Alert Bay Ships North Again for Longacres Mile

At age 7, Peter Redekop's Alert Bay is still, as described by trainer Blaine Wright, "ornery."

He's not up for nuzzling or petting—although he'll perk up to accept a peppermint—and Wright is hopeful that somewhat combative personality will carry the millionaire through another season of racing.

"I don't think 7-years-old is too old to be at his best," Wright said of the Califorina-bred City Zip gelding, who has won six graded races in his career and earned more than $1.2 million. "I still feel like he wants it."

Alert Bay has won on dirt (fast and wet), he's won on turf, and he's won on synthetic, but he's yet to win the Longacres Mile Handicap (G3) in two tries at Emerald Downs and has shipped north from his Golden Gate Fields base once more for the $200,000 race.

But he also has to deal with the question marks related to his 13-month layoff. Wright has his own questions too, but has seen every indication during training that Alert Bay is ready to go.

"He still works in company and outworks horses and draws away from them, but he could be a little rusty," Wright said. "He hasn't missed a beat since he got back in training, but he needs to bring his 'A' game."

There isn't another graded winner in the six-horse field, but there are multiple who have experience in the Longacres Mile. Alert Bay finished third in 2015 and fourth in 2016, Mach One Rules came in second in 2017, and local favorite Barkley finished fourth last year.

Wright's second entry, Oh Marvelous Me, has won or placed in six straight allowance races at Emerald Downs since the trainer moved him up from the conditional claiming ranks, although he ran second to fellow Longacres Mile entrant Kaabraaj in a July 8 allowance.

The lone shipper from the East is David Staudacher's graded stakes-placed Conquest Windycity, who was claimed for $62,500 by trainer Mike Maker in November at Churchill Downs. The Tiznow  gelding won another optional-claiming allowance in February at Gulfstream Park, but has otherwise been overmatched. He finished sixth in the Commonwealth Stakes (G3) in April, last of nine in the May 5 Churchill Downs Stakes presented by Twinspires.com (G2), and sixth last time out in the June 23 Mystic Lake Mile Stakes at Canterbury Park.

Entries: Longacres Mile H. (G3)

Emerald Downs, Sunday, August 12, 2018, Race 8

• Grade III
• 1m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 5:53 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Mach One Rules (WA)	Pedro M. Terrero	119	Frank Lucarelli	4/1
2	2Alert Bay (CA)	Juan J. Hernandez	121	Blaine D. Wright	9/5
3	3Barkley (KY)	Javier Matias	120	Howard Belvoir	5/2
4	4Kaabraaj (WA)	Jose Luis Zunino	117	Jeffrey Metz	6/1
5	5Conquest Windycity (KY)	Erick Lopez	118	Michael J. Maker	9/2
6	6Oh Marvelous Me (KY)	Julien Couton	117	Blaine D. Wright	12/1