WTBOA Has New Address

   No, we haven't moved, but after having the issues last month with our post office box, we are now using our street address for all mail. Please send all further correspondence to: WTBOA, 3220 Emerald Downs Dr., Auburn, WA 98001.

Emerald Downs 19th Season Opens Under Sunny Skies

Washington-bred of the Week at Emerald Downs 

WTBOA Sales Graduates in the News

   Seven-year-old Newfound Gold added his second win of the year and improved his record to 8-13-6 from 34 starts and earnings to $127,889 after the Kentucky-bred gelding by Newfoundland-Binnstastic, by Lyphard's Wish (Fr), won a claiming race at Santa Anita on April 10. A 2008 WTBOA sale RNA, he was claimed out of his gate-to-wire victory - which he won by 3 1/2 lengths, by trainer Ted West.

   John and Janene Maryanski and Riverbend Stables' three-year-old filly Lotta Attitude, who is trained by Blaine Wright, won a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race, in gate-to-wire fashion to score a 4 1/2-length win on the April 12 Emerald Downs' opening day card. The  Kentucky-bred daughter of Sharp Humor-Kickin' the Clouds, by Dixieland Band, who was consigned to the 2012 sale by Halvorson Bloodstock Services LLC, agent, is out of a stakes-placed half-sister to David Heerensperger's 2014 Grade 2 winner Fire With Fire and is from the family of Washington champions Ladies Excuse Me and Rock Bath.

Keith and Jan Swagerty Named Washington TOBA Winners for 2013

Keith Swagerty with his granddaughter Faith Irene at last year's WTBOA sale.

   The Auburn residents, who also stand Liberty Gold at their West Coast Racing Stables, have won eight stakes at Emerald Downs since 2009 - the year Swag Stables set a single season win mark of 27 wins at Emerald Downs - including four stakes wins with their homebred No Flies On Doodle and a trio more with her younger half-brother Mike Man's Gold.

   In 2013, Mike Man's Gold raced seven times for the Swagertys and William Gallo's Gallo Stables, winning two races, including the Seattle Slew Handicap and running third in the Emerald Downs Derby. The son of Liberty Gold earned $53,146 of his so far $119,801 total last year.

   Among the other six 2013 winners, from 14 starters, bred by the Swagertys were: Joel N Jill, who they raced with Gallo Stables; Twentyten and Zaiah's Gold, raced with 20/10 Stable; and Two o' Clock Draw, raced with Duane Webber. Two-race winner Big Fat Storm was also bred by the Swagertys.

   The Swagertys' total earnings as breeders in 2013 were $131,590, which ranked them in seventh place in Washington.

   Other finalists for the yearly award were: Coal Creek Farm, Craig Harder, Charlene J. Keys, Ron Maus, Quadrun Farm LLC, Savario Farm, Seawind Stables LLC, Ernest Sherman and Tim and Sue Spooner.

   The guidelines to select the yearly top achievers from TOBA are: To be awarded to the individual/partnership which breeds horses in Washington; which primarily breeds to race, rather than primarily to sell; and have enjoyed the greatest success during 2013 racing homebreds in or out of Washington. Success should be measured by realization of the most from what one has at hand.

   The 29th Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association's National Annual Awards will be held on Friday, September 5 at the Lexington Center in Lexington, Kentucky, where they will honor the achievements of Thoroughbred breeders from 22 states and Canada, owners in four North American racing regions, along with special national breeder, owner and broodmare titles.

More News

   Trainer Frank Lucarelli was the subject of the "Winner's Circle" feature in the April 5, 2014, issue of The Blood-Horse, titled "Heavy Hitter," written by Tracy Gantz.

   Dr. George Todaro and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's California-bred three-year-old colt G. G. Ryder took his fourth win in five 2014 starts when he finished first in a mile turf allowance/$40,000 optional claiming (N) race at Golden Gate Fields on April 12. The son of Emerald Downs stakes winner Chhaya Dance-Stormy Gigi has earned $86,230.

   Richard S. Pasko's Mark of a Gem, a four-year-old California-bred daughter of Benchmark-Tiz a Gem, by Cee's Tizzy, took her second victory in an allowance/$20,000 optional claiming (N) race at Santa Anita Park on April 10 and pushed her earnings to $90,450 from seven starts.

   Stormy Lucy, who was sold by Erica Gaunt shortly after she won the March 16 Santa Ana Stakes (G2) to Steve Moger, and now trained by his brother Ed Moger Jr., won the Santa Barbara Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita on April 12. The five-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Stormy Atlantic-Here Comes Lucinda, who was formerly trained by Frank Lucarelli, has now won seven races and earned $484,200. Fleur de Lis Stables' 2012 Emerald Downs top three-year-old filly Champagneandcaviar finished fourth in the 12-furlong race.

  Sittin At the Bar, a multiple stakes-winning granddaughter of El Dorado Farms LLC's broodmare Lois Laner, and a daughter of Into Mischief out of $272,283 stakes winner Fast Laner, added her ninth stakes win and 11th overall win from 19 starts when she won the $58,200 Hallowed Dreams Stakes at Evangeline Downs on April 11 by a half-length and upped the Louisiana-bred's earnings to $705,896.

  On April 13, three-year-old World is Watching won his first outing, a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight race at Keeneland, by a neck. Featured in the "Northwest Hoof Prints" column in the winter 2013 issue of the Washington Thoroughbred, the son of Kentucky-bred son of Any Given Saturday is the fourth winner from foals out of Blue Ribbon Farm's stakes-winning Sweet Fourty, an 11-year-old daughter of Sweetsouthernsaint.

   Wesley Ward-owned and -trained Judy the Beauty, a multiple graded stakes-winning five-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper, took her first Grade 1 victory in the $300,000 Madison Stakes at Keeneland on April 12 and improved her record to 7-7-1 from 15 starts and earnings to $1,005,781 with her 2 1/2-length victory in the seven-furlong event.

   Ken and Jan Heidt, whose K & J Farm is based in Arlington, were the subjects of the CTBA Member Profile in an article titled "Kenneth & Janice Heidt: Still Dreaming Big" in the April 2014 California Thoroughbred.

In Memoriam

Thomas Ryan Kamb

   Thomas Kamb, 53, died in his sleep of natural causes related to cardiac arrest on March 22, 2014. Born in Mt. Vernon in 1960, Tom grew up the fourth of nine children of attorney John G. Kamb and his wife, Wilma C. Kamb.

   A lifelong Skagit County resident, Tom served as an altar boy for Immaculate Conception Church and attended the Catholic school through the 8th grade. At Mt. Vernon High School, he lettered as a manager of the wrestling team and as a kicker for the school's football squad. He graduated with honors in 1978.

   He attended Washington State University, where he served as president of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and won a string of intramural contests.  Tom graduated from WSU with an accounting degree in 1983, and then studied law at Gonzaga University. He passed the bar exam in 1987 and returned to Mt. Vernon to practice at his father's law firm. Over time, he built a respected criminal law practice, garnering public defender contracts from several Skagit towns.

   In 1989, he married Melissa Beaton, of Burlington, and the couple had three daughters: Mackenzie, Madison and Makayla. He became his girls' biggest fans, regularly attending their sporting events and bragging about their achievements. After his grandson, Maximum Ryan Powers, was born in 2011, Tom read the Daily Racing Form to him over weekly breakfasts at the Sports Keg in Burlington.

   At times, he handicapped horse races days in advance and bought ownership stakes in several Thoroughbreds who raced at Emerald Downs. Among his partners at Emerald were John and Linda Kirschman, Marvin Putzier and Dana Ryan. He also was an annual fixture at the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup.

   A passionate sports fan and diehard Cougar, Tom regularly attended premier sporting events, from Super Bowls to all-star games, Final Fours to Apple Cups.

   Tom was preceded in death by brother, Robert Kamb; and sister, Elizabeth Mitchell. He is survived by his parents, his daughters and his grandson; a sister, Mary Kamb, and her daughter, Meggie; brother, John (Mary) Kamb, and their son, Peter (Julia) Pena; sister, Rosemary, and her children, Astor, Abraham and Gus; a nephew and niece, Alexander and Grace Mitchell; brother, Mike Kamb, his partner Kristy Jellison and his children, Robert and Cecilia; sister, Angie (John) Conijn,  and their children, John Dylan, Phillip and Joseph; and brother, Lewis Kamb, his wife, Angela Galloway and their children, Finn and Sylvie.

Vera L. (Sanford) Rock

   Vera Rock, 96, passed away on March 18, 2014, in Spokane. Born on 

April 1, 1917, in Wickes, Arkansas, Vera was the second of five children.

   A longtime resident of Wild Rose Prairie, she and her husband Mont Rock had a dairy farm and raised a few Thoroughbreds which they raced at Playfair. The Rocks also supplied hay to the Spokane racetrack.

   Vera loved baking, bright colors and her iris garden.

   She was a member of the Wild Rose Homemaker's Club and active in the Eastern Washington Genealogy Society.

   Vera was preceded in death by her husband; infant son, James; adult son, Don; and her elder brother. She is survived by three sons, Mont, Jack and Joe; two daughters, Judy Evans and Dixie Rock; seven grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; one brother; two sisters; and numerous nieces and nephews.