|
News from the WTBOA
May 8, 2012
|
|
Celebration of the Life of Bud Klokstad
Thursday, May 10
12 p.m.
4th Floor at
Emerald Downs |
|
Calendar | |
Monday, May 14, 2012
WTBOA SUMMER YEARLING SESSION NOMINATION DEADLINE
(253) 288-7896;
sue@washingtonthoroughbred.com
Saturday, May 19, 2012
PREAKNESS STAKES (G1)
Pimlico, Baltimore, MD
(410) 542-9400;
dadams@marylandracing.com
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
WTBOA MIXED SESSION
ENTRY DEADLINE
(253) 288-7896; sue@washingtonthoroughbred.com
Thursday, May 31, 2012
NORTHWEST RACE SERIES FINAL
EXTENDED NOMINATION DEADLINE F
OR TWO-YEAR-OLDS OF 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
WASHINGTON HORSE RACING
COMMISSION MEETING
25 W. Main St., Auburn, WA
(360) 459-6462
Saturday, June 9, 2012
BELMONT STAKES (G1)
Belmont Park, Elmont, NY
Friday, July 13 - Sunday, July 15, 2012
EQUINE ART SHOW
Emerald Downs, Auburn, WA
(253) 288-7878;
Saturday, July 14, 2012
WTBOA ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
THRUST INDUSTRY GRANT APPLICATION DEADLINE
(253) 288-7878; maindesk@washingtonthoroughbred.com
or click here for more infomation |
|
Join the WTBOA or invite a friend to join today! | |
|
|
WTBOA Mission Statement
The Washington Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association seeks to unite and represent those who are interested in breeding, owning, racing and improving Thoroughbreds in the state of Washington and the Northwest. To generate positive growth, interest and appreciation of Washington Thoroughbreds, the WTBOA is dedicated and committed to education, communication and collaboration, as well as marketing and promoting the nobility, history and benefits of Thoroughbreds. |
|
|
Important Deadlines
Nearing your LAST CHANCE to nominate for the
SUMMER YEARLING SESSION
MONDAY, MAY 14
MIXED SALE SESSION ENTRY DEADLINE
WEDNESDAY, MAY 30
Open to weanlings, yearlings horses of racing age, stallions/prospects, stallion shares, broodmares/prospects, broodmares with foal at side
Now with ADDED INCENTIVE for POTENTIAL BUYERS:
All yearlings and weanlings passing through the sales ring (sold or RNA) may be fully nominated to the
WTBOA SALES INCENTIVE PROGRAM
NOMINATE NOW!
WTBOA Summer Yearling and Mixed Sale
Tuesday, September 4
M. J. Alhadeff Sales Pavilion at Emerald Downs, Auburn, WA |
|
Emerald Downs News
West Seattle Boy to be Honored June 30
West Seattle Boy, Emerald Downs' all-time leader by wins, will be honored at the track on June 30. Along with a special retirement ceremony in the winner's circle for the 13-year-old Washington-bred gelding, a special limited poster featuring all 21 of the runner's Emerald Downs wins will be given away. West Seattle Boy will also make an appearance during the Saturday morning Emerald A.M. paddock show.
Bred by the late Al Benton, West Seattle Boy retired after a career of 111 starts with a 26-14-20 record and earnings of $184,710, of which $166,850 was garnered at Emerald.
The son of Majesterian-Pancho's Girl - a daughter of champion and Washington Racing Hall of Fame inductee Belle of Rainier -- has already begun a second career for owners Jerry Carmody and Lisa Baze as a pony horse.
Fast Tracking to the Winner's Circle at 88
Breeder-owner-trainer and octogenarian Don Munger and rider Leonel Camacho-Flores, 28, were the objects of many congratulatory high-fives during the third week of the meeting. On Friday, April 27, the twosome combined to win races one (White River), two (Mt Peak) and six (Wild Hoss) and also scored with Pretty Darn Good in the final race on the Sunday card. All four of the runners were bred by Munger and his wife Wanda, and were sired by Munger Farm's Nacheezmo.
MOH Stables Inc.'s (the nom de course for KOMO-TV news anchor Dan Lewis) four-year-old Kooky Saluki won the $25,000 claiming feature on Saturday. The 2009 WTBOA sales graduate, a son of Tribunal-Just an Angel bred by Renee Larrabee, was winning for the second time in six starts for trainer Jim Penney. Emerald newcomer William Antongeorgi III was aboard for the half-length win.
Sunday's festivities featured a trio of allowance tests. The third race, a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race, was won by Rick and Debbie Pabst's homebred Muchas Coronas, a Washington-bred daughter of Macho Uno and former Emerald stakes winner Cascade Corona, who is trained by Penney and ridden to her close win by Antongeorgi.
Nelson Family Racing's classy D'Honorable One scored an easy 6 1/2-length tally in a six-furlong allowance. It was the third win in five starts for the sophomore Florida-bred son of D'wildcat. Blaine Wright trains the $49,065 earner who ridden to his quick 1:08.54 score by Leslie Mawing.
Rising Star Stable and trainer Howard Belvoir's Cat On Base scored his second impressive win of the meet when the Harbor the Gold gelding won a six-panel allowance/$25,000 optional claiming race in 1:08.21. Ridden by Jennifer Whitaker, Cat On Base, upped his earnings to $70,640 with his 3 1/4-length score.
Stats for the First Dozen Days of Racing
Leonel Camacho-Flores leads all Emerald riders with 12 winners from his first 49 mounts. Apprentice rider Eliska Kubinova returned to Emerald Downs after winning with three mounts in 2011 and currently is in second place, tied with Joe Crispin, at 11, and the Czech Republic native is also second in money earned with $84,991. There is a three-way tie for third place, with ten wins apiece, between William Antongeorgi III, Juan Gutiérrez and Deborah Hoonan - the leader in earnings with $89,024. Leslie Mawing follows with nine winners.
Among the trainers, Howard Belvoir leads with nine wins and is second in earnings with $73,110, followed by Frank Lucarelli's eight tallies. Charles Essex and Don Munger are tied in third place with six wins apiece and money leader Chris Stenslie ($79,412) has saddled five winners. |
|
2012 Meet at Sun Downs
The Kennewick track continued their six-day meet with 16 races over their second weekend of racing, April 28-29, with a split of 11 Thoroughbred races and five for Quarter Horses. Preston Boyd-owned and -trained Five Bold Rings, a five-year-old Private Gold gelding bred in Washington by Julie Scofield, won the four-furlong Thoroughbred allowance feature on Saturday. The Sunday feature, another four-furlong Thoroughbred allowance, was taken in good fashion by nine-year-old Im Pure Country, a Washington-bred son of Slewdledo who was winning for the 13th time for owner/breeder Nancy Sorick.
The Young-Herrera combo continued to lead the trainer-jockey ranks, adding five wins over the weekend to give each 10 victories over the first two weekends. It was estimated that 1,000 fans came out for Sunday's racing with a total handle of $43,630.
The third and final weekend of racing showcased juvenile Quarter Horse runners in the $26.750 Pot o'Gold and older Quarter Horse fillies and mares in the $25,020 AQHA Merial Distaff Challenge Final on the Sunday, May 6, card.
Futurity race favorite Jess Be Hawkin, ridden by Herrera, immediately veered into Rumors R Flyin after breaking from the gate, who then collided with Rogue Country, causing rider Travis Wheeler to come off his mount in the 300-yard test. The Young-conditioned Jess B Hawkin managed to finish first in the race, but not for very long, as the stewards disqualified the filly to tenth and last for interference out of the gate. Ruben Magallanes' Texas-bred One Famous Strawfly was moved up for the win, followed by Malon L. Cowgill's Cartel Madam and Maxine Carruthers' Fannies Corona. Magallanes's son Ruben trains the winner.
Two races later, Herrera got to keep the victory aboard Gerardo Sanguino's six-year-old Oregon-bred Bar D Snow in the Distaff Challenge. The daughter of This Snow is Royal was the 13th winner of the meet to be saddled by Young and easily gave him the training title. Sunday's total handle was $62,997.
Herrera led the jockey colony with 14 wins and was aboard all of Young's winners. Connie Doll and Jose Figueroa tied with five wins apiece and Troy Stillwell rode four winners. Mike DeMatteis finished second in the trainers' ranks with six winners and Robert Lawrence followed in third place with five trips to the winner's circle. |
|
Washington Connections End Season Well at Turf Paradise
Among the honors earned at the 2011-12 Turf Paradise meet, which ended on May 6, was top turf horse for Gary Hughes' Saratoga Boot.
Two Bazes were listed among the 156-day meet's top riders. 2011 Washington Racing Hall of Fame inductee Vicky Baze ranked third in earnings($660,939) and fourth in wins (73) to up her lifetime record to 2,092 wins and $14,362,983 in earnings. Michael Bryan Baze ranked 27th in earnings, even though his last mount of the meet was on November 28, 2011. Overall, he has won 1,271 races. Vicky's husband, fellow Washington Hall of Famer Gary Baze, ranked fifth, but only rode in six races during the track's 56th season. Former Washington rider Akifumo Kato finished 26th in the standings with six wins and $89,769 earned by 126 mounts.
Among the trainer listing, several others with Pacific Northwest connections finished in the top 40. Mike Chambers (68 winners and $495,395) ended the meet in the number three spot (which was led by the new record 104 wins of trainer/owner Miguel A. Sliva). Former jockey Sandi Gann ranked eighth with $195,678 in earnings from 81 starters, which included 14 wins. Valorie Lund trainees earned $164,675 to rank 11thand she had eight winners from 95 starters. Joe Toye's 20 wins from 153 starts with $152,936 earned him tenth place. Oregon's Jonathan Nance was 24th with 15 wins and $110,799 from 126 starters. Cody Axmaker, who began his official training career at the beginning of the meet, ranked 34th and won 14 races from 80 starts and had $85,214 in money won. David A. Bennett had nine winners from 85 starters who earned $80,200 and ranked 37th. |
|
Derby Weekend Connections in Kentucky
Washington racing fans joined those in British Columbia to cheer as former leading Hastings Racecourse rider Mario Gutierrez masterfully rode I'll Have Another to victory in the 13th Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 5. The 25-year-old, who began riding in 2006, scored most of his 662 wins while riding at the Vancouver track. He also rode 17 times at Emerald Downs, including scoring a dead-heat win aboard Holy Nova in the 2009 Boeing Handicap. Since shifting his tack to Southern California after the 2011 Hastings meet closed, Gutierrez has been successful on the Southern California circuit. With the $1,459,600 picked up by I'll Have Another for his 1 1/2-length win in the Kentucky classic, Gutierrez's mounts have earned $2,617,767 this year and $12,111,676 overall.
Groupie Doll, the four-year-old daughter of Bowman's Band who won the $300,000 Grade 1 Humana Distaff Stakes by 7 1/4-lengths over 2011 champion Musical Romance on the Derby undercard, is out of Deputy Doll, a winning half-sister to Emerald Downs stakes winner Russellthemussell, sire of Washington's 2011 most improved plater Chukchi Sunrise. Groupie Doll, who had taken the $300,000 Vinery Madison Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on April 12, has won six of 13 starts and earned $687,850.
2012 Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Believe You Can, a daughter of Proud Citizen, stems from the same immediate family as Basket Weave, as her stakes-placed third dam, Nomo Robbery, is a half-sister to the now pensioned 31-year-old leading Washington sire.
Smiling Tiger, the leading WTBOA-sold horse of all-time, finished fifth in the $400,00 Churchill Downs Stakes (G2), also part of the Derby undercard, in his first start back since running at Del Mar last August. The Kentucky-bred five-year-old horse, a son of Hold That Tiger out of Cahill Road's stakes-winning daughter Shandra Smiles who was bred by Dr. Rodney Orr, increased his earnings to $1,227,204. |
|
WTBOA Sales Graduates in the News
2008 WTBOA Summer Yearling Sale graduate Appealing Resume, who races for Horseplayers Racing Club, took a six-panel allowance at Golden Gate Fields to improve her record to 9-1-3 from 23 starts The Kentucky-bred mare, a daughter of Successful Appeal-Strong Credentials, by Carson City, who was bred and consigned by Northwest Farms LLC, and is trained by Ed Moger Jr. has earned $98,461.
Far Flung won a mile allowance on the grass at Turf Paradise on April 30. It was the second win for the California-bred son of Boomerang out of WTBOA sales graduate and $127,921 stakes winner Errantry, a Washington-bred daughter of Knights Choice bred by Harold May.
Kaching Cash, a three-year-old daughter of Quiet Cash, became the fifth winner for her dam Dancing Ovation - a WTBOA-sold daughter of Northern Jove who went on to be a Washington champion and multiple stakes winner of $226,575 - when the British Columbia-bred miss won a 6 1/2-furlong $20,000 maiden claiming race for her owner/breeder Coyote Creek Racing at Hastings Racecourse on April 28.
WTBOA September sale graduates and multiple stakes winners Castinette Dancer and Notoriously made their 2012 debuts by running one-two in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race at Hastings Racecourse on April 29. Castinette Dancer, Washington's 2011 champion three-year-old filly, finished a nose ahead of the year older Notoriously. Castinette Dancer, a daughter of Ministers Wild Cat out of stakes winner Premo Copy, by Supremo, bred by John Roche and who races for North American Thoroughbred Racing Corporation Inc. improved her record to 5-4-1 from a dozen starts and has earned $160,331. Darrell Landry's Notoriously, a daughter of Cherokee Run out of stakes-placed Silver Echo bred in Kentucky by Northwest Farms LLC, has a record of 8-4-2 from 20 starts and has earned $251,631. |
|
Dr. Mark Dedomenico Receives Golden Heart Honoree Award
Noted Washington horseman Dr. Mark Dedomenico was honored by the American Heart Association for his "outstanding contributions to the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease" as a world-renowned heart surgeon, researcher and innovator with the 2012 Golden Heart Honoree Award. Dedomenico's expertise in human medicine has led to encouraging the use of many of the same medical principles in the equine medicine, in conjunction with leading equine surgeon Dr. Wayne McIlwraithy, that are practiced at Dedomenico's state-of the-art Pegasus Thoroughbreds Rehabilitation and Training Center in Redmond. |
|
Parker's Storm Cat at Top of 2012 Sire Rankings
Through May 7, last year's Washington sire leader Parker's Storm Cat continued at the top of the 2012 sire rankings with $263,244 in earnings and ten winners from 33 starters. Among the Gibson Thoroughbred Farm's top 2012 runners are stakes winner Ben's Cat, with $45,860 in current earnings, and stakes-placed Sloane Ranger, with $15,000 from his second in the Lyman Handicap.
Four-time leader Matty G sits second with 18 winners from 59 starters and a $187,604 total for the El Dorado Farms LLC son of Capote.
The late Tribunal, who stood his entire career at El Dorado, holds the third spot with nine winners from 30 starters and $131,289.
Fourth place is held by St. Hilaire Thoroughbreds' Polish Miner with three winners, including Centripetal Motion, who has contributed $43,887 to his sire's $113,453 total.
Woodstead Farm's He's Tops rounds out the top five with 11 winners from 26 starters who have earned $109,424. You and I ($102,829), Cahill Road ($88,782), Delineator ($82,154), Secret Romeo ($75,019) and Trail City ($73,392) fill out the next five spots. |
|
DOL Withdraws Proposed Child Labor Rules on Farms
On April 26, 2012, the Obama Administration announced its plans to withdraw a Department of Labor (DOL) proposed child labor rule applicable to agriculture. The proposed rule would have severely limited the ability of young people to work on farms and ranches.
"We are pleased the administration responded to the concerns of the agricultural community and decided against changing the current rules for young people working on farms and ranches. This was a poorly conceived rule and they did the right thing by withdrawing it," said AHC President Jay Hickey.
The proposed rule would have placed new limitations on the ability of young people to work for pay on farms or ranches not owned solely by their parents and would have effectively barred employees under 16 from working in most capacities in agriculture, especially around livestock, such as horses.
The AHC had been working with a broad coalition of agricultural organizations to convince the administration and Congress that these rules were ill-considered, would prevent young people from becoming involved in agriculture, and would negatively impact family farms and ranches "When the DOL proposed this rule we don't think they completely understood the impact it would have on young people who work in agriculture. Thousands of Americans from the agricultural community, including the horse community submitted comments to the DOL explaining the problems with this rule and also contacted their member of Congress to express their concerns," said AHC legislative director Ben Pendergrass. "The administration listened and withdrew the rule. This is a good example of the way the system should work."
The administration has stated it will not re-propose any new regulations on this issue. Instead it will "work with rural stakeholders to develop an educational program to reduce accidents to young workers and promote safer agricultural working practices."
The AHC encourages members of the horse community to visit its website
www.horsecouncil.org to learn how federal legislation and regulations impact them and how they can get involved. |
|
Other News
Timberon, a three-year-old British Columbia-bred son of Woodstead Farm's He's Tops out of 10-time stakes winner, including four at Emerald Downs, Tucumcari, by Cherokee Colony, won a 6 1/2-furlomg maiden/$30,000 optional claiming race at Hastings Racecourse by 31/2 lengths on April 28.
Frank L. Gaunt's Stormy Lucy, a three-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Stormy Atlantic-Here Comes Lucinda, by Dixieland Band, became a stakes winner after winning the $75,000 Golden Poppy Stakes, with Russell Baze aboard, by 2 1/2-lengths at Golden Gate on May 6. The Frank L:ucarelli trainee has won half of her eight starts and earned $91,045.
Three-year-old Summer Hit, a California-bred half-brother to Washington-bred Emerald sprint champion Starbird Road, finished third in the $72,800 Grey Memo Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park on April 28 and has now earned $30,571. Summer Hit was bred by Ken and Jan Heidt and is a son of Bertrando--Mia F Eighteen, by Tough Knight.
Blueskienrainbows, the three-year-old son of English Channel who finished third in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 7, is a son of the Deputy Minister mare Cho Cho San, who produced a 2011 filly by Street Boss for Elwin and Patti Gibson and is expecting a foal by the Gibson Thoroughbred Farm stallion Parker's Storm Cat this spring. Blueskiesnrainbows has earned $128,860 from a record of 2-0-2 from six starts.
On April 28, the Edward and Theresa DeNike's Hexbreaker, a seven-year-old California-bred gelding by Tricky Creek, won a six-furlong allowance/$62,500 claiming race by 1 1/2-lengths over David P. Taylor Jr.'s Reagan Republican. It was the 11th win for Hexbreaker, who has earned $272,702. Reagan Republican, an eight-year-old California-bred son of Siberian Summer, has won $208,235.
Six-year-old stakes winner Double Shuffle added another stakes placement to his record on April 7 after he finished third in the $35,000 Wildcat Handicap at Turf Paradise. The son of Repent out of Washington-bred stakes winner Late Sailing, by Capt. Don, finished the meet with a third in the Hasta La Vista Handicap on May 6 and has earned $198,850.
Ron Crockett Inc. won the first and the third races at Golden Gate on April 27. His six-year-old mare Eyes On the Prize, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Pure Prize, took a mile allowance/$62,500 claiming race over the turf to earn her fifth victory and up her earnings to $135,863. Johnski, Crockett's three-year-old homebred colt by Lion Heart out of multiple stakes winner Carrie Can, took a six-panel maiden special weight race. The new winner is a half-brother to stakes winners Harvard Avenue and Carry On John. Both winners were ridden by Russell Baze and are trained by Frank Lucarelli.
Randall and Rossi LLC's Gallant Son, who is trained by Frank Lucarelli, finished third San Francisco Mile Stakes (G3) held at Golden Gate on April 28. The Grade 3 stakes winner and 2008 Emerald Downs champion two-year-old colt, a Kentucky-bred son of Malabar Gold, has earned $398,662 in 28 career starts with a record of 7-4-3. The winner of $150,000 stakes, Hudson Landing, is trained by Blaine Wright, and the gelded son of Maria's Mon has won three in a row since being claimed for $50,000 on February 2.
Five-year-old Missie Ky I You, a half-sister to multiple Washington champion and $464,267 earner Reba Is Tops, won a $20,000 maiden claiming race at Betfair Hollywood Park by 2 1/4- lengths on April 27. The Washington-bred daughter of now pensioned You and I out of Miss Kyama, by Present Value, originally raced for her breeders C.E. and Ann Richardson before being sold to Ken Marshall, Gordon Jarnig and Eric Schweiger, who also raced her illustrious half-sister. Missie Ky I You was claimed on February 9 of this year for $20,000 from the three-man partnership and currently races for trainer David Hofmans. Missie Ky I You has a record of 1-7-5 from 20 starts and has earned $59,934.
Northwest Farms LLC is the breeder of Mine Train, a five-year-old son of Mineshaft out of Emerald Downs champion Taste the Passion who took a 1 1/16-mile Pimlico allowance by 3 1/4-lengths on May 6 for Dogwood Stable. It was the fourth win for the Kentucky-bred half-brother to Emerald champions Shampoo and Smarty Deb and stakes-placed Seattle Sniper and pushed his earnings to $162,055.
Three-year-old Yellow Chumarine, an Idaho-bred daughter of Homer Thoroughbreds' Chumaree, won her second stakes race after the 2011 Idaho Cup Juvenile Championship Stakes winner took the $15,000 Pepsi Stakes at Fonner Park on March 31. It was her fifth win in nine starts and upped her earnings to $36,553.
On April 26, five-year-old Upperline won the Grade 3 Grey Goose Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland by 1 1/2- lengths. Woodford Belle ran second in the 12-furlong turf stakes.. It marked the seventh victory in 19 starts for Upperline, a daughter of Maria's Mon-Snowflake (Ire), by Caerleon, who races for the partnership of Jack and Theresa Hodge's Oak Crest Farm, John Agar, Stone Farm and trainer Michael Stidham. The five-year-old mare has earned $497,108.
Wesley Ward, who saddled three-year-old filly Gypsy Robin, by Daaher, to take the Grade 2 Beaumont Stakes at the Lexington track on April 15, was the leading trainer at Keeneland's spring meet with a record of 9-9-3 from 36 starts, and finished three wins ahead of second place Michael Maker.
Four-year-old Valley News, who was bred in Washington by Billie Klokstad, improved her record to 3-3-5 from 14 starts after she won a 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance at Atlantic City Race Course on April 29. The daughter of El Dorado Farms LLC's Private Gold-Easy Return, by Game Plan, has earned $52,450.
Two-time Turf Paradise stakes winner Goin' Dancin, a nine-year-old Washington-foaled son of Ihtimam-Ballerina Dance, by Petersburg, bred by Daniel R. McCanna, won his 19th race, a five-furlong claiming race, at Finger Lakes on April 28. He has earned $162,341 in his 48-race career.
Two-year-old first-time starter Mr. Hall's Opus won a five-furlong maiden special weight race at Belmont by 1 3/4-lengths on May 2. The half-sister to stakes winner Truth and Justice is out of 2003 Barbara Shinpoch Stakes winner Sala de Oro, a $69,826 earning daughter of Expelled who was raced by Dave Mowat's Ten Broeck Farm and bred by Barbara Ratcliff's Coal Creek Farm. Sala de Oro is a half-sister to 2002 Washington champion and $200,855 earner No Turbulence, $164,625 stakes winner Hall of Gold and stakes-placed No Fantasy.
Europa Point (Ire), who won President's Champions Challenge (SAf-G1) at Turffontein in South Africa on April 28, is from the immediate female line of Woodstead Farm's successful Seattle Slew-sired stallion He's Tops. It was her ninth win in 13 starts.
$501,719 stakes winner Strawberry Morn, the British Columbia-bred mare who won the first race and stakes (US Bank Stakes) when Emerald Downs opened its doors in 1996, produced a colt by Dansili (GB) on March 17 at Newsells Park Stud in England and has been bred back to Cacique (Ire). The now 19-year-old daughter of Traveling Victor is the dam of multiple group winner Strawberrydaiquiri (GB), who is also by Dansili.
Washington-breds won all three allowance races offered over the first Sunday of the Lethbridge meet on May 7. Jacqueline Smith's homebred Fuzzy Pitch, a four-year-old gelding by Cascadian, started the streak by taking a three-furlong test by 1 1/2-lengths. Marie C. Monroe's three-year-old Leolas Girl, by Beefchopper, won the second three-panel allowance by 2 1/4-lengths. Both runners are trained by Lyle Magnuson. Five-year-old Talenator, a son of Delineator bred by Don MacKenzie and Marc Lambro, capped the day with a win in a five-furlong race.
Florida Derby (G1) winner Bull inthe Heather, who began his sire career at Leckbee Thoroughbred Farm and who is now pensioned at Old Friends, is the subject of a new Breyer model release. The 5-inch high model of the now 22-year-old son of 1987 Horse of the Year Ferdinand is being sold to benefit the Kentucky equine retirement home. To order at a cost of $25, which includes shipping, call Old Friends at (502) 863-1775. The resin statue is also available on the Breyer website. |
|
In Memoriam
David Merle Christensen
David Christensen, 64, died April 26, 2012, after a year-long battle with colon cancer. Born July 27, 1947, in Tillamook, he was the second of three children born to Jack and Eleanor (Velde) Christianson. He grew up in Redmond, Oregon, and graduated from Redmond High School in 1965. During his high school years he enjoyed competing in football, 4-H and rodeo events.
He paid for his rodeo expenses by running trap lines and working in his father's cattle feedlot. This began his lifelong passion for the agricultural industry.
Dave attended Oregon State University where he paid his tuition by working as a cutter for a beef packing plant. In college he continued his love of rodeo by competing in saddle bronc riding, bull riding, and occasionally filling in as a bullfighter. He graduated from OSU in 1969 with a degree in business law.
After college he went to work for Coast Pack Co., first as a cattle buyer and then as a manger of a beef packing plant in Ontario, Oregon. It was shortly afterward he married Marion Kem.
In 1980, he and Marion moved to Deer Island to run the Kem family's cattle ranch, one of the largest cattle ranches in western Oregon. In 1987, he and Marion founded Island Inc.
Upon the death of his mother-in-law, noted philanthropist and horsewoman Diane Kem, for whom stakes at both Emerald Downs and Portland Meadows bear her name, in 1995, David and Marion took over her Deer Island Thoroughbreds and bred many successful runners, including 1997 Washington champion three-year-old filly Timely View.
Retiring from full-time ranching in 2000 allowed him to pursue some of his other lifelong dreams. Dave spent many days on the Pacific Ocean captaining his sport fishing boat, Maski, on tuna and salmon fishing adventures. He and his best friend, Mike McKinnon, began buying and developing commercial, agricultural and residential property in central Oregon. Dave traveled around the world, not only as a big game hunter, but also to simply see areas of the planet that catch his interest. Still, the thing he enjoyed most was spending time with his wife, Marion, raising and selling Thoroughbred racehorses.
He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Merlene Christensen. Dave is survived by Marion, his wife of 36 years; sons, Hunter Christensen, of Scappoose, Oregon, and Chase Christensen of Culver, Oregon; sister, Judi Patrick, of Redmond, Oregon; and granddaughter, Elise Christensen. |
|
Equine In Memoriam
Nightatmisskittys
Dunn Bar Ranch's Nightatmisskittys, Washington's broodmare of the year in 2007, died in mid-April at age 21.
Bred by Jerre Paxton's Northwest Farms in Kentucky, the unraced daughter of Grade 2 turf winner and $1.2-million earner Al Mamoon was one of 11 foals out of Paxton's top broodmare Skysweeper, who produced Washington champions Firesweeper - a 2011 Washington Racing Hall of Fame inductee - and Serenity Road.
Nightatmisskittys went through the WTBOA sale ring twice, first as $29,000 RNA yearling in 1992 and later as a broodmare in 1997 carrying what would be her second named foal, by Skywalker She was purchased by Charlie Dunn for $16,000. That foal, Sullivantis, would win seven races and earn $85,825.
In 2001 she was bred to the unraced but royally bred Katowice for the first time and the result was 2003 Washington champion two-year-old male Sundance Circle. Bred to Dunn-raced Jumron (GB), Nightatmisskittys produced two-time Portland Meadows Invitational Handicap winner Strawberriesinjune. Her 2003 offspring, No Constraints, also by Katowice, raced to state champion two-year-old filly honors for Dunn. Sent to Kentucky to be bred to national sprint champion Orientate, Nightatmisskittys produced her third and most successful to-date offspring of Katowice, the filly Dandy Dora, who won three stakes at Northlands Park and earned $127,910.
Nightatmisskittys other winners are $114,860 earner Romanzo, a filly by French Deputy; Nolimitoldem, by Jumron; Flying Squirrel, by Orientate; and 2011 Emerald Downs maiden special weight winner Buzznalawng, by Dehere, who is currently in training at Hollywood Park.
Buzznalawng races for Dave Mowat's Ten Broeck Farm, in whose colors Nightatmisskitty's two-year-old Go to Guy will also campaign. The son of Katowice was the third highest priced yearling ($67,000) at the 2011 WTBOA Summer Yearling and Mixed Sale.
Nightatmisskitty's final foal is a yet to be named yearling daughter of Katowice. |
|
|
