News From The Northwest

July 31, 1997

Hi Al,

It has been a long month here. I had to get a new hard drive in my computer (that's why it's been a while since my last report) and I'm running into a few snags with it. Hopefully I'll get it figured out pretty soon. Horses are easy for me to understand.

The meet at Great Falls ends this weekend with several stakes and handicaps. There's a Montana bred Derby, a Thoroughbred futurity, a Quarter Horse Derby and Futurity plus some overnights like the "Hard Luck" Handicap for horses that have started at least twice at the meet and failed to run better than forth and a "So Long" race at 2 miles. Although I haven't had too good of luck at this meet some of the other local trainers from the area are doing well, with several wins.

There were some problems typical of smaller tracks. A couple of weeks ago 13 horses broke down in one weekend. It seems that the track base was quite uneven under the cushion. My Stalwart mare came back with a chip in her ankle and a couple of the others were sore after my last trip. The management totally redid the surface during a break for the Shelby, Montana Fair Meet (3 days of all types of racing on a Hard, Fast bullring) and the last weekend went relatively smooth. Ther has been a bit of trouble filling races (they haven't been drawing until after 4) but the meet has gone pretty well for the first year under private management.

I didn't attend the Shelby meet but I heard it was pretty exciting. The purses were pretty good ($1200 to $1400 up from $800 in previous years) due to Simucast money. The trainers who used to train for me in winter (Eydie and Dan McKenzie ran a second with a gelding I bred so at least some of my connections are doing well. Mckenzies also have a Quarter Horse qualified for the Maturity in Great Falls the final weekend.

Next up is the fair meet at Missoula and then the meet at Kalispell (where I am). Hopefully I will have a few healed up enough to run - and the babies and 3 year old first timers. My good horse - Kutter K- seems to have come back well from a bowed tenden and check ligament surgury and should be running within the month. He is prone to get himself into predicaments and about a month ago managed to get out wit h a mare I had in (to treat her baby) and tey 2 year old filly and somehow cut his inside foreleg. then, I unintentionally blistered him with "the best leg tightener available" last week. He has a scar on each leg and some gnarly old shinbucks but with works like the 45 half he did in Spokane you can put up with a few things. (He also flipped his palate in his first race and went from good position in third to the outside fence and crossed the wire sans rider. His next race he ran an easy third under a terrified strangle hold the whole race)

Playfair in Spokane starts up soon and I am looking forward to running on a track that seems to favor me. I'll have about eight (six from my breeding).

See you around the turn.

PS: I have a great photo I will send as soon as it get's back from being turned from a slide into a picture!

Gina Asbridge