Longacres Mile

To the casual fan, all racetrack outings are essentially created equal. You bet $2 to win on the horse with the shiniest coat or funniest name, drink plenty of beer, and salt the day away catching up with family and friends while maintaining a gutless, virtually unwavering ledger of cash-on-hand. But for one day each year, Emerald Downs becomes a haven for serious horseplayers. That day is August 19, with the 72nd running of the $400,000 (Grade III) Longacres Mile, Washington state’s oldest continuously-running sporting event. Aside from attracting stakes-caliber thoroughbreds who might be utilizing the Mile as a Breeders Cup tune-up (attention aspiring horse fans: it’s the Breeders Cup, not the Kentucky Derby, that is to thoroughbred racing as the Super Bowl is to pro football), the Mile gives railbirds old enough to remember the woebegone namesake track down the highway an opportunity to wax nostalgic—as well as providing hybrid Sonic-pony fanatics a chance to cream their jeans over the Muckleshoot Tribe’s longshot bid to site the Sonics’ new arena in the Emerald Downs parking lot.