Longacres Mile | Wasserman rallies to win, making Jennifer Whitaker first woman jockey to win race

When jockey Jennifer Whitaker rode 10-1 longshot Wasserman back to the winner's circle after the Grade III $272,500 Longacres Mile, fans at Emerald Downs met the pair with a raucous roar.

They had plenty to cheer about:

• Wasserman, a local horse, had edged out two favored horses shipped in from California and Canada.

• Whitaker, a Woodinville native, had become the first woman jockey to win the premier race in the Pacific Northwest.

Whitaker took the usual Wasserman route to victory: hanging far back for most of the race before closing furiously to win by a neck.

Wasserman started from the No. 4 post and, dropped to ninth place after the first quarter mile, was still in seventh place with a quarter mile to go and went far outside to run down True Metropolitan, the 3-1 invader from Woodbine in Toronto and Tropic Storm, the 6-5 favorite from California.

Wasserman, by Cahill Road out of Share the Knight, covered the mile in 1:35 and paid $22.40 to win, $7.60 for place and $3.20 for show. True Metropolitan, who finished a neck ahead of Tropic Storm, paid $4.60 and $3.20. Tropic Storm, ridden by Aaron Gryder, returned $2.60 for show.

The $137,500 winner's share of the purse brings Wasserman's lifetime earnings to $415,471, and the win guarantees the 6-year-old gelding a spot in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

Except that Howard Belvoir, the owner, breeder and trainer for Wasserman, says he won't be going. He wants to run Wasserman in one of the races on Washington Cup Day on Sept. 14 at Emerald Downs and then turn him out for the winter to rest up for next season here.

"It'd cost you $80,000 to $100,000," to go to the Breeders' Cup," Belvoir said. "He runs better on this track than anywhere, and it's probably out of my limit.

"He'd go down there — and this is nothing against him or anybody — but there's probably going to be some nice horses in there, and he's going to be a longshot."

Still, Belvoir, of Kent, didn't completely rule it out — "if someone gets to me."

"It's not out of the realm yet," Belvoir said. "Someone might come up and want to give me a couple hundred thousand bucks."

In Sunday's Mile, Whitaker said she actually got Wasserman going a little sooner than usual because she thought they were farther back than they should have been with three furlongs to go. But she said she didn't want to run him too hard around the turn going into the stretch.

James McAleney, who rode True Metropolitan, said his horse didn't have a good start and "just couldn't hold off the winner."

Gryder said Tropic Storm "went for the lead a little earlier than I would have liked ... but gave it his all down the stretch."

Wasserman is 8-9-5 in 38 career starts.

It was the first Mile win for Belvoir, who continued with his usual description of Wasserman as a "poor man's horse."

"He always tries," Belvoir said. "He's like a poor man going to work; he shows up no matter what, whether he's sick or got a sore foot. Fortunately he's one of the soundest horses I ever had."

So will the poor man get any time off work?

"I've got be up early tomorrow to work and so does Jennifer," said Belvoir, who has been training horses for 45 years, "Wasserman will be out there Thursday morning."

Lemon Kiss captures Emerald Distaff

With Lemon Kiss's victory in the $100,000 Emerald Distaff on Sunday, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and Russell Baze became the winningest trainer-jockey combination in the 13-year-old race for fillies and mares 3 years and older.

That combination has won three of the past four runnings of the race.

This year, Lemon Kiss, shipped in from California, had to hold off Shampoo — ridden by Seth Martinez — as the Doris Harwood-trained filly tried repeatedly to pass the leader.

Mark DeDominico of Redmond, who owns Lemon Kiss with William DeBurgh of California, gave all the credit to Baze, who has more North American wins than any jockey.

Baze took the lead on the backstretch and covered the 1-1/8 miles in 1:49.

Lemon Kiss paid $5.20, $3 and $3. Shampoo was worth $3.20 and $3, and Beaulena returned $6.60 to show.

Notes

• The betting handle at Emerald Downs was $2,726,039.

• A severe thunderstorm Saturday night knocked out power at Emerald Downs and caused a 1 ½-hour delay in opening the gates Sunday.