“Horse Racing” plus 2 more

Horse Racing
Kalispell horse racing staged by 2 residents, volunteer crew
Freeholders call on gov. to protect horse racing

Horse Racing

Posted: 23 Aug 2010 10:04 PM PDT

Posted: August 24
Updated: Today at 12:40 AM

Horse Racing

Pocono Downs Results

Monday Aug 23, 2010

First - $9,500 Trot 2:00.0

2-Tifn Hanover (Ho Parker) 15.40 4.20 3.80

3-Pacific Voodoo (Ed Lohmeyer) 3.80 3.60

6-Mitleh Hadeed (Ma Kakaley) 13.00

EXACTA (2-3) $55.60

TRIFECTA (2-3-6) $860.20

Second - $9,500 Pace 1:54.4

3-Cheap Motel (Ge Napolitano Jr) 3.60 2.80 2.20

5-Quicksilvercandy A (La Stalbaum) 4.00 3.20

2-Kabbalah Karen B (Er Goodell) 3.00

EXACTA (3-5) $14.00

TRIFECTA (3-5-2) $61.00

DAILY DOUBLE (2-3) $40.20

Third - $8,000 Trot 2:03.0

1-Pink Caviar (Er Goodell) 6.80 4.00 3.20

3-Front End Rate (Ti Curtin) 10.00 3.80

5-Lady Sorro (La Stalbaum) 3.40

EXACTA (1-3) $40.60

TRIFECTA (1-3-5) $131.80

Fourth - $14,550 Pace 1:53.1

1-Mattox's Spencer (Ma Kakaley) 9.80 3.20 3.60

4-Native Lightning (Ge Napolitano Jr) 2.40 2.10

5-Red Star Tomahawk (Er Goodell) 3.40

EXACTA (1-4) $17.80

TRIFECTA (1-4-5) $95.60

SUPERFECTA (1-4-5-9) $627.80

Scratched: Rinestone Phantom

Fifth - $8,500 Pace 1:56.0

5-Ima Sporty Lady (Jo Pavia Jr) 7.60 3.20 2.10

2-Heavenly Helen (Ge Napolitano Jr) 2.40 2.20

4-Nancy Irene (Ma Romano) 2.40

EXACTA (5-2) $30.40

TRIFECTA (5-2-4) $121.80

Sixth - $9,500 Trot 1:58.1

7-Spice It Up Lindy (Mi Simons) 4.00 3.20 2.40

4-Super Chuck (Ti Curtin) 15.40 5.40

3-P L Conjure (An McCarthy) 2.60

EXACTA (7-4) $49.00

TRIFECTA (7-4-3) $186.60

Seventh - $6,500 Pace 1:58.1

1-Remington Style (Ma Kakaley) 36.00 22.00 6.80

8-Al's Beach Boy (Da Ingraham) 21.40 9.40

4-King Daniel (Jo Pavia Jr) 2.80

EXACTA (1-8) $269.00

TRIFECTA (1-8-4) $2,328.80

PICK 3 (5-7-1) $219.60

Eighth - $8,500 Pace 1:54.2

6-Yankee Devil (Th Jackson) 10.80 5.20 3.20

3-Thanks For Stoppin (Ed Lohmeyer) 3.60 2.60

5-Monet C C (Da Ingraham) 5.20

EXACTA (6-3) $39.40

TRIFECTA (6-3-5) $234.60

SUPERFECTA (6-3-5-2) $1,227.20

Ninth - $9,500 Trot 1:59.1

4-Southern Beauty (Ge Napolitano Jr) 4.20 4.20 2.80

3-Lhasa Muscles (Ke Sizer) 10.00 3.40

5-Walden (Ti Curtin) 3.60

EXACTA (4-3) $28.60

TRIFECTA (4-3-5) $187.00

Scratched: Just A Con Man

Tenth - $9,000 Pace 1:54.2

6-Western Thorn (Ma Kakaley) 6.60 2.80 2.60

1-Mcgreat (Ho Parker) 2.60 2.10

4-Cashendash Hanover (An McCarthy) 3.00

EXACTA (6-1) $22.80

TRIFECTA (6-1-4) $58.00

Eleventh - $4,950 Pace 1:56.3

5-Jealous Heart (Ma Kakaley) 5.40 3.40 5.20

1-Eve Freeluck (La Stalbaum) 4.20 4.20

8-Cams Lucky Charm (An McCarthy) 6.20

EXACTA (5-1) $17.40

TRIFECTA (5-1-8) $145.00

PICK 3 (4-6-5) $82.80

Twelfth - $8,500 Pace 1:56.0

9-Samantha Q (Er Goodell) 65.40 39.80 8.40

8-Breakheart Pass (An Napolitano) 44.60 10.60

1-I'm Just Special (Ma Kakaley) 2.80

EXACTA (9-8) $1,313.20

TRIFECTA (9-8-1) $1,865.80

Thirteenth - $8,500 Pace 1:56.3

7-Einsteins Theory (Ma Kakaley) 19.40 5.60 3.60

5-Prestissimo (La Stalbaum) 6.80 3.80

1-Powerfulsam (Ge Napolitano Jr) 2.80

EXACTA (7-5) $86.00

TRIFECTA (7-5-1) $175.80

Fourteenth - $9,500 Trot 1:57.1

2-Too Salty (Ke Sizer) 7.00 4.00 3.00

7-Our Last Photo (Ge Napolitano Jr) 6.40 4.00

5-Celebrity Legacy (Da Ingraham) 3.80

EXACTA (2-7) $49.00

TRIFECTA (2-7-5) $282.60

Fifteenth - $6,500 Pace 1:56.4

7-Paper Luck (Da Ingraham) 22.60 9.20 4.80

6-Mctrick Or Treat (Ma Kakaley) 4.80 2.80

3-Drama Party (Bi Dobson) 11.60

EXACTA (7-6) $128.00

TRIFECTA (7-6-3) $1,298.20

SUPERFECTA (7-6-3-ALL) $1,760.00

LATE DOUBLE (2-7) $125.00

Total Handle-$309,868

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Kalispell horse racing staged by 2 residents, volunteer crew

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 08:49 PM PDT

Sunday's rain in Kalispell did its darnedest to ground them, but a couple of determined horse women pulled off the unthinkable: two days of locally produced horse racing almost entirely run by volunteers.

"If you're asking if it went smoothly ... I've never dealt with more chaos in my life," said Janis Schoepf. "But if that's what made it seem smooth for everyone else, that makes me feel really good."

Schoepf and horse training partner Debbie Cunnington did the bulk of the organizing, fundraising and racetrack managing for a group called, simply, Kalispell Race Meet, after others in the local turf club backed off.

In mid-June, a mere nine weeks before the races began, they made a successful application for Aug. 21 and 22 dates, the final days of the Northwest Montana Fair.

Some 3,500 people paid $5 to get into the fair and another $3 to watch the races on Saturday, the first day of horse races in Kalispell since 2005.

The eight-race card attracted a betting handle of $64,078. That dipped considerably on Sunday, to $37,315, when rains made the track so muddy that five-furlong thoroughbred races were downsized to the quarter-horse length of two furlongs, or 440 yards.

"We saw great, great crowds for Saturday, and the handle was about $14,000 more than I told (Schoepf) to expect, so Saturday was very, very successful," said Ryan Sherman, executive director of the Montana Board of Horse Racing. "Of course Sunday, with the rain, it wasn't as good, but overall, for it being the first time in five years, I thought it was a great meet."

Saturday's parimutuel handle of $8,000 a race was only slightly less than Missoula's average the previous weekend on a mud-plagued opening Friday, the first day of racing since 2006. The second day at the Western Montana Fair was off the charts - a record $149,119 for 11 races, or $13,556 per race.

"It bodes well when you can't walk through the grandstand in Missoula, and it was the same way at Kalispell on Saturday," Sherman said. "The stands were absolutely full on Saturday in Kalispell, both of them."

"It's good to see that we've opened the doors to the possibility of returning racing back to communities that haven't had it for several years," Sherman added. "We'll take a look at the end of the racing season and what our simulcast has done for us purse money-wise and see if we can't keep those opportunities going for the future."

***

Both Scheopf and Eric Spector, the president of Montana Downs, which put on the Missoula races, indicated they'd like to expand their meets from two days next year. Schoepf said her "personal goal" is for a weekend of racing in Kalispell over the Fourth of July.

"That's in the back of my mind. Nobody else is racing in the Northwest and I think it's a weekend when people are looking for things to do," she said.

Such a weekend would kick off the summer circuit in Montana, and racing would return to Kalispell for a couple of days during the fair.

"It would tie the whole circuit together," Schoepf said. "I think it would phenomenal."

Kalispell Race Meet rented the track from the county and rounded up $20,000 in sponsorships for purses and operations. The late application for dates excluded the track from receiving state funds for purses, as the other tracks in Montana receive, "so we had to wing all of that," Schoepf said.

An additional $25,000 organizers expected to receive from the Blackfeet tribe, which sponsored the popular Indian Relay Races after each day's race card, was not forthcoming. Schoepf said that money is still in dispute.

"But the bills are paid. That's a good feeling. It would be nice to have seed money for next year, but just given the fact that we're eligible for at least some of the purse money through the state next year is huge," she said.

A six-day meet at Great Falls and the two days at Missoula were both operated by Montana Downs, a subsidiary of a private California company. Schoepf said Kalispell Race Meet proved racing could be revived by a local group of race enthusiasts, and Sherman agreed.

"A dedicated group of horsemen such as themselves ... it shows if you want it bad enough you can do it," he said.

Everyone has their own measures of success, Schoepf said.

"My own personal satisfaction of it all, I guess, was that they never hauled a horse off in the ambulance, and I never picked up a rider with my people ambulance," she said. "That's huge. Even in mud, because that scared me."

Sherman said the short Kalispell meet gave horsemen a racing venue the week after Missoula, which followed the Great Falls meet by two weeks. The first of four consecutive weekends of racing at Yellowstone Downs in Billings begins Saturday.

"It kind of filled that early August to end-of-August void that we didn't have for the past couple of years. Now we can go right in to Billings," Sherman said. "We've kind of got a circuit that's starting to redevelop in the state, and that's very encouraging."

Freeholders call on gov. to protect horse racing

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 11:56 AM PDT

Freeholders call on gov. to protect horse racing

The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders has adopted a resolution urging Gov. Chris Christie to find a way to protect New Jersey's horse racing industry.

The resolution, adopted on Aug. 12, asks Christie to consider the benefits of horse racing— both thoroughbreds and standardbreds — on New Jersey's economy and quality of life, particularly in Monmouth County. A state report recommended ending purse subsidies to the racetracks.

"Most of our farms are horse farms," Freeholder Director Lillian G. Burry said. "If horse racing were to end in New Jersey and all of these horse breeders moved out, what do you think would happen to their farms? Builders will come in and put up housing developments."

Freeholder John D'Amico, who lives in Oceanport where Monmouth Park racetrack is located, said that rather than ending the state subsidies for racetracks, the state should provide a bridge that will get the tracks to a point where they can be self-sustaining. According to a 2007 study by the Rutgers Equine Science Center, the horse industry generates more than $1.1 billion annually for New Jersey's economy.

"The shorter schedule [at Monmouth Park] this year really turned things around and has shown that with larger purses, the horse racing industry can attract bettors to the track," D'Amico said. "Losing horse racing would negatively impact our farming community and quality of life."

The resolution comes on the heels of a report released in July that recommended ending the purse subsidies for the state's racetracks and instead focusing on greater state investment in Atlantic City's casinos and completing the Xanadu shopping mall in Bergen County. The report was prepared by the Governor's Advisory Commission on Gaming, Sports and Entertainment, according to a press release from the county.

"Horse racing supports other farmers who provide feed, veterinarians and farriers, tack shop owners, manufacturers of horse trailers, and keeps 13,000 New Jersey residents employed," Freeholder Deputy Director Robert D. Clifton said. "It must be protected."

"Horse farms are what make Monmouth County what it is," Freeholder Amy A. Mallet said. "Monmouth County has great diversity with urban centers, suburban and rural areas. Horse racing is the engine that keeps these horse farms here, and we cannot lose that."

"Monmouth County has done a terrific job over the years protecting and preserving its farmlands and open spaces," Freeholder John P. Curley said. "Most of our farms are horse farms. If we preserve horse racing, we also preserve Monmouth County's quality of life."

Horse Racing

Tuesday, August 24, 2010