twister, the 3-to-1 second choice, finished fourth, and was followed by Brudda Clyde, Havanna Red, Johnski and First Last Chance.
NOTES: Light My Heart ($76.80) produced the biggest $2 win mutuel of the 25-day-old meet with a 37-to-1 triumph under Jose Zunino in the fourth race. Debbie Van Horne is the trainer for owner River Creek Farms*In the sixth race, Rainier Ice ($6.80) came off the bench to notch a three-length victory in 1:08.10 for six furlongs. Disqualified from first for causing interference in the 2011 Coca-Cola Handicap, Rainier Ice had been off since finishing seventh in the Seattle Slew Handicap last July. Tom Wenzel trains the 4-year-old Forestry colt for Northwest Farms and C and M Racing*Wasserman earned $2,565 for finishing third in the sixth, boosting the 10-year-old gelding’s track record earnings total to $543,431*Leslie Mawing recorded a second straight riding triple and, don’t look now, but the defending champion suddenly is tied with William Antongeorgi for fourth place at 23 wins apiece*Leading rider Juan Gutierrez rode two winners and finished the week with a 28-25 lead over Eliska Kubinova*Zunino and Mitchell also rode two winners on the 10-race card*Mitchell also was suspended two days, Friday, June 15 and Saturday, June 16, for failure to maintain a straight course aboard Amazing Legacy in Saturday’s eighth race*Wenzel and Blaine Wright, whose horses dead-heated in the stakes race, both had two winners on the card*Ron Crockett Inc.’s Cielator improved to two-for-two lifetime with a 1-¼ length win over Perfect Pie in the eight race, a $17,100 purse for $32,000 claiming fillies and mares. The 4-year-old Delineator filly ran 6-½ furlongs in 1:14.85, and capped a two-for-two week for trainer Junior Coffey*At Hastings Racecourse, Taylor Said ($4.20) won his second straight stakes with a two-length victory over St Liams Halo in the $50,000 Sir Winston Churchill Handicap. The 4-year-old Stephanotis gelding ran 1-1/16 miles in 1:43.67 on a sealed track rated wet-fast*Live racing resumes Friday with first post 6:15 p.m.
