|
NEWS RELEASE
July 20, 2008
VICTORY BY RAFFLE HORSE AMONG HIGHLIGHTS OF TWO-DAY
AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE MEET AT THE RED MILE IN KENTUCKY
Streakin Traffic, a Kentucky-bred
racing American Quarter Horse, did his part in a unique
promotion during the fifth annual Quarter Horse meet at the
Red Mile in Lexington. On July 19, the second night of the
meet, the Kentucky Quarter Horse Racing Association
(KyQHRA), the horsemen’s group that puts on the races at the
Red Mile, offered the gelding as the grand prize of a
fundraising raffle with tickets available for $10 each. The
drawing to determine the raffle winner took place
immediately before Streakin Traffic ran in the seventh race,
with the winner set to receive any money the gelding earned
in the race and the option to keep the runner or have him
auctioned to a new owner after the races.
The raffle winner was Dave
Holzwarth of Georgetown, Kentucky. He was at the Red Mile
with his wife, Sandy, who was celebrating her birthday and
wanted to attend the races. Holzwarth, who is a
webmaster for the Kentucky Department for Libraries and
Archives in Frankfort and also is a partner in Taber
Transit, Inc., a trucking company, bought
two raffle tickets.
After Holzwarth’s name was drawn,
he and Sandy watched Streakin Traffic score an upset victory
by winning the 300-yard race by 1 ¼ lengths and earning
$3,000. Dale Beaty rode the winner for trainer Steve
Holder, a member of the KyQHRA board of directors. The
association’s president, Eucklie Henson, bred and owned the
son of Streak And Dash.
“I really can’t believe it,” said
Dave Holzwarth about his good fortune. Streakin Traffic
becomes the first racehorse for the Holzwarth family,
who owns reining Quarter Horses and a five-acre farm in
Georgetown. The Holzwarths will keep Streakin Traffic and
continue to race him.
Streakin Traffic had just one previous race, finishing sixth
at the Red Mile as a two-year-old a year ago. Henson then
turned Streakin Traffic out at his Twin Creek Farms in
Benton, Kentucky, saying the gelding “hadn’t matured and
didn’t have his mind on running.” A year off apparently did
the trick for Streakin Traffic.
Meanwhile, the meet represented another successful outing
for Michigan-based trainer Ron
Raper, who won five races, including three of four stakes,
over the two nights of racing. Harold Collins rode each of
Raper’s winners. On July 18, the team won the $17,888
John Deere Lexington Challenge Sprint Stakes with Jeannette
Hoover’s Jessluvchicks and the
$17,625 Fort Harrod Stakes with Cynthia Allen’s First Down
Beaus. On July 19, Raper and Collins won the $17,175
Enchanted Stakes with Jack Geer’s Chics Love Stones.
“We enjoy it here. It’s a lot of
fun,” said Raper, who currently is the seventh-leading
trainer by wins in all of Quarter Horse racing in 2008 and
raced at the Red Mile for the second consecutive year. “The
people are a lot of fun to be around; the races are very
good.”
After racing ended on July 19,
Raper and Collins began the eight-hour drive back to
Michigan and Mt. Pleasant Meadows, where they were competing
in the Sunday races.
The winner of the meet’s richest
race was Faye Meeks’ homebred Georgia Halo, who captured the
$18,925 Los Alamitos Stakes on July 19. Trained by Randy
Brown and ridden by Shanley Jackson, the six-year-old
stallion by Gran’s Halo (TB) won the 330-yard race by a head
at odds of 6-1. Brown said the race marked the career finale
for Georgia Halo, who was returned to training this year
after completing his first season at stud at AVS Equine
Hospital in Tallahassee, Florida.
Jessluvchicks was one of two horses who set track records
during the two nights of racing. In the John Deere Lexington
Sprint Stakes, Jessluvchicks’ time of :13.056 lowered the
300-yard mark of :13.159 set last year by Hooked On Laveaux.
In the first race on July 18, two-year-old Courvilles Buff
covered 300 yards in :14.324, bettering Focus On Speed’s
previous track mark of :15.536, also set last year.
This year’s meet drew horses from
across the Midwest, Southeast and Southwest who competed for
$136,376 in total purses. Horses that reached the winner’s
circle had last raced in Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan and
Oklahoma.
While the Red Mile does not
maintain attendance figures, the races drew several thousand
fans each night, with the largest crowd on July 19. Only
on-track wagering was available, and total handle for the
18-race meet was $132,587.
This year, race sponsors represented prominent members of
the Quarter Horse industry nationwide and the Thoroughbred
industry in Central Kentucky, as well as local businesses.
The national sponsors were Burnett Ranches from Texas; JEH
Stallion Station, with divisions in New Mexico, Oklahoma and
Texas; Vessels Stallion Farm and Los Alamitos Race Course in
California; Belle Mere Farm and Lazy E Ranch in Oklahoma;
and the R.D. and Joan Hale Hubbard Foundation of New Mexico.
Race sponsors from Kentucky were Airdrie Stud, Ashford Stud,
Kentucky Ale, Paul Miller Ford & Fortune Commercial
Properties, and Taylor Made Farm and WinStar Farm. TVG, the
interactive horse racing network that includes racing from
Los Alamitos and Ruidoso Downs, also sponsored a race.
Other sponsors included Brett Construction, Rood & Riddle
Equine Hospital, Hallway Feed, Kentucky Downs, Keeneland,
University of Louisville’s Equine Industry Program,
University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s Equine
Initiative, Jeff Bowling, Ashcraft Farms, and Dr. and Mrs.
Talmadge Hays. Additional support was provided by the
American Quarter Horse Association of Amarillo, Texas.
Red Mile Stakes Results
$18,925 Los Alamitos Stakes,
July 19. Winner: Georgia Halo, a six-year-old stallion by
Gran’s Halo (TB)—Georgia Lindy, by Fast Lindy: Breeder: Faye
Meeks (GA). Owner: Faye Meeks. Trainer: Randy Brown. Jockey:
Shanley Jackson. Time for 330 yards – :16.74.
$17,888 John Deere Lexington Challenge Sprint Stakes,
July 18. Winner: Jessluvchicks, a six-year-old gelding by
Chicks Beduino—Windy Perry, by Mr Jess Perry. Breeder: Leroy
Janacek Jr. (TX). Owner: Jeannette Hoover. Trainer: Ron
Raper. Jockey: Harold Collins. Time for 250 yards --
:13.056.
$17,625 Fort Harrod Stakes,
July 18. Winner: First Down Beaus, a two-year-old filly by
Game Patriot—Beaus First Down, by Burrs First Down. Breeder:
Qussie Strickland (LA). Owner: Cynthia Allen. Trainer: Ron
Raper. Jockey: Harold Collins. Time for 300 yards --
:15.619.
$17,175 Enchanted Stakes,
July 19. Winner: Chics Love Stones, a three-year-old filly
by SC Chiseled In Stone—A Campus Chic, by Chicks Beduino.
Breeder: Jovetta Meredith (OK). Owner: Jack Geer. Trainer:
Ron Raper. Jockey: Harold Collins. Time for 300 yards --
:15.463.
For additional information, contact:
|
