John E. Parker’s homebred Gold Rush Dancer ran away with the $200,000 Longacres Mile (G3) at Emerald Downs on Sunday.
With apprentice Evin Roman aboard, Gold Rush Dancer pressed Dedicated to You through an opening quarter in :22.86, then took command through a half-mile in :45.81. From there, the Vann Belvoir trainee pulled began pulling away from the field, eventually crossing under the wire 4 3/4 lengths clear of runner-up Mach One Rules.
Sent off the 3-1 second choice, Gold Rush Dancer paid $8.40 for finishing one mile over the fast Emerald Downs dirt in 1:33.85. Mach One Rules, the 3-1 favorite, just held 82-1 longshot Dedicated to You to third by a head, while it was another 1 3/4 lengths behind to Barkley.
Completing the order of finish were Point Piper, Stryker Phd, Seattle Serenade, Papa Frank, Chief of Staff, Bistraya, Togrammashousewego and Black Sona.
Gold Rush Dancer earned his fifth stakes win in this spot, but first graded credit, adding it to scores in the 2015 Gottstein Futurity and 2016 editions of the Snow Chief Stakes, Real Good Deal Stakes and Silky Sullivan Stakes. The Private Gold colt also boasts six stakes-placings, including a third-place run in the Bertrando Stakes prior to the Longacres Mile on July 8 at Los Alamitos.
Gold Rush Dancer improved his scorecard to 18-6-3-3 and has now banked $510,613 in lifetime earnings.
Bred in California, Gold Rush Dancer is out of the unraced In Excess mare Dances On Water and comes from the same female line as champion turf horse Tight Spot.
