Horse Racing: Emerald Downs 2026 Season Awards and Championships

9/9/2026

(Auburn, WA) With the end of the 2026 live racing season the season ending Championships and Awards are also in the books. We’ll begin with the Awards followed by the jockey, trainer, owner and breeder top performers. Special thanks to Emerald Downs’ Director of Media Vince Bruun with his help in this post.

Awards

Horse(s) of the Meeting

In an Emerald Downs’ first, 6-year-old mare Aloha Breeze and 3-year-old colt Robin Racer have been voted co Horses of the Meeting at the 47-day season that concluded Monday.

Aloha Breeze (left) and Robin Racer—both owned by George Todaro and trained by Tom Wenzel—are the first horses to share Horse of the Meeting in the 31-year history of the track.

The resumes of Aloha Breeze and Robin Racer were nearly identical. Each had four wins overall including three stakes, with Aloha Breeze earning $107,320 and Robin Racer $106,750.

Older Filly or Mare and Spinter

Aloha Breeze also picked up additional season awards of Older Filly or Mare and Top Sprinter of the meet.

A Kentucky-bred by The Factor, Aloha Breeze is the track’s all-time leading older filly or mare with 10 stakes wins, and joins Noosa Beach (2010-11), Stryker Phd (2014-15), and Slew’s Tiz Whiz (2022-23) as the only two-time winners of Horse of the Meeting. In addition, Aloha Breeze has won division honors at ages 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

3-year old Colt or Gelding

Robin Racer also added additional hardware being name 3-year old Colt or Gelding. His performance in the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic this past Sunday was electric and certainly cemented his achievements for 2026.

A Kentucky-bred by Connect, Robin Racer capped his season with a victory over older horses in the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic. That followed decisive victories in the Seattle Slew Stakes and Muckleshoot Derby to go with a season-opening allowance triumph at 5 ½ furlongs.

Older Horse

Adios Jojo had quite a season and earned top older horse after stunning the betting public by winning the Longacres Mile at 32-1 under Kevin Orozco. Although he finished 2nd to favorite Touchy, the first DQ in Longacres Mile history moved Adios Jojo up to the winner’s circle. 

Many will disregard this and consider it a gift until you look at the race and realize the bumping certainly could have been the difference in the win as Adios Jojo was interfered with and still lost by less than a nose. The effort was incredible and had he not been bumped you could justifiably say that Adios Jojo would have won. Adios Jojo more than earned the Older Horse award.

2-year old Colt or Gelding

Diamond Dasher’s resounding five-length victory in the Gottstein Futurity cinched honors as Top 2-Year-Old Colt or gelding. A Todaro homebred by The Factor-Diamonds R, Diamond Dasher was second in the WTBOA Lads and finished the campaign 2-1-0 in four starts with $54,580 in earnings.

2-year old Filly and Washington Bred

Mattie Goincoastal (Coast Guard-Ms Moscow Mattie) took honors as top 2-year-old filly and top Washington-bred, winning three races including daylight scores in the Angie C and WTBOA Lassies.

Claimer of the Meet

Kristin Lee earned Top Claimer with a 4-1-0 record in five starts, winning her final three starts by 6 ¾, 7 ¼, and 4 lengths. A 5-year-old Cat Burglar mare, she made her final four starts for trainer Coco Patino.

Race of the Meeting

The 91st running of the Longacres Mile was voted Race of the Meeting. Kentucky invader Touchy was disqualified from first and placed second for interference in the stretch, becoming the first DQ from win in the storied history of the race.

Training Achievement

Tom Wenzel with 9 stakes wins and become all-time leading stakes trainer at Emerald Downs this season, surpassing Doris Harwood. Wenzel finished 3rd in the win total with 29 but was well ahead in earnngs racking up $642,455 in total earnings, more than $120,000 more than  2nd place Howie Gibson.

Wenzel led all trainers with nine stakes wins, conditioned three champions (Aloha Breeze, Robin Racer, Diamond Dasher), while becoming No. 1 all-time with 76 stakes wins at Emerald Downs. Wenzel twice won three stakes in a day, tying his own track record, and took honors for Top Training Achievement.

Riding Achievement

Leading rider Silvio Amador won his first riding Championship and by the end of May was in control and never relinquished that lead. After the first 5 days in May there was a 4-way tie for first with Amdor, Kevin Krigger, Adrian Castellanos and Karlo Lopez were all tied with 6 wins each. In the other 5 days racing days of May, Amador took charge including a 4 win day and a pair of doubles and led Krigger 16-14 as the calendar flipped to June.

Amador also led in earnings and was the lone rider to top 1-million dollars with $1,004,852. Amador’s consistency all season was his trademark along with the Batman theme song that would play after each of his victories.

Top Horses by Wins

There were 5 horses that were led into the Winner’s Circle 4 times in 2026, up from just 2 in 2025. 21 runner’s won 3 races in 2026 compared to 23 in 2025. The top winning horses with 4 wins were:

Aloha Breeze
Robin Racer
Kristin Lee
Can’tdealwithit
Taino House

Top Stakes Horse by Wins-Places-Shows

The two horses of the meet tied for top Stakes runners as well with identical records. Both Aloha Breeze and Robin Racer started in 4 Stakes races and both took home 3 wins and a 2nd for identical 3-1-0 records.

There were two other horses who won twice in Stakes company and were the fabulous Washington 2-year-old filly Mattie Goincoastal and the fast improving Tipitap. Mattie’s record was 2-0-0 from 3 Stakes starts while Tipitap was 2-0-1 from 4 Stakes starts.

Championships

Jockeys

Champion by Wins and Earnings

Silvio Amador picked up his 1st Jockey Championship finishing the season with 68 wins. Amador and Kevin Krigger were 1 and 2 for most of the season but then Adrian Castellanos caught fire late delivering multiple 3 win days and made up a ton of ground and past Krigger for 2nd coming into the final day. Amador held a 67-59 lead starting on Monday and with only 8 races set for closing day and Castellanos did not ride the card, Amador clinched the win.

Castellanos led Krigger 59-56 coming into closing day and Krigger not happy with being past picked off two wins in the 2nd on Bob’s Honey and 4th with Nation of Faith to pull within 1 of Castellanos for 2nd. Castellanos then answered with a win on Creative Om in the 7th. Both Krigger and Castellanos had 3 seconds on the day as neither one gave in but Castellanos held onto 2nd place.

Here are the top 10 Jockeys by wins:

1) Silvio Amador         68
2) Adrain Castellanos      60
3) Kevin Krigger               58
4) Blake Nunnally            43
5) Frank Alvarado            29
6) Alex Cruz                      28
7) Kevin Orozco               27
8) Allyssa Morales           14
9) Isaias Enriquez            11
9) Talliyah Timentwa      11
9) Karlo Lopez                  11

The Lindy Award

The Lindy award is given to the jockey that best displayed sportsmanship, integrity and achievement. The winner was Kevin Orozco who had another solid year winning multiple Stakes rces including the Longacres Mile. This award is also special because it is voted on only by Orozco’s fellow riders in the Jockey’s room.

Apprentice Rider of the Year

Talliyah Timentwa had a really good year after getting her start a little over a year ago here at Emerald Downs. This year she made her way to the Winner’s Circle 10 times.  It wasn’t like she was riding big favorites, 3 of her wins led to high pays of the season.

She won on Charlie Neal at 35-1 and paid $71.14 for the high $2 win pay of the year. Her win on Happy Is on August 29 led to the top $2 exacta pay $682.52 and led the largest 10-cent superfecta of $2,414.59. Timentwa wasn’t done yet as she also won on Golden Regal who completed the $42,046.76 pick 6 pay-off that only one winner had and that happened to be Emerald Downs’ own Joe Withee.

Top Stakes Jockeys by Wins

The wiley veteran Frank Alvarado showed up when it came to the big races and was in a head-and-head battle with Kevin Orozco who led the Stakes winners a few years ago. Alvarado riding a bunch for the powerful George Todaro/Tom Wenzil barn while Kevin Orozco had his hand in with leading trainer Howie Gibson and longtime NW stalwart Kay Cooper.

Alvarado got two big wins on the final Super Stakes Sunday while Orozco suffered through a very difficult day with Mattie Goincoastal not having her best day after a spectacular debut season. And then the very difficult race with Longacres Mile winner Adios Jojo suffering a significant injury in the running of the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic.

One note on this was the scratching of Slew’s Tiz Whiz in the Classic, due to a minor foot issue, which allowed trainer Tom Wenzel who had also entered Robin Racer in the Classic to move Alvarado off Slew to R-R. This knocked Allyssa Morales off of Robin Racer but Alvarado had won 2 stakes races with Robin Racer earlier this season. 

Morales was given the ride aboard Diamond Dasher in the Gottstein for Wenzel and Alvarado rode Gottherizz. Morales would win her 1st ever Stake race at Emerald Downs with Diamond Dasher and became the 10 rider to win a Stake race in 2026. Alvarado finsihed 2nd on Gottherizz.

Top Stakes Jockeys by Earnings

Trainers

Champion by Wins

Howie Gibson captured his first training title, winning 33 races, and scored his first Longacres Mile with Oregon-bred Adios Jojo at odds of 32 to 1. Gibson won at a 31.1 percent clip and developed division champions Mattie Goincoastal (2-year-old filly) and Adios Jojo (Older Horse).

Earnings Leader

Tom Wenzel was the leading earnings trainer banking $642,455 in 2026. Wenzel led all trainers with nine stakes wins, conditioned three champions (Aloha Breeze, Robin Racer, Diamond Dasher), while becoming No. 1 all-time with 76 stakes wins at Emerald Downs. Wenzel twice won three stakes in a day, tying his own track record, and took honors for Top Training Achievement.

The Durkin Award

The Race Office gets together and decides this award for the trainer who best exemplifies those who lead the barns and they also couldn’t break a tie handing the prestigious Durkan award to Kay Cooper & British Columbia contingent (Mark Cloutier, Robert Gilker, Steve Henson, Ian Jewell, Patty Leaney).

The Canadian contingent was to recognize the difficult situation for these trainers who had been at Hastings Park for decades in some cases. Hastings Park ceased operations leaving the Canadian horsemen to find alternative plans or leave the business. This group of trainers were a huge difference maker in helping the horse population at Emerald Downs and were welcome additions to the Emerald backside.

Here are the top 10 Trainers by wins:

1) Howie Gibson  33
2) Jorge Rosales       29
3) Blaine Wright       25
4) Tim McCanna       21
5) Frank Lucarelli     16
6) Charlie Essex        15
6) Jesse Velasquez    15
8) Kay Cooper            13
9) Joe Toye                 11
10) Alexis Silva-Martinez 10

Owners

Champion by Wins, Earnings and Stakes Wins

Dr George Todaro was the meet’s leading owner in wins (20), stakes wins (9), and earnings ($513,550), averaging over $10,000 per start. Aloha Breeze, Robin Racer and Diamond Dasher combined for eight stakes victories flying the red, white and green Todaro silks. 

The 20 wins is the most by an owner since Justin Evans won 21 in 2023.

Todaro becomes the 11th owner in track history to have 20 or more wins in a season. He joins Chad Christensen, Chad and Josh, Swag Stables, Saratoga West, Mr & Mrs Don Munger, Ron Crockett, West Ridge Farm, John Parker and Howard Belvoir.

Only Chad Christensen has topped 30 wins with 32 in 2019. Swag Stables is second with 27 in 2009. John Parker, Ron Crockett and Saratoga West have all won 20+ in a season twice.

Here are the top 5 Owners by wins:

1) Dr George Todaro                    20
2) Joe & Gloria Russo                           7
2) Rancho Viejo & Jerry Carmody     7
2) Hat Trick Racing                               7
5) Sue Gilmour                                       6
5) Heredia, Sandoval & Thompson    6

Breeders

Frederick and Debbie Pabst had a great year leading all Washington State Breeders with 17 wins from their Blue Ribbon farm. Not far behind from El Dorado farm were Nina and Ron Hagen. Now there were other mixes of breeding teams that included both the Pabsts’ and Hagens’ but the stats are exact breeders as listed and not partial much like the owners. 

Overall, California-breds won 118 of 390 races or 30.2 percent, followed closely by Washington-breds and Kentucky-breds with 106 wins apiece or 27.2 percent.

Smiling Tiger was leading sire for a second consecutive season with 19 wins including Longacres Mile winner Adios Jojo.

Breeder Standings by Wins (minimum 2 wins listed)

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