Bella Colomba prevailed by a head in a three-horse driving finish Saturday in the $18,800 Stella Artois Purse for fillies and mares at Emerald Downs.
Ridden by Julien Couton, the meet’s leading rider with 80 victories, Bella Colomba ran 6 ½ furlongs, in 1:16 and paid $9.20, $4.40 and $2.60. Mary Pirone is the winning trainer and breeder for owner Eagle Valley Stable.
Belladiva, the 6-to-5 betting favorite ridden by Javier Matias, rallied in tandem with the winner, but was out finished and settled for second. Belladiva paid $2.80 and $2.20.
Collateral, ridden by Joe Steiner, kicked 2 ½ lengths clear past mid-stretch, but weakened slightly and finished third. The 3-to-1 second choice, Collateral paid $2.80 for show.
Del Mar Dixie, Quibble, Today Is the Day and Roughingthepasser completed the order of finish.
A 3-year-old Washington-bred by Preachinatthebar-Wine and Spirits has won her last two starts and is 3-2-1 in eight career starts with earnings of $34,224, including $10,340 for Saturday’s score.
NOTES: Trainer Jeff Metz had his second consecutive three-win day, including upsets by Poor David ($24) and Alexa Alexa ($15), and increased his season total to 53 wins. Metz needs 13 wins in the final 11 days to tie Tim McCanna’strack record of 66 wins set in 2008. . .Jose Zunino and Juan Gutierrez rode two winners each on the nine-race card. Gutierrez is second with 68 wins and ranks No. 1 in win percentage at 23.5. . .
Rocco Bowen made it eight satraight days with least one win as Epic Electorate ($10.80) surged late to win Saturday’sfifth race. . .Saturday’s $0.50 Pick 5 returned a whopping $5,249.75 to one winning ticket with the 6-5-6-6-6 combination.Whiskey Prince ($18) in race seven was the knockout punch. . .The victory by Whiskey Prince boosted trainer Tim McCanna’s all-time track record to 905 wins. . .Trainer Howard Belvoir finished first and second with Strawberry Dawn($5) and 12-to-1 Mary Lois in Saturday’s sixth race. . .Cup of Soup ($3.20) became a triple winner at the meet with a 2 ½-length victory in race four for $15,000 claiming fillies and mares. With the win, trainer Manny Ortiz improved to 13-for-43 in his first season at Emerald Downs. . .Alert Bay, third in the Longacres Mile, is entered in Monday’s $50,000 Rolling Green Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Golden Gate Fields. . .Live racing continues Sunday with the $60,000 Bank of America Emerald Championship Challenge for Quarter Horses. First post is 2 p.m.
