Star of the Dia turned back all challengers Friday and scored a half-length victory in the $18,800 Carl’s Jr. Purse for 3-year-olds and up on Fireworks Spectacular night at Emerald Downs.

Ridden by Leslie Mawing—his third win on the card—Star of the Dia ran six furlongs in 1:09.86 and paid $26.40, $11.80 and $6.60. Frank Lucarelli is the winning trainer for owners Chris Randall and Nick Rossi.

Star of the Dia led through fractions of :22.72, :45.71 and :57.39, put away a host of challengers into the lane and held to the wire.

A 5-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Seeking the Dia-Secret Brook, Star of the Dia improved to 5-9-6 in 27 career starts, with earnings of $77,284. His record at Emerald Downs is 4-5-4 in 17 starts.

Dare Me Devil, ridden by Joe Steiner, flew late to finish second and paid $8 and $4.80. It was a nice rebound effort by the 7-year-old gelding, last year’s claimer of the meet, after two off-the-board finishes.

Echo Zulu, ridden by Francisco Duran, finished third and paid $6.20 to show.

Pete’s Slew finished fourth, followed by Polish Dollar, Spot of Salt, Cinematic Cat and Fist Full of Green.

Cinematic Cat, the 9-to-5 favorite, dueled with Star of the Dia to midway on the turn and gave way.

Long shot winners in races 5, 6 and 7 (Double Shuffle-$25.60, Betsy’s Gold-$21.80 and Star of the Dia) caused a carryover of $9,564 to Saturday’s $0.50 Pick 5, which will be Races 6-to-10 on the holiday card.

NOTES: Mawing’s three-win night pushed his season total to 34 wins, good for third place in the riders’ standings. . .Leading rider Julien Couton drew a rare blank and remains at 49 wins, followed by Juan Gutierrez with 37. . .Jeff Metz led the trainers with two wins, boosting his meet-leading total to 27 wins. . .3-year-old gelding Betsy’s Gold ($) is having an interesting season for trainer Doris Harwood and ownerShady Valley Ranch. The only horse to beat Thetrailerguy this season at Emerald Downs, Betsy’s Gold was last three straight times before defeating 1-to-5 favorite Thundering Away in Friday’s $16,500 sub-feature for 3-year-olds. . .Hoodslide ($11.20) and Jose Zunino prevailed in race two, giving trainer Mary Pirone her first win of the meet. . .Live racing continues Saturday with a 10-race holiday card at 2 p.m. FREE admission for all on the Fourth of July!