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- Emerald Downs' Belvoirs have <b>horse</b> <b>racing</b> in their blood
- <b>Horse</b> <b>racing</b> returns on April 10-11
- <b>Horse</b> <b>racing</b> is back this weekend
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| Emerald Downs' Belvoirs have <b>horse</b> <b>racing</b> in their blood Posted: 07 Apr 2010 10:03 PM PDT AUBURN — Howard Belvoir insists he gets excited when he sees the horses he trains winning, even if he doesn't show much more than a smile. "I just hold it all in," he said. There is, however, no question how his son Vann feels when the horses he trains are racing. "If you want to see a show, just watch Vann when he's rooting during a race," Howard Belvoir said. Vann, a former jockey champion, is gregarious, confident and brash. Howard is understated and talks softly. But while their personalities might be different, their results on the track aren't. These are certainly good times for the Belvoirs. Howard, 65, has trained the past two winners of the Longacres Mile, the Northwest's biggest horse race. He won it with Wasserman in 2008 and with Assessment in 2009, becoming the fifth trainer to win the race in consecutive years and the fourth to do it with different horses. Vann, 36, has a huge stable of 80 horses and seems a major threat to end Tim McCanna's three-year string (and eight of the past 10 years) as Emerald Downs' leading trainer during the 91-day meet that begins Friday night. A career horseman Howard Belvoir's passion for the game began when he was 13 and growing up in Payette, Idaho. That was when he started working as a groom for Troy, Roy and J.D. Taylor. "From that point on, it's all I wanted to do," he said. "It was a job and it was horses." Belvoir got his training license at age 19 and was soon training at Longacres in Renton. That's where he introduced his son Vann to the sport. The kid was grooming six horses by the time he was 12. "He'd watch horses jog by and he'd quiz me," Vann said of his father. "He was my teacher. He'd ask me where is that horse sore; where is that horse off? It was always a learning experience. When I was grooming I never got paid. He would tell me, 'You're working for experience, that's your check.' " "And it's all paid off. My dad's a great teacher. I couldn't be here where I'm at right now without him, that's for sure." Belvoir has trained several great horses, including fan favorite Red Eye Express in the early 1970s, but in general did his work without a lot of fanfare. Wasserman, a horse that Belvoir owned, changed that with an unbelievable season in 2008. He won four stakes, all in a photo finish, including the Mile. Wasserman made an Emerald-record $245,478 that year, money that Belvoir reinvested by buying more horses. Belvoir finished first and third in last year's Mile with Assessment and Wasserman. Assessment became the first winner of the race to win from the No. 12 post since the first running of the race in 1935. "I couldn't compare the two," Belvoir said of the Mile victories. "They both were kind of unbelievable. To win two in a row after being in the business this long — and there has only been 74 winners. I always think of what Herman Sarkowsky said: 'I've won the Breeders' Cup, but winning the Mile to me means more than that.' " Belvoir said winning an Emerald Downs training title would be nice, and he figures to have another shot at the Mile. Assessment, who was unable to run in the Breeders' Cup because of a chipped bone in his ankle, is back in training. Wasserman will also be back for Belvoir, as will Mulcahy, the 2007 3-year-old champ who has been out the past two years with an injury. "They're going to bring in tougher and tougher horses to beat," Belvoir said of the invaders from California and Canada who race in the Mile. "But there's always that home-court advantage." The protégé Vann Belvoir left high school after his sophomore year at Covington's Kentwood High School, where he was runner-up at 101 pounds in the state wrestling tournament in 1990. "You don't learn much in school for what I was going to do," he said. And what he did was become one of the best young jockeys on the West Coast, but it came at a price. He was keeping his body below 120 pounds, about 40 pounds below what it would have been naturally. He was twice hospitalized for dehydration. After winning the riding title at the fall Emerald meet in 1996, he was the leading trainer at the winter meet that year. A new career had started. "I always knew I would eventually train," said Belvoir, who now weighs a fit 170. "It (training) was a lot more fun because I could eat. I had no pressure on me and that helped too. Financially I was OK. I was having fun and I was gung-ho. I had a lot of clients calling me and I felt I had to just go with it, because clients are hard to come by." He soon left the Northwest and moved around the country while plying his new trade, with much of his time being spent in the Southwest. He moved back last year, and is part-owner and manager at Keith Swagerty's farm near Black Diamond. With Belvoir training Swagerty's horses, Swag Stables set an Emerald record with 27 victories. "My dad and my wife's parents are here, and we just figured we would come home," said Belvoir, who has a 7-year-old son, Ace, and a 5-year-old daughter, Jade, with wife Sauci. "Everything has worked well." It sure did. Belvoir finished with 54 wins, and this year his stable is more than three times bigger. "Last year, we only had 20 to 25 head the whole meet," he said. "This year, I'm stacked. And I've got a lot of money to claim (horses) with. I've got three or four clients ready to swing the bat and I'm ready to pull the trigger. If I find something I like, I'm on the phone. I've always been pretty successful claiming horses. I like that angle of the game." Belvoir also has strong stakes-quality horses, from returning stakes winner No Flies on Doodle to promising 3-year-old Forener. He also has several 2-year-olds he has high hopes for. As for himself, he has the highest goals in mind. "My goal is to have my horses run in the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup," he said. "Hopefully, that's every trainer's goal. If you're satisfied where you're at, that's the only place you are going to end up. It's like when you buy a house. It's never good enough. You always want one bigger." A friendly rivalry Howard Belvoir naturally roots for his son, and roots for a Belvoir exacta when the two have horses in the same race — though he'd prefer it if his horse won and his son's horse finished second. Vann, while giving his father credit for teaching him the sport, said loyalty doesn't matter then they are competing. "When we line up in the gate, it's a horse race," he said. "I am trying to beat everybody, not only him. But if I don't have one in the race, I am rooting for him, for sure. And vice versa, but if we have one in together, I want to beat him. You know what second is? The first loser. You've got to win." Howard enjoys having his grandkids back in the area and wishes he spent more time with Vann. When they do get together, the conversation turns to horses. "Racetrackers don't leave their horses. That's what you've got on your mind all the time. You're always thinking that, and it's hard to concentrate on other things. It's horse, horse, horse, and you probably should get away a little bit." Getting away, however, is never easy for the Belvoirs. "It's a 24/7 job, and I mean 24/7, because when a trainer leaves the track, it's not over," Vann Belvoir said. "Even when you're home, you're thinking what you are going to do the next day. It's not a relaxing job. You've got your heart and soul into it, and it's a lot of pressure you put on yourself to make money." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| <b>Horse</b> <b>racing</b> returns on April 10-11 Posted: 07 Apr 2010 10:26 PM PDT Horse racing is returning to the Cochise County Fairgrounds. Fairgrounds Manager Karen Strongin announced last week enough state funding has been allocated this year allowing her to put on one weekend of horse racing.Strongin said the dates she was given were April 10-11. "We plan to have a nice variety of Thoroughbred and Quarter horse races," she said. "The track has been maintained and we're excited to be able to bring the races back to Douglas this year." The El Moro de Cumpas trials will be held in Douglas that weekend with the finals to be in Sonoita for the second straight year. The Sonoita Derby Trials will also take place in Douglas as will the John Ray Memorial. Strongin is hoping to have at least 10 races each of the two days. With the economic situation the way it is there will be no increase in the price of the admission or the cost of the programs. A St. Patrick's Day dance is scheduled for this Saturday (March 20) from 8 p.m. to midnight. Money raised will be used for the upcoming horse races. There will be door prizes and green beer. Tickets are $5. "This board is determined to continue onward with all the traditions we have here," Strongin said. "We're like everybody else … in a funding crunch." Kingman has cancelled its horse races this year and Safford is running just one weekend like Douglas. Safford will run this March 20-21, then Strongin said there will be no races the next two weekends. Douglas will have its races; there will be no racing April 17-18 with Sonoita running April 24-25 and May 1-2 which is Kentucky Derby weekend. Strongin says what happened last year was beyond her on anyone's on the boards control and they would have loved to have had the horse races but with the timing of the state budget cuts that was just not possible. "Our legislators are working really hard for us," she said. "They don't want to see this go away either. … They just had to wait and see what kind of funding was going to be available for the fourth quarter period. "We want to race, we will race but we had to wait to hear from the state as to if any funds were going to be available to help us put on these races. We weren't sure if there was going to be any funding at all." Some of the money from the state is also purse money, Strongin said. The fairgrounds manager said she met individually which each of our state representatives and explained to them how important this event is for this area and they were able to come through for her this year. "This event is very important for this area," she said. "People around here really like the races and look forward to us having them each year. … But it takes a lot of money to put this on." Some horses are already starting to work out on the track. Strongin expects most of them to arrive around April 1. Strongin says she is also looking for race sponsors and volunteers. "If anybody in the community wants to volunteer to help do something out here and they don't have a criminal background, we would love to hear from them," she said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| <b>Horse</b> <b>racing</b> is back this weekend Posted: 07 Apr 2010 10:33 PM PDT After taking a year off due to state budget cuts horse racing is returning to the Cochise County Fairgrounds this weekend The El Moro de Cumpas trials will take place this weekend with the finals to be in Sonoita in two weeks for the second straight year. The Sonoita Derby Trials will also take place this weekend as will the John Ray Memorial.This will be the only weekend of horse racing in the Douglas area. Kingman cancelled its horse races this year and Safford ran just one week instead of its usual two. Sonoita will be the next stop on the racing circuit running April 24-25 and May 1-2 which is Kentucky Derby weekend. Horses have been arriving at the local track in recent weeks and things are all set up and ready to go. Cochise County Fairgrounds manager Karen Strongin is hoping the community will come out and support the races this weekend. What happened last year was beyond anyone's control, Strongin said. "We would have loved to have had the horse races but with the timing of the state budget cuts that was just not possible," she said. "We want to race, we will race but we had to wait to hear from the state as to if any funds were going to be available to help us put on these races." Gates will open at noon each day with races starting at 1 p.m. There is an admission charge of $3 per person to the races. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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