Older fillies and mares are first up as Emerald Downs launches its 29-race stakes schedule with the $50,000 Hastings Handicap on Sunday, May 12.

Ten older fillies and mares*including four multiple Emerald Downs stakes winners*are nominated to the six-furlong Hastings Handicap, which is the first stop on the road to the $65,000 Emerald Distaff on Sunday August 18.

The two top sophomore fillies from a year ago*Exclusive Diva and Champagneandcaviar*transition into the older filly or mare ranks in 2013. Exclusive Diva and Champagneandcaviar swept all four open stakes for 3-year-old fillies last year, but Champagneandcaviar earning the nod as Top 3-Year-Old Filly following narrow victories in both the Kent Handicap and Washington Oaks.

Exclusive Diva might be the better sprinter, however, and the Bernardini filly could hold a fitness edge with a sharp April 21 allowance victory under belt; she ran 5 ½ furlongs in a meet best 1:01.56 while defeating E Z Kitty by a neck.

E Z Kitty has won nine-of-17 overall including two stakes wins at Emerald Downs and three at Turf Paradise. The 5-year-old Washington-bred is six-for-11 at Emerald Downs and as won stakes here both short and long, including a triumph over Class Included in last year’s Washington State Legislators Stakes at 5 ½ furlongs.

Carrabelle Harbor has three stakes wins at Emerald Downs, two as a 2-year-old and one as a 3-year-old, and she also was runner-up in last year’s Emerald Distaff as a 4-year-old.

Gosailgo, Plus One and Saturday Nite Ride are all new faces at Emerald Downs. Go Sail Go, based at Hastings Racecourse, won a stakes restricted to British Columbia-breds last year and defeated allowance runners last month at Turf Paradise. Plus One is a four-time winner topped by a restricted stakes at Penn National last August. Saturday Nite Ride has competed in California for trainer Bob Baffert, winning a maiden special weight in February and finishing a seventh in first-level allowance last month.

The new shooters are all 4-year-olds, and 4-year-olds have fared well in the Hastings Handicap, winning the last three years and 11-of-17 runnings overall. Class Included won last year’s renewal in 1:09.17, and went on to dominate the division with three wins and one second in four stakes.

$50,000 Hastings Handicap, Six Furlongs, Sunday, May 12, 2013

Nominee                                Owner                                              Trainer
Carrabelle Harbor (5-ORE) Bar C Racing & Desert Rose Racing   Doris Harwood
Champagneandcaviar (4-KY) Fleur De Lis Stable LLC                  Howard Belvoir
E Z Kitty (5-WA)                    Bruce Maller                                       Jeff Metz
Exclusive Diva (4-KY)          Northwest Farms & Debbie Paxton    Tom Wenzel
Gosailgo (4-BC)                    Greame Hope                                      Robert J. Anderson
Maggie’s Special (6-WA)    Allen Gideon                                       Allen Gideon
Plus One (4-KY)                    Ten Broeck Farm, Inc.                        Tim McCanna
Royal Moses (4-WA)           Squatting Dog S & R G Warwick         Tim Harder
Saturday Nite Ride (4-KY) North American T-bred Racing            Mike Puhich
Smokin Grey (4-MD)           Donnybrook Stable                             Frank Lucarelli