From Emerald Downs Publicity
AUBURN, Wash. (July 21, 2019) – After riding two stakes winners last Sunday, Kevin Orozco repeated the feat on Championship Sunday Preview Day, capped with a perfectly timed ride on California-bred More Power to Him in the $50,000 Mt. Rainier Stakes for 3-year-olds and up.
Orozco, 22, scored his other stakes win Sunday aboard Show Me the Mints in the $50,000 King County Express as Emerald Downs presented four $50,000 stakes races on a 10-race card.
In the Mt. Rainier, More Power to Him closed from far back in the eight-horse field, surging past El Huerfano and Oh Marvelous Me in the final strides for a 1 ½-length victory. The winner covered 1 1/16 miles under 120 lbs. in 1:42.62 and paid $10.20, $4.60 and $2.80. Faith Taylor is the winning trainer for owner/breeder Brett Mason of Vacaville, Calif.
Fellow Cal-bred El Huerfano, the 9-to-5 favorite ridden by Agapito Delgadillo at 124 lbs, finished second and paid $3.40 and $2.40, while ultra-consistent Oh Marvelous Me, ridden by Jorge Carreno at 120 lbs, finished third and paid $2.60. Elliott Bay, Hit the Beach, Concur, Vicente’s Shadow and Many Roses completed the order of finish; Respect the Hustle was scratched.
The Mt. Rainier is the final local prep for next month’s $200,000 Longacres Mile (G3), and Mason said More Power to would remain here for the 84th renewal of the Northwest’s most prestigious race on Sunday, August 11.
More Power to Him is no stranger to Emerald Downs. He finished third twice in stakes races here as a 3-year-old in 2017, but has mainly competed on the synthetic and turf surfaces at Golden Gate Fields. A California-bred by Slew’s Tiznow, his overall mark is 6-6-7 from 34 starts with earnings of $323,317, including $25,850 for Sunday’s triumph.
Although he settled for second, El Huerfano ran a much-improved race in the Mt. Rainier and also figures to contend in the Longacres Mile. Ditto third-place finisher Oh Marvelous Me, who now has two seconds and a third in three stakes this season and an overall record of 6-5-6 in 18 career starts at Emerald Downs.
Anyportinastorm, who sat out the Mt. Rainier after scoring convincing wins in the Governor’s Stakes and Budweiser Stakes, also is expected to run in the Longacres Mile.
In addition to the Longacres Mile, Championship Sunday includes the $50,000 Emerald Distaff, $50,000 Muckleshoot Derby and $50,000 Washington Oaks.