The finalists for the ninth Washington Racing Hall of Fame, who will be inducted at Emerald Downs on August 20, 2011 - the Saturday before the 76th Longacres Mile (G3) - were announced on February 25.

  The five categories, which this year were expanded to reflect a separate division for fillies and mares, feature four outstanding nominees in each division.  Jockey: Vicky Baze, Paul Frey, Gallyn Mitchell and Merlin Volzke. Trainer: Ben Harris, Cecil Jolly, Tim McCanna and the husband and wife team of Larry and Sharon Ross. Breeder (post 1980): Czech-Mate Farm, Griffin Place, Grousemont Farm and Savario Farm. Horse (male): Military Hawk, Mustard Plaster, Pataha Prince and Sirde. Horse (female): Delicate Vine, Firesweeper, Fleet Pacific and Whang Bang.

  Vicky Baze joined an elite group of women riders when she rode her 2,000th winner on March 1, 2011. The historic win came aboard maiden Decarchy Park in the ninth race at Turf Paradise. In a riding career which began in 1985, the two-time leading rider at Longacres, under the name Vicky Aragon (under which she rode a total of 1,686 winners from 10,522 mounts who earned $10,687,119) married Washington Racing Hall of Fame rider Gary Baze in 1998. As Vicky Baze, she has ridden 313 winners, including 17 in 2011.

  "Wow! What a wonderful feeling this is," said the 46-year-old rider. "I thank all the good people and horses who helped me get here. I couldn't have done it without them."

  Baze, who is among the 2011 finalists for a Hall of Fame seat, has ridden in 12,661 races with 1,770 seconds, 1,589 thirds and her mounts have earned $13,519,466. She began her career at Longacres where she won her first race, in her ninth try, aboard the Junior Coffey-trained Sir Jeppi

  Baze, who was profiled in a 1987 article in Sports Illustrated titled "Battling for Her Place," currently is the fifth women rider to reach the 2,000 plateau following Julie Krone, Rosemary Homeister and Patricia Cooksey.

 Decarchy Park, a four-year-old daughter of Decarchy, was bred in California by Rick Beal and is trained by Doug Oliver.

  Three runners bred by Jerre Paxton's Northwest Farms LLC scored wins over the final weekend in February, and in each case, the winner's dam was an Emerald Downs stakes winner. The first of the trio came at Santa Anita Park when five-year-old Kumiva, a son of Giant's Causeway out of Bisbee's Prospect, by Smart Strike, won a nine-furlong turf maiden special weight race. Bisbee's Prospect is a half-sister to Emerald champion Taste the Passion, whose four-year-old son Mine Train, by Mineshaft, took an 8.32-mile allowance race at Fair Grounds on February 26 by 3 1/2 lengths. The half-brother to Emerald champions Shampoo and Smarty Deb has earned $87,110.

  Also on February 26, three-year-old Fusa Code, a son of classic winner Fusaichi Pegasus out of Emerald champion Lasting Code, by Lost Code, earned his first victory in the $100,000 Borderland Derby at Sunland Park. The Kentucky-bred gelding scored a three-quarter length victory over Behold de Buy in the 1 1/16-mile stakes and has earned $82,844 in five lifetime starts.

  On March 1, 2011, the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) announced that Redmond horseman Dr. Mark Dedomenico had been voted to fill the vacancy on the TOC board left by the recent departure of TOC chairman Arnold Zetcher.

  "The board is pleased to welcome Mark to our membership, given his admirable commitment to the industry in general and to the latest research on equine medicine in particular," said TOC chairman Jack Owens.

  "I am delighted to have the opportunity to serve for an organization so committed to the advancement of owners' interests and those of the industry in general," stated Dedomenico, a former WTBOA board member. "And I look forward to assisting the board in any way possible."

  The February 25 edition of the online Thoroughbred Daily News featured a five-page article titled "First in Flight," by Steve Sherack in his On the Road with TDN column, which focused on Dedomenico and his Pegasus Training and Equine Rehabilitation Center.

  On February 26, Dedomenico's Mr Artistic M D, a three-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Mr. Greeley-Art Fair, by Air Forbes Won, was awarded third place in the $50,000 Turf Paradise Derby.

  Local racing enthusiasts Ed Kane and Jay C. Neft have both penned books on the Thoroughbred racing industry which were published in February.

  Kane, who is a regular writer for Washington Thoroughbred and other publications, has two racing novels out: Horseshoe and A Killing at the Windows. Both take place on the New York circuit, at the racetracks which Kane grew up around.

  Longtime horseman Neft, along with co-writer L. L. Brumfield, has given us more than a book, as Stalking the Pace is an eBook enhanced with videos of races (when viewed in iPhone, iPad or iPod) from Emerald Downs. One of the main focuses of Neft's autobiographical story is the filly Sumatra, a Washington-bred daughter of Katowice-Snuggle Time, by Hatchet Man, (who was bred by Jerry and Peggy Woods and was a $7,000 2004 WTBOA summer sale yearling), who Neft trained and ran under his Neft Racing Stable LLC.

  All three books are available on the Barnes and Noble website under Nookbooks.

  Three-year-old Formal Plan, a graduate of the 2010 yearling and mixed sale, added her second stakes placement in just three races when the California-bred daughter of Formal Gold-Choice Plan, by Game Plan, finished second by a nose in the $50,000 Island Fashion Stakes run at Sunland Park on February 27. Bred by Dr. Jack and Claire Lein's Willow Creek Farm, the filly races for trainer Jennifer Tooley and Bradley Brooks and has earned $30,480.

  2008 WTBOA Winter Sale graduate Victoriaslilsecret, a five-year-old daughter of Vying Victor-Stitch in Time, by Knights Choice, bred in Washington by Char Clark Thoroughbreds, won her ninth race and increased her earnings to $116,962 after taking a 5 1/2-furlong claiming race at Laurel Park by 3 1/4 lengths on February 25.

  Karl C. Krieg III's homebred Absolutely Cool, a four-year-old Washington-bred son of Absolute Harmony-Coup de Foudre, by Basket Weave, improved his record to 3-2-1 from nine starts after winning a 5 1/2-furlong allowance/$25,000 optional claiming race at Turf  Paradise on February 28. The Valorie Lund-trained runner, who was ridden by Vicky Baze, has earned $33,212.

  Leonard Durham and Denise Halstead's homebred Blendara, a four-year-old California-bred daughter of Richly Blended-Bluledo, by Slewdledo, improved her record to 3-2-0 from five starts after she took a six-furlong allowance race at Golden Gate Fields on February 27. She has earned $58,200.

  Ben's Cat, a five-year-old Maryland-bred son of Gibson Thoroughbred Farm's Parker's Storm Cat, was named Maryland's 2010 champion turf runner and sprinter. Five-year-old Little Shiney, a daughter of 2011 Washington leading sire Parker's Storm Cat, upped her earnings to $184,920 after winning a seven-furlong allowance race at Charles Town on February 27. The West Virginia-bred mare is out of Oh Shiney, by Chimes Band.

  Four-year-old Upperline, who is owned by trainer Michael Stidham, John Adgar, Stone Farm and Jack and Teresa Hodge's Oakcrest Farm, earned her second stakes victory in the $58,800 Allen Lacombe Memorial Handicap run at Fair Grounds on February 26. The Kentucky-bred filly by Maria's Mon-Snowflake (Ire), by Caerleon, improved her record to 4-2-2 from ten starts and has earned $210,987.

  Former Washington resident Mike Pegram is the subject of Thoroughbred Daily News sixth online magazine feature. Written by Bill Finley, the February 2011, 15-page article is titled "Mike Pegram: An Uncommon Common Man." It is available online, along with their other issues at http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/members/magazine/.

Earl R. Paulson

  Earl Paulson, 85, died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 15, 2011.He was born in Opheim, Montana, on April 18, 1925, one of six children of Art and Mae Paulson.

  Earl was a star basketball player at Opheim High School. Upon his graduation he entered the US Army Medical Corps and was wounded during the invasion of Europe on Normandy Beach during World War II. He was awarded the Purple Heart with two clusters.

  After the war, he joined Peter Kewitt Construction in Los Angeles. He worked for the company for 30 years and helped build many prominent buildings in Southern California, including the Los Angeles Music Center and the 102-story First National Bank Building.

  Earl and his younger brother Ken first got into racing in the early 1980s. They formed the successful Regency Racing Stables with trainer Len Kasmerski and seven other good friends. The stable won 87 races and among their stakes horses were Gold Cannon and Racey Champ.

  Earl and Ken then purchased 110 acres along I-82 in Granger which became Paulson Thoroughbred Ranch and Training Center. The ranch, which opened for public training in the spring of 1984, later also became a prominent stallion station. In 1991, Roy Dane moved his stallion Slewdledo to the ranch and the four-time leading Washington sire sired ten state champions. In addition to their popular training center, the brothers also became noted commercial breeders, with Dane a partner in many of the horses they bred. The ranch was named WTBA "Breeder of the Month" during five of the ten years the award was given.

  In 2004 Earl sold the property to his next door neighbors, horseman and restaurateur Garry Hook and his wife Sue.

   Among the many top Washington horses bred by the ranch, both singly and in partnership, were 2004 Washington horse of the year Demon Warlock, Grade 3 stakes winners and state champions King Slewie and I'madrifter, 2005 plater of the year Slew Is King and stakes winner Miss Slewette, who would later produce 2009  Washington champion two-year-old Hollywood Harbor.

  Earl was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Gladys, Beulah and June; and brother, Edward, who was killed in the South Pacific during World War II. He is survived by his wife, Marian; daughter, Donna Mae; brother Ken (Pat); and a number of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

Dr. Robert A. Riggle

  Retired veterinarian Dr. Bob Riggle, 67, died along with three others after being shot by Somalia pirates on February 22, 2011, after the yacht in which they were sailing around the world was sea jacked off the waters of East Africa.

  A 1967 graduate of the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Riggle was a longtime resident of the Seattle area and had most recently lived in Ballard. He had an equine practice in the Issaquah/Redmond area when he first moved to Washington.

  Riggle, who along with Seattle resident Phyllis Macay, 59, and Californians Jean and Scott Adam, who owned the 58-foot yacht Quest on which they were sailing, were boarded by the pirates on February 18 while several hundred miles south of Oman. The Quest had been a part of a large group of yachts just days before their capture.

  According to news reports, it marked the first slaying of US citizens by pirate attacks which have been plaguing the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean for years. Just two days before the attack, a US court had sentenced a pirate to a 33-year prison sentence after a 2009 hijacking of a US cargo vessel.

  Riggle and Macay were no strangers to boat racing and offshore sailing. The couple had begun a cruise around the world on Riggle's boat Gaia in 2007. After ending that cruise in early 2010, they joined on to crew Quest in late 2010. Riggle was also a former J/109 Fleet #1 champion. Both were members of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club

  Riggle was a relief veterinarian at the Seattle Animal Shelter, filling in when the shelter was short staffed and was also a long-time volunteer for Operation Nightwatch, which serves homeless people late at night.

  Riggle, who also been a real estate agent, had operated Crescent Vinyl Sidings out of Issaquah in the 1990s, had provided the white fencing for several Thoroughbred farms and had fenced the area around the WTBA sales pavilion at Longacres.

  He was remembered as a meticulous and thoughtful sailor and a kind and compassionate man who had "a great passion for animals and animal welfare."

 Riggle is survived by his brother, Jim Riggle, owner of the Olympic Athletic Club.