The annual celebrations of the past year's champions, nominees and honorees will be held at Emerald Downs on Saturday, February 16. For more information see notice in column at left.

The horse nominees for 2012 are as follows (in alphabetical order):

• Two-year-old colts and geldings: Cariboo Road, He's Not Bluffin, Master's Bluff, Mike Man's Gold, Music of My Soul, Oil Country 
• Two-year-old fillies: Finding More, Madame Pele, Roveing Patrol, Valid Vixen Queen            
• Three-year-old colts and geldings: Fable Haven, Italian Boy, Makors Finale
• Three-year-old fillies: Quizzical, Royal Moses, Talk to My Lawyer
• Older horses: Absolutely Cool, Couldabenthewhisky, Deacon Speakin', Hollywood Harbor, Jebrica, Kooky Saluki
• Older fillies and mares: Carrabelle Harbor, Cielator, E Z Kitty, Special Holiday, Sweet Nellie Brown
• Sprinters: Absolutely Cool, E Z Kitty, Hollywood Harbor

   Chukchi Sunrise, who was voted the most improved plater in 2011, is the 2012 plater of the year and Kooky Saluki was named most improved plater for 2012.

For the second straight year, Gibson Thoroughbred Farm's Parker's Storm Cat led all Washington sires by earnings. His 2012 total was $1,544,455.

   The state's leading breeders, also for the second year, were Rick and Debbie Pabst with a $399,436 total. Karl Krieg was the top owner in Washington-bred earnings with $230,986.

   Jeff Arron, KRKO Sports Radio host, and recently retired Seattle sports radio personality Mike Gastineau will be honored with Mark Kaufman Media Awards.

Six other people will be honored with special achievement awards, in addition to the announcements of the coveted horse of the year and broodmare of the year.

  Twenty finalists in five categories were announced in early January for the 2013 Washington Racing Hall of Fame.
   Four finalists were announced in each category: male horse, female horse, jockey, trainer and breeder, with the winners to be chosen by a 16-member committee composed of media, track officials, WTBOA and WHBPA. Winners will be announced in March, followed this summer by the official induction ceremony on the eve of the 78th Longacres Mile (G3).
   Jockey Jack Leonard, trainers Clint Roberts and Wesley Ward, male horses Georgie Drum and Loto Canada and distaffers Table Hands, Reba Is Tops and Run Away Stevie all make their first appearances as Hall of Fame finalists.
   1979 Washington Horse of the Year Table Hands, Reba Is Tops and multiple champion Run Away Stevie join Grade I winner Flag de Lune as finalists. Unbeaten in five starts at two, which included victories in two Grade 2 Southern California stakes, Table Hands, by Table Run, was the second highest ranked filly on the 1980 Experimental Free Handicap. By He's Tops, Reba Is Tops began her career at Emerald Downs and later became a turf specialist, winning multiple stakes in Northern and Southern California en route to honors as 2009 Washington Horse of the Year and three-time turf champion. Also by Table Run, Run Away Stevie is the only horse to win stakes at both Emerald Downs and Longacres and is the third richest filly or mare in state history with earnings of $468,267.
   Georgie Drum and Loto Canada join 12-time stakes winner Military Hawk and 1965-66 Washington Horse of the Year Travel Orb in the male horse category. Named after Washington Hall of Fame Breeder George Drumheller, Georgie Drum made national headlines in 1944 while defeating a star-studded field that included Kentucky Derby winner Pensive in the Stars and Stripes Handicap. Loto Canada represents one of the state's greatest underdog stories: fledgling owners purchase inexpensive yearling after winning million-dollar lottery, colt becomes state champion two-year-old of 1979 and is among nations top sophomores in 1980.
   Leonard scored Longacres Mile victories aboard Sparrow Castle (1961) and Praise Jay (1969) and captured the 1969 Longacres riding title. He joins fellow Longacres riding greats Gary Boulanger and Basil Frazier, and all-time winning Emerald Downs jockey Gallyn Mitchell as finalists in the jockey category.
   Wesley Ward and Clint Roberts are newcomers in the trainer category, joining two-time Longacres Mile-winning trainer Howard Belvoir and the husband and wife tandem of Larry and Sharon Ross as 2013 finalists. A native of Selah, Ward won the 1984 Eclipse Apprentice Jockey Award, but he grew too big for riding and instead has developed into one of the nation's most successful trainers. With over 1,000 training victories on his ledger, Ward competes at many of the nation's toughest meets, and in 2009 he became the first American trainer to win a stakes at England's prestigious Royal Ascot meet. Roberts, a former rodeo star, was a dominant figure in the 1980s when his powerful claiming outfit captured Longacres training titles in 1980, '83 and '88.
   The breeder category alternates between pre-and-post 1970 accomplishment. A post 1970 breeder will be honored this year from the following multiple champion producers: John, Doris and Michael Konecny's Czech-Mate Farm; William and Mary Lou Griffin's Griffin Place; William and Barbara Nelson's Gunshy Manor; and Terry, Diane and Logan Garrison's Savario Farm.

Finding More Wins Letellier Memorial

   Finding More was ridden to her 1:11.80 win by John Jacinto and is trained by Kellyn Gorder.

   The new stakes winner is the eighth named foal, fifth starter and fourth winner out of the winning Green Dancer mare Greenmountain Girl, who is also the dam of stakes-placed Jablunkov Pass.

E Z Kitty Ends and Begins New Year with Easy Stakes Wins

   Trainer Mike Chambers, John Xitco and Dan Agnew's E Z Kitty ran away with a 4 1/4-length tally in the $35,000 City of Phoenix Stakes run on December 19 at Turf Paradise. It marked the third stakes victory in the four-year-old filly's 12-race career.

   Bred by Jerry and Peggy Woods at their Woodstead Farm, the daughter of He's Tops-Envision the Cat, by Lost Code, had been an RNA at the 2009 WTBOA September sale. She originally raced for Tige Too Racing Stable of Nancy and Homer Gibson, for whom she won both the John and Kitty Fletcher Stakes and Washington State Legislators Handicap.

   On January 5, E Z Kitty began where she left off in 2012 with an easy 4 3/4-length victory in the $35,000 Kachina Handicap. With Scott Stevens aboard, E Z Kitty went gate-to-wire to take the mile race in 1:35.86 as the odds-on choice.

   E Z Kitty improved her already impressive record to 8-0-1 and has earned $119,582.

Other WTBOA Sales Graduates in the News

   R.E.V. Racing's Touch the Sun, finished second in the $35,000 Hank Mills Sr. Handicap run at Turf Paradise on December 22. Bred by Dr. Duane and Susan Hopp, the Washington-bred gelding by Bertrando out of Sweethrtofsigmachi, by General Meeting, improved his record to 6-4-3 from 20 starts and has earned $56,810.

   2011 sale graduate Little Jack, who races for Lester Ellenz and is trained by Tim McCanna, went gate-to-wire to take a $32,000 maiden claiming race at Golden Gate Fields on December 26. The new winner is a California-bred son of Tribal Rule out of the Bertrando mare Spring Festival.

   2011 September yearling graduate Beau Diablo improved his record to 3-2-1 from six starts after the Washington-bred son of Bedford Falls-Asuraslew, by Slewdledo, won a $12,500 claiming race at Golden Gate Fields by four lengths on January 4. Bred by Jill Heerensperger, the $4,200 sale graduate had been claimed for $12,500 in his previous start, a winning effort on December 8 while racing for Vann Belvoir and Pay Dirt Stable. Beau Diablo has earned $31,561.

   2008 sale graduate Ebony n Ice took her seventh win on January 5 when the six-year-old Washington-bred daughter of Tribunal-Last Phone Call, by Phone Order, took an about one-mile turf allowance/$20,000 optional claiming race at Turf Paradise. Bred by Chris and Nancy Webber, she has earned $124,047 in 21 starts.

   It was announced in mid-December that Michael and Amy Feuerborn have sold their 2012 Emerald Downs horse of the meet Class Included to the Brittlyn Stable of Evelyn Benoit. The daughter of Include was shipped in early January to Florida to trainer Dale Roman's barn.

   Class Included had also been named champion British Columbia older filly for 2012 in the open division.

   Also at the BC awards, 2012 Longacres Mile (G3) winner Taylor Said ruled with double titles of Horse of the Year/BC Horse of the Year and champion open and BC-bred older male.

Gary Stevens Returns to the Saddle

   National and Washington Hall of Fame rider, and sometime actor, Gary Stevens returned to race riding with a third place finish aboard R and R Warren LLC's Washington champion Jebrica (who is trained by Jim Penney) in a $50,000 claiming race over Santa Anita Park's turf course on January 6. Maybe Tuesday won the mile race by a neck, with Paul Hagemann's Washington-bred Deacon Speakin' a nose behind the winner in second place.

   Stevens, who turns 50 on March 6, has been working with a Bellevue personal trainer on conditioning and maintaining a healthier diet. The 13-time classic winning jockey stated his knees, which have given him much pain in the past, have been holding up well and that he is not taking anti-inflammatories or pain medication for them.

   It was the rider's his first race assignment since retiring in November 2006 with 4,888 wins and over $221-million in purse earnings.

Stevens plans to continue doing broadcast work with HRTV and NBC.

Gallyn Mitchell Injured at Turf Paradise

   Gallyn Mitchell, Emerald Downs leading rider who also tops the track's stakes win category, was injured on December 23 at Turf Paradise when his mount, Mark of Mischief, fell entering the stretch and then was clipped by You Make Me Blue. Mitchell, 50, suffered fracture in his ankle and spine. The rider had missed the final two months of the 2012 season at Emerald after breaking his hand on August 5 in a freak accident in the starting gate.

   Mitchell had been aboard for 14 wins from 76 starters at the Arizona track, including stakes victories with Washington-breds Absolutely Cool and E Z Kitty. He is expecting to return to riding in January.

BC Horse Racing to Receive 25 Percent of Slots Revenue

   British Columbia Gaming Minister Rich Coleman announced in mid-December 2012, that horse racing in the Pacific province will be given a greater percentage of the gaming revenues in 2013. British Columbia horse racing will now receive 25 percent of the on-track slot machine revenues of the BC Lottery Corporation, up 9.5 percent from the previous allotment. With the increase, around $10-million is annually expected to go toward "revitalizing the industry and ensuring that purses awards match the highest competitive levels."

   Horse racing in British Columbia generates an estimated $350-million from Hastings Racecourse and Fraser Downs and employs an estimated 3,60o people directly and over 7.400 indirectly.

   Multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Understatement will enter stud at Dr. Jack and Margaret "Cookie" Root's Oakhurst Thoroughbreds in Newberg, Oregon, for the 2013 breeding season through the efforts of Oregon industry leader Bruce Loudon.

   A $1,050,000 Keeneland September yearling, Understatement led at every call in his first start to win a Gulfstream Park maiden special weight race for three-year-olds while racing for WinStar Farm LLC and trainer Todd Pletcher. At four, the son of Distorted Humor won two allowance/optional claiming (non-claiming) races at Aqueduct.

   At five, the three-quarter brother to $635,912 Grade 2 stakes winner Roar Emotion took the $65,000 1 1/16-mile Evening Attire Stakes in gate-to-wire fashion and earned a 115 Beyer Speed figure for his 4 1/2-length victory. He also won the nine-furlong $65,000 Stymie Handicap by nearly four lengths, earning a 105 Beyer, and finished second by a nose in the nine-panel Mad Hatter Stakes. All three stakes placements came at Aqueduct.

   His final stakes-placement came at six in the $100,000 Grade 3 Excelsior Handicap, when he finished third to Inherit the Gold.

   Understatement was produced out of the Capote mare Emotional Outburst, a sister to Grade 3 stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Mayakovsky and a half-sister to Uniquely Appealing, the dam of stakes winner and Grade 3-placed Crypto's Best. Understatement's second dam is the stakes-placed Raise a Man mare Joy to Raise and his third dam is stakes winner Joy to Tell, by Tell.

   The latest Mr. Prospector-line stallion to enter stud in the Pacific Northwest, Understatement will stand for an introductory breeding fee of $1,000, which includes a $200 booking fee.

Prominent Washington Broodmares Retired

   Patricia Murphy's 2009 Washington broodmare of the year Irish Toast has been retired from the breeding shed. Foaled in 1991, the stakes-placed daughter of Synastry out of Murphy's champion Bix's Bet, by Just the Time, produced ten foals, of which eight have started and won. Among them are 2007 Washington horse of the year and Longacres Mile (G3) winner The Great Face, a gelding by Cahill Road who earned $340,159; and multiple Washington champion and Grade 2 winner Atta Boy Roy, a ridgeling by Tribal who won five stakes and $595,416. Her final foal, three-year-old Atta Boy Lucky, has not started.

   Irish Toast, whose final foals were bred in partnership with Rick and Debbie Pabst, will spend her retirement years at Murphy's Time Wise Farm in La Center.

   Blue Ribbon Farm's stakes-winning and stakes-producing Shimmer of Silk has also been retired and will live out her days at her birthplace. A 1988 daughter of Drone-Star Jasmine, by Pia Star, the half-sister to stakes winner Fiery Star and stakes-placed Bravest Star and Science Fiction produced 14 named foals for the Pabsts' Buckley-based farm. She has had ten winners from her dozen starters, including 2006 Washington champion three-year-old filly She's All Silk, a daughter of Delineator who earned $218,454; five-time stakes-placed Private Fortune, a daughter of Private Gold who has earned $104,946; and stakes-placed Silky Sally, by Free At Last.

Other Racing News

   Washington native Jon White and Michelle Yu are the hosts of Santa Anita's simulcast signal for the 71-day 2012-13 winter/spring meet which began on December 26. A Spokane native, White has been a member of Santa Anita's television team for 20 years, and he also serves as the Arcadia track's morning line maker and is a host on HRTV.

   Blaine Wright trainee Hudson Landing won the $100,000 All American Stakes (G3) at Golden Gate Fields in late November, The 2012 Rainier Handicap winner, a 2007 gelding by Maria's Mon, upped his earnings to 477,38. Theresa and Edward DeNike'sControl Seeker, by Sought After, finished second in the 1 1/16-mile race.

   Dr. George Todaro and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's Fury Kapcori, by Tiznow, finished second to unbeaten Violence in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (G1) held at Betfair Hollywood Park on December 15. Violence, a colt by Medaglia d'Oro who has earned $543,000 in his three outings, is from the female family of Blue Ribbon Farm stallion Nationhood, whose first crop reaches the races in 2013.

   Mister Michael, a three-year-old Quarter Horse son of former Washington sire Snowbound, scored his third victory in the $20,000 Paul B. Ford Memorial Stakes at Los Alamitos on December 14.

  Quizzical, a 2009 Washington-bred daughter of Cindago out of Washington champion Mahaska, won for the third time in eight tries when she finished first in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance test at Santa Anita Park on December 28. Bred by Doris Konecny and trained by Mark Glatt, the $130,260 earner races for Konecny's daughter and son-in-law Susan and Allen Branch.

  Mark Dedomenico and North American Racing Company Inc.'s Glenco Kid has won half of his six starts after taking the $45,000 Lost in the Fog Stakes at Turf Paradise on December 29. Trained by Sandi Gann, the two-year-old son of Repent out of Canadian champion juvenile filly Wavering Girl - who is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Military - has earned $94,730.

   Two Washington-owned runners took maiden special weight races on December 31. At Golden Gate, Randall and Rossi LLC's three-year-old Songandaprayer filly Kind of Naughty, who is trained by Frank Lucarelli, won a 6 1/2-furlong race. At Santa Anita, Herman Sarkowsky and Martin J. Wygod's two-year-old Omega Star, by Candy Ride (Arg), took a 6 1/2-furlong test by three lengths

   Karl Krieg's homebred King of the Sky, a five-year-old Washington-bred son of Flying With Eagles-Omnia Vincit Amor, by Tough Knight, trained by Valorie Lund, made it two in-a-row after he won a 61/2-furlong allowance/$30,000 optional claiming race by 1 1/2 lengths at Turf Paradise on January 4. He has earned $53,117 in 17 outings..

  2011 Pegasus Two-year-old in Training graduate Bluegrass Sapphire, a three-year-old daughter of Bluegrass Cat out of Canadian broodmare of the year and five-time stakes producer Radiant Ring, by Halo, won an about mile turf maiden special weight race at the Fair Grounds by nearly three lengths on December 16.

   Six-year-old graded stakes winner Arena Elvira, a daughter of Ghostzapper-Two Item Limit bred by Northwest Farms LLC, won the nine-furlong Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct on January 1 and improved her race record to 9-3-3 from 17 starts with $497,396 in earnings.

   Five-year-old Light of Mercy, by Midas Eyes, who races for a partnership which includes Scott Gruender's Horseplayers Racing Club, broke his maiden at Aqueduct on January 4.

   Winning Prize, the three-year-old son of Pure Prize who won the $195,719 Gran Premio Joaquin S. De Anchorena (G1) at Hipodromo de San Isidro in Argentina on December 15, is out of the You and I mare Winning Ways (Per). It marked the colt's fifth win in eight starts.

Fiscal Cliff Legislation Reinstates and Increases Investment Incentives for Horse Owners

RMTC Board Announces Corticosteroid Withdrawal  

   Emerald Downs announced in early January that they are developing a new partnership with Merlino Bauer Media, the award-winning media buying agency. The partnership is designed to gain additional media presence and exposure for Emerald Downs throughout Seattle-Tacoma and the Pacific Northwest.
   "Emerald Downs is pleased to be working with one of the top media buyers in the Seattle market," said Emerald Downs Director of Marketing Sophia Mangalee. "The racetrack continues to deliver a high value, low cost entertainment option to the Seattle sports market and with Merlino Bauer's strategic approach to buying and planning we are on course for a big year in 2013."
   The Seattle-based Merlino Bauer Media has a diverse list of clients that includes Crystal Mountain, Darigold, MultiCare Health System and Coinstar. In business 25 years, Merlino Bauer has won Mediaweek's Media Plan of the Year an unprecedented three times in the last 10 years.
   "We are very pleased to partner with a Seattle icon like Emerald Downs in the great sport of Thoroughbred racing," said Janice Merlino of Merlino Bauer. "Emerald Downs is a beautiful facility in a picturesque location, and its live racing season is held during our best weather months. It has a lot to offer."

In Memoriam

Frank L. Gaunt

   Frank L. Gaunt, 81, one of the most successful owners in Emerald Downs history, died at his home in Eatonville on December 22, 2012, of cancer.

   Born on January 21, 1931, in Seattle to Leo F. and Gertrude Gaunt, Frank served in the Marine Corps and later graduated with a master's degree in engineering from Seattle University. He worked as an engineer for The Boeing Company for 27 years. In 1981, Frank founded the Accu-Lube Corporation and invented a lubricant that is used world-wide.

   After his retirement in 1990, Frank bought a 60-acre farm in Eatonville, where he devoted more time to his life-long interest in horses. He had purchased his first racehorse in 1980 at the suggestion of his accountant, who happened to be the father of Karen Taylor of Seattle Slew fame.
   This past November, Frank achieved a dream when his three-year-old filly Stormy Lucy competed in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) at Santa Anita Park. Although she finished 11th, Gaunt was able to see his blue and yellow silks perform on the world's biggest stage. Earlier in the year, Stormy Lucy earned black-type with a second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks and thirds in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive and Grade 2 Honeymoon handicaps.
   At Emerald Downs, Gaunt is number eight all-time with 101 wins and enjoyed stakes successes with Random Memo and Charming Colleen. A daughter of Charismatic, Charming Colleen won the 2004 Angie C. Stakes and finished second against colts in the Gottstein Futurity.
   The late Aubrey Villyard, Doris Harwood, Dennis and Monique Snowden and Frank Lucarelli trained horses for Gaunt at Emerald Downs. Lucarelli currently trains ten of the Gaunt runners, including Stormy Lucy and the promising three-year-old Washington-bred Cruzin the Harbor.
   Through the end of 2012, horses raced solely by Frank won 61 races and earned just over $1.1-million.

   He was preceded in death by his parents; and daughter, Joyce. Frank is survived by his wife, Erica; children, Barbara, Bernice, Debbie, Gary and Hunter; and sister, Beverly.

Lee A. Gibson

   Lee Gibson, of Ellensburg, 64, died as of the result of a car accident on December 25, 2012, outside of Vantage.

   Lee, who was born in Monroe on March 11, 1948, was the youngest of nine children born to Lynn and Fay Gibson.

   Lee graduated with a teaching degree from Central Washington University and later taught and coached at schools in Quinault and Easton.

   His involvement in racing included serving as a valet at Longacres for over 20 years. He was also a horse owner and worked around his brothers barns when needed.

   Lee, who also served in the US Army Reserves, was an accomplished artist.

He was preceded in death by his sister Nancy, who died as a small child. He is survived by daughters, LeAnna McLean and Kim Davis; son, Troy Gibson; five grandchildren; and brothers, Claude, Ben, Elwin, H.R., Wesley, Howard and Art and their families.

Equine In Memoriam

Katowice

   Prominent Washington sire Katowice,25, was humanly euthanized due to the infirmities of old age in December. An unraced son of leading sire Danzig, Katowice was bred in Florida by Arthur I. Appleton and was produced out of the stakes-winning Prince John mare Lillian Russell, a half-sister to preeminent sire Mr. Prospector.

   Katowice began his career at stud in British Columbia in 1991 where he sired several stakes winners, including Grade 3 winner Kid Katabatic - his leading earner with $626,815 -and Katilac ofthestars. He was later moved to Florida but returned to the Pacific Northwest in 1999 to stand at Woodstead Farm.

   Among his first 19 crops of racing age, which total 424 foals, 308 have started and 221 have returned winners. He has sired 37 stakes horses, including 19 stakes winners which includes Washington champions No Constraints and Sundance Circle and Oregon champion Wice O Kat.

   Through December 20, 2012, his progeny had earned just shy of $10.3-million.

   Katowice's stakes-winning daughter One Number Short is the dam of Grade 1 sakes winner Wildcat Bettie B.