Noosa Beach wins 75th Longacres Mile

AUBURN — Jockey Ricky Frazier knew the closers were coming.

"I certainly wasn't going to turn around and look," he said. "My horse was giving me everything he had already."

And that was more than enough as favored Noosa Beach won the 75th running of the Longacres Mile on Sunday at Emerald Downs, beating Jersey Town by 1 ½ lengths.

Noosa Beach, a 4-year-old gelding, became the sixth straight local winner of the Grade III race that was worth $203,125. Doris Harwood, who has won more stakes (47) at Emerald Downs than any other trainer, won her first Longacres Mile. Her husband Jeff bred and owns the horse.

"I wasn't nervous because he was pulling away, but I was wondering why he wasn't switching (his lead foot)," Harwood said.

Unknown to Harwood, Noosa Beach had his right foot stepped on coming out of the gate. Still, Frazier had him in second place early behind Winning Machine. Frazier moved up next to Winning Machine on the backstretch, then pulled back again.

"I just wanted Winning Machine to know who was next to him," Frazier said. "When I saw Winning Machine didn't have much left at the three-eighths pole, I wanted to wait until I took the lead."

Noosa Beach grabbed the lead before the stretch and started pulling away before Jersey Town and Assessment made late charges for second and third.

"I was getting nervous at the sixteenth pole," Frazier said. "He didn't have a lot left."

As it turns out, he had no reason to worry. It was Frazier's fourth stakes win aboard Noosa Beach, the only loss coming by a neck to Assessment in the Governor's Handicap.

"I wish we could have that one back, and maybe he'd be undefeated this year," said Frazier, who also won an allowance race on Noosa Beach this year.

Noosa Beach paid $5.60 to win and ran the mile in 1 minute, 34-4/5 seconds. He earned $96,250.

Gallant Son, the 5-2 second choice, made a move entering the stretch, but flattened out. It was a disappointing sixth-place finish for the 4-year-old gelding, who was the champion 2-year-old at Emerald and had beaten Noosa Beach twice in 2008. Since then, Gallant Son has been racing against some of the best horses on the West Coast in Southern California, acquitting himself well.

"He just didn't get a hold of the track early," Gallant Son jockey Leslie Mawing said. "I had to ask him a lot just to kind of get into it and then he raced real evenly in the stretch."

Kevin Krigger, who rode Jersey Town, said he got a perfect stalking position.

"He made his move on the leader, but by then (Noosa Beach) had already made a big lead," Krigger said.

Assessment, who gave Howard Belvoir his second straight Mile win last year, rallied nicely after breaking from the No. 11 post.

"The break wasn't the best, but we have no excuses," said Assessment jockey Gallyn Mitchell. "He ran a big race, like I knew he would."

For Frazier, he can now forget about last year's Mile, when he and Atta Boy Roy opened a clear lead in the stretch before the horse lost a shoe and faded to fifth.

"This race is as big as it gets," he said. "And you're always reminded of it, in tapes and video replays. Last year was tough because I thought I had the best horse."

He did again Sunday and Noosa Beach earned automatic entry into the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in November. But because his sire, Harbor the Gold, is not Breeders' Cup eligible, the Harwoods would have to pay a supplemental fee to run.

"It's out of our price league," Doris Harwood said, adding Noosa Beach wouldn't go.

Instead, he will have to settle for being king of the Northwest.