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Written by Garry Allison
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Thursday, 02 September 2010 09:24 |
LETHBRIDGE - If you are looking for a great place to spend the holiday weekend, how about taking in the return of live horse racing at the Rocky Mountain Turf Club? The two-month long Fall Meet gets underway Friday with six, five furlong races. Post time Friday is 6 p.m. while Saturday, Sunday and Monday the ponies go to the gate at 1:05 p.m.
The opening weekend wraps up Monday but the Fall meet continues each weekend, Friday through Sunday, until it wraps up Oct. 15-17. There's one other four-day weekend in the mix as well, Oct. 8 through 11.
"Certainly, for the main the part, horses, both Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses, should be in top condition coming into the RMTC Fall Meet, after running at Whoop-Up Downs in the spring and then Grande Prairie this summer," says RMTC CEO Max Gibb. "We have a large selection of Thoroughbred Stakes races through the fall with some handsome purses. As well we'll feature the high-paying and tightly contested Quarter Horse Futurity and Derby, both Sept. 19."
Opening weekend features three Quarter Horse Derby Trials Saturday, with the Futurity Trials scheduled for Sunday's program. Saturday's race card also spotlights the $8,000 purse, 400 yard, Whoop-Up Downs Fall Paint Stake, sponsored by Rd Borgstrom.
Another big Quarter horse event on opening Saturday is the AQHRA Annual Yearling Sale and Stallion Service Auction in the South Pavilion of Exhibition Park. Everything gets underway at 6 p.m. The track has been thoroughly reworked after the Lethbridge Whoop-Up Days Rodeo and Monster Trucks, and race fans eagerly await the return of the ponies.
The barns are all ready and huge flat-decks of wood chips have been brought in for the bedding in each stall. The horsemen have finished their summer meet at Grande Prairie - or simple a two-month siesta - and are raring to go. Stan Marks, 82, won a pair of races during the final RMTC weekend in June to bring his Spring total to 10, the best of the trainers on hand. Pete Dubois, another veteran trainer, mainly with Bar None Ranches, was second this past spring and will certainly be in the mix for top trainer this Fall at the RMTC, as well as for the year.
Scott Sterr won five of the 16 races the closing weekend of the Spring Meet to sweep past Nate Smith for a total of 30 wins on the meet. Nate was in second spot with 29 winners. Along with the live racing there's the simulcast action in Bullys and on the third floor in the Champion's Room. As well, Rose Rossi presents a full program for the children each weekend with the Junior Jockey Club. It features the popular candy toss, a playground, horse rides, a petting zoo and many other activities. Race fans of all ages will enjoy the Rocky Mountain Dixieland Jazz Band, led by Grant Erickson, who also plays the Call To Post on his bugle as the horses leave the paddock.
-copyright thehorses.com
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Last Updated on Friday, 03 September 2010 11:19 |
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Written by Garry Allison
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Monday, 05 July 2010 23:01 |
LETHBRIDGE - The final weekend of the spring meet in Lethbridge saw unofficial winners declared in the jockey and trainer standings, both surprises.
The trainer honours went to Stan Marks, the surprise not being the talent, but the grand ol'trainer's age, 82. Stan's horses won a pair of races through the 16-races of the Rocky Mountain Turf Club weekend to bring his meet-long total to 10.
The other surprise came, not in the fact talented veteran Scott Sterr won five of the 16 races, but that pre-weekend meet leader Nate Smith could boot home only one winner. With his five victories, Scott swept past Nate for a total of 30 wins on the meet - and this after being set down by the stewards and missing the first two days. Nate was one back with 29 winners. In the show position was the "Raging Grannie" Kym Espy with 24 wins, three coming the final weekend. Janice Seesequasis, with three wins over the weekend, wound up with 13 victories overall, good for fourth spot.
If there could be a key to it all after two months of racing it came in Sunday's fifth race when Scott, on a Stan Marks horse, Project Fifth Five, out-ran Nate on Sweep's Cry. Ironically Kym was third on Major Temper. Had the win-place been reversed, Scott and Nate would have tied for the championship and Stan would have ended up tied with Pete Dubois.
The win was really not a surprise to Scott however. After an off-season which included irrigating his place - "I just about drowned myself working the irrigation," he said with a laugh - he was looking to be back on top as the leading rider at the RMTC's spring meet, and perhaps the fall as well.
"If you are looking any other way you might as well not be here. I don't come to the races to run second," Scott said sincerely. Stan's two weekend wins moved him past Pete Dubois for the top trainer title. Pete finished second with nine, being shutout the final weekend. Tied with Pete, with two weekend victories, was Lyle Magnuson, Tom Rycroft was next in line with eight victories. Stan took little personal credit for his success. "They just gave me some good horses to work with," he stated.
On the wagering side of the weekend, which did not have any high-purse feature races, the biggest pay-off for fans came during Friday's fourth race when Blandford Stewart brought Miss Heavenly One home to pay 26.00, 21.50, 4.50 - it would have been great to have $10 across the board on that longshot wouldn't it?
OUT OF THE GATE: Newsman Terry Vogt ably filled in as track announcer the final weekend as regular Dale Johnson headed to Grande Prairie... There'll be an unveiling of a life-size bronze of George Woolf and Seabiscuit on July 17 at Cardston's Remington Carriage Museum, don't miss it . . . the ponies return to Whoop-Up Downs Sept. 3-6 and the Fall Meet continues through Oct. 15-17.
-copyright thehorses.com
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 July 2010 17:17 |
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