News From The Northwest

May 5, 1997

Racing is pretty slow in this area right now. There are a couple of small meets in Washington (Sun Downs in Kennewick and a weekend at Walla Walla) and the Miles City meet in Montana is in a couple of weeks, but most every one is waiting for Great Falls to start the end of May. Last fall the track was privatized and they promise increased purses and 29 racing days. The bottom purse is $1600 (that's good for these parts) scaling up to $2500.

Things are looking up in Washington also. The legislature passed a bill allowing full card simulcasting. The Playfair group had been worried that would cut their racing days but they managed to get an amendment allowing them a minimum of 40 live racing days. Last I heard purses would start at $3000. A lot of Montana horsemen finish their season at Playfair with their better horses.

I did make a run up to Stampede Park in Calgary with my old hard knocker and my maiden and about all I can say is the facility is nice (a 5 furlong bull ring and a real nice park). Both my horses are route horses and all they writing were 6 furlongs but I entered anyway to keep them eligible. Neither of them ran very well against the speed (the 6 hour haul didn't help either) . Lasix is allowed now in Canada and both of mine are on it so when I paid my account up it was $110 for lasix for the two. (about $75 American. I'm used to paying $15) Plus the cost of health certificates rose ($70 not including the Coggins for each). So it's not real profitable to haul there unless you have a tough sprinter that ships well and doesn't bleed. I guess experience is what you get when you don't get anything else.

Gina Asbridge