Guests Victor Bahna & Ann-Kathrin Zemann - Episode #133

Sunday is Italian Day at Emerald Downs! Italian food, music, beer and drinks are the fare along with Tony LaStella, the Sorelli’s Pizza Eating Contest and a bocce ball tourney. Saturday has $1 specials all around the track including hot dogs, popcorn, ice cream, soda pop, doughnuts and muffins. First race on Saturday and Sunday goes at 1:30. The theme this week on “Horseracing NW,” is lifelong care of the Thoroughbred race horse. Owner Victor Bahna has written “Heliacal Star,” a novel about an at-risk runner and his cloudy future. There’s plenty of intrigue in this thriller. Bahna will be selling his book at EmD on Sunday. Ann-Kathrin Zemann, Deputy Secretary for the WHRC, has fulfilled her lifelong goal of being an owner of a retired Thoroughbred and she tells her story with enthusiasm.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
macOS.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
It doesn't matter if you love craps, blackjack machines or
dining on the finest Asian, American and Salish cuisines. It
doesn't matter what you do or where you're coming from Mucos.
What you do is all at Muckleshoe, an easy drive
from wherever you are, all roads lead to Muckleshoe.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Mucosuit Horse Racing Northwest.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Thanks for joining us on another Thursday edition. As we
head into our third to last weekend of racing at
Emerald Downs in twenty twenty four, go with the Vince
Brune here. Got a couple of guests today, Vince Victor Bonna,
a longtime horse owner. I say that I think I
read where Victor's first horse was two thousand and five,

(01:13):
and that's almost twenty years now. He has written a
horse racing surrounded based novel and an act of fiction.
And we're going to have Victor on. He's a current
owner Princess Akawi. Couple wins at the meet, that's a.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
Fun row and one down at Santa Rosa down there
on closing day. Yeah, you know, it's interesting Victor wrote
a book and thoroughbred racing really lends itself to the
written word into photography. Have you ever noticed that over
the years.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
It really.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
Something about it just captures all that, you know, the
excitement and all the subplots and all that, and then
you sound corny to the majesty of the horse a
s elve's running and all that, and the people involved.
It's just it's it's got a lot of intrigue.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, you being a print journalist full time, you know,
looking for good photos and things, and boy, yeah we
offer a lot of that too. Of the Long Acres
mile August eleventh finish, that was just another example.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yeah, freelance photographers, we got a lot of them who
come out here regularly and just take spectacular photos. And
the thoroughbred in motion is beautiful. And also you know
here you got Mount Rainier and the horses training in
the morning. It just really lends itself to a lot
of that.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah. Okay, Well, Victor's going to join us talk about
Helliakul Star, that's the name of his novel. And also
Anne Catherine Zeeman is going to join us. She's of
the Washington Horse Racing Commission and was in the general
manager seat at the WTBOA for I think two years

(03:01):
and she is a true horse lover. She has got
an ex thoroughbread with her and she's gonna tell us
about that. That's the that horse and her name, Bishops
of Compton, is the subject of our Where Are They
Now video for this week that we show before the
first race at Emerald Downs Friday, Saturday Sunday, and then

(03:22):
we'll go on YouTube next week. Okay, so those are
our guests, and we were coming off a couple of
steaks races last week. We'll get to that in a minute.
But this week Saturday is a dollar day at Emerald
Downs first race one thirty. We've got a whole bunch
of things for a buck like hot dog, soda, popcorn,
ice cream, doughnuts, muffins, Schaffler Hoffer. That's a like a

(03:46):
shot of beer. Sounds like a you know, micro brew.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
We got a lot of those around Satle area, don't we,
The craft bruise and the micro bruise.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
So one dollar dollar day on Saturday at Emerald Downs.
And also the two time defending Washington Horse of the Year,
Slew's tizz Whiz is in action.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
You know, I don't mean to interrupt, but for one
dollar at a Kraken game or Amerria game that would
get you like one sixteenth.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Of a gear.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
So that's a pretty good deal were offered.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, Downtown Seattle Pro Sports a little different story, okay,
And Sunday's Italian Day. Italian Day started back around twenty twelve.
We've got Tony Lastella and his goombahs will be performing.
We're going to have the pizza eating contest sponsored by

(04:38):
Sarelli Pizza of Mountlake Terrace. Great pizza out there, and
so it's free to sign up for the pizza eating contest.
You'll see the sign when you come into the track
on Sunday and that'll be after the fourth race. The
pizza eating contest, and there's some prizes there as well.
Got to eat the crust. We've had a couple of

(05:01):
contestants try and say they won and didn't eat the crust.
Got a bunch of Italian theme stuff going on on
Sunday as well, with cal zones and pizza and fried
ravioli's and Peroni beer and what's that one hard drink, Negroni,
I think it's called a Negroni. That's an Italian cocktail.

(05:24):
So Italian Day on Sunday at Emerald Downs no stake
race this weekend, but a lot of great action. As
you know, Vince, were heading toward those year end honors
as well, and I just roughly went over it myself.
We'll do it in force next week. But a lot
of the categories have some sway there for who might

(05:45):
be the winner.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
A lot of it is up in the area. Forty
nine days down, six to go. So yeah, we're about
over ninety percent of the way through the meat and
were looking at that claimer will be wide open. Yeah.
I think one of vision is, you know, whenever say
locked up a precise timing three for three with three
steaks wins, talk about her win here in a moment, Yeah,

(06:08):
that's the one that's got to think pretty well sewed up.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
So she raced into Emerald Down's history last weekend. She
became the first horse this is our twenty ninth season
to start a two year old career steak win, steak win,
steak win. That is pretty good stuff. And you know,
I say two year old career and I don't think
there's a three or four and up that can top that.

(06:32):
I mean, even stop shopping. Debbie, who was nine for
nine here she won in the maiden race, the.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
Maiden race, and precise timing had to earn it too.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
She did.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
She's got the stablemate, Beauty Bark, who was making her
second start, and paper it looked like kind of a
match race between those two, and boy did it ever
play out that way. I know the final time wasn't
the fast ever, but those two Phillies really put on
a show and dug in Beauty Bark gave her everything
she wanted and precise timing showing a lot of heart
for a two year old Philly.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
She did definitely. She showed the whole race horse thing,
the speed and you know, the fighting back at the end,
the will to win. Yeah, she's three for three. They
were what I think eleven eleven and a half clear. Yeah,
of the third horse, so precise timing the only horse
to go Steak win, Steak win, Steak win. Got a

(07:22):
lot of horses that went maiden win Steak steak steak
like mock one rule. So lucky track attacker, chew and
you smarty deb I got a list here. I did
a bunch of research on this, but nobody did the
steak steak steak start. Lady Ladeux ran twice as a

(07:44):
two year old back in two thousand and eight, won
two steaks, but not three. And that's what precise timing
did last Sunday when she took the Washington Cup Juvenile
Phillies and that congratulations to Kay Cooper who trains both
and Doug Stenberg is part owner of both.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
Yeah, Blue Ribbon Racing number twenty three and then Parahead
racing with Beauty Bark. Kind of an encouraging day, but
a tough day for the Barkley Sunday is Beauty Bark
out of freshman Sire Barkley and then Impassable got beat by.
He's not talking that too, wasn't very easy. That was
a good race too. The race right after at the

(08:24):
Juvenile Colts and Geldings.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, he's not talking. Got the victory for trainer Bonnie Jenny.
She's having a nice late season surge here, winning the
Muckle Shut Derby with the Dynamic Secret and taking the
Washington Cup Juvenile there and both those winners on Sunday
expressed public interest to go to the Gottstein Futurity on
closing day, September fifteenth. You got to think Blaine Wright

(08:50):
is looking at the race with see that Tiger, and
of course Tom Wenzel won that nice maiden race with
Candy Cabayo over He's not talk.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
Race looks really strong. Yeah, shape up to be a
great Gottstein on two weeks from Sunday on closing day,
September fifteenth, part of a Stake's triple header on Getaway Day.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
All right, so we're looking forward to this weekends. Friday night,
we've got the horseshoe toss first race at seven pm.
And it turns out we didn't have the horseshoe toss
last Friday night because wet weather. We didn't want to
get the horseshoes dirty or something like that.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
You know, it's a I don't know what the reason was.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
We didn't want to get them dirty.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
Is that what it was? I thought maybe they didn't
want to set it up on a sloppy track or.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Just I'm giving somebody a bad time there. Okay, So
seven o'clock Friday night racing resumes and we'll have a
new wear are they now? As we mentioned first race
Saturday and Sunday at one thirty at Emerald Downs. Okay,
Vince last week's honors.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
Okay, Yeah, we mentioned the win by precise timing well.
Her jockey Kevin Rosco up all three of those wins.
And you know, Kevin hasn't ridden a whole lot at
Emerald Downs. He's up to ninth place all time and
stakes wins here with twenty four. Kevin probably deserves a
little more action than he gets. I think so, because
he is a very polished rider and he delivers. But

(10:16):
sometimes you know, the season just doesn't work out great
or whatever. But I would if I was an owner trainer,
I'd put him up without hesitation trainer. How about Joe
Toy last week? Oh my god, five for nine and
highlighted by roll down Bones, the final leg of the
Hollywood Harbor Sprints series voided. I don't know if it
was the wet track, but this horse really put on

(10:37):
a show, drawing off to win by six and he
was nine to one and Joe Toy five total wins
last week, So congrats to Joe and then the owner
of the week, Austin Evans twelve year old was two
for two last week with Prince of Luck and Westerberg. Austin,
the course of the son of Justin Evans, is now

(10:57):
five for thirteen this season. I don't know if I
didn't accomplish something like that when I was twelve years old.
The Washington Brad what we mentioned, he's not talking bred
by Terry and marylu Griffin held off impassable in the
Washington Cup Juvenile Colts and Geldings fifty two thousand dollars
yearling sale in twenty twenty three at the WTVOA Sale

(11:19):
by Bluegrass Stakes winner Brodie's Cause out of twenty nineteen
Emerald Downs champion older Philly Ormeer no talking back that
he's not talking. Nice win in the Juvenile Colts or Geldings.
And then the groom Hector Cardina is longtime groom for
trainer Dan Markle. He was the groom of Yogya who
got a win last Saturday.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
That's great, okay. And you mentioned Joe Toy who was
our leading trainer. I was it twenty twenty one.

Speaker 4 (11:47):
I think so.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, yeah, he with those five wins, he jumped into
fifth place in the standings as well. So a big
move by Joe Toy.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
And he was cold to start the season. Remember he
is really rolling right now and I look for them
to finish.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Strong, roll them bones. Yeah, super impressive in the Hollywood
Harbor Finale there at was that six and six for Long,
six for Long, Yeah, and the wet track. He had,
you know, pretty good little record on limited tries on
a wet track, but that one was a little bit
hard to figure unless he went strictly off the wet

(12:26):
track status because a lot of those horses hadn't run
on wet yet.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
And he's the rare West Virginia bread we see in
these parts. And you know one thing, when one get
Terry shakes loose early on the front end, Boy is
he tough. He really has a feel for when to
go for it, and he did with roll them bones.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
He's had a great meat on hands our all time.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
Not a whole lot of mounts, but he makes the
most of them.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
He's still just had eighty four mounts but winning at
twenty six percent and he won that perse and of
course he won a stake last weekend on he's.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Not talking, yeah, And he's up to seventy six steakes
wins all time for back of Booger Mitchell.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
So that's right.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
He could get to be number one here in a
matter of a year.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, he's taken what two full years off in about
the last six last.

Speaker 4 (13:15):
Year and then handling his own book now, so those
little extra money in his pocket when he wins to
top it off.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Okay, Well, Saratoga and del Mar still in action. The
Pacific Classic is Saturday at del Mar, so keep that
in mind. One million dollar Pacific Classic. A couple of
two year old steaks at Saratoga on Saturday, and Kentucky
downs in action as well with their big fields and

(13:43):
big purses.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
And don't we have a mayor taken on the boys
in the Pacific Classic. I believe in Dari Mannor. Okay,
similar to the Travers last week where Torpedo an that
was a great race and she just missed beating the boys.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah that was Torpedo Anna didn't lose any luster at all.
A Dari Manor has yeah three for four this year
with a second, and those have been all against mayors
at Santa Anita, o'klown and del Mar. She's one of
three different tracks.

Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yeah, I think she's five to two on the morning lineup.
I saw that, right, So that adds a little intrigued
to that race.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
For sure, that's right. The Pacific Classic on Saturday, Race
number ten goes at six o'clock, so it'll be just
after our racing concludes Saturday afternoon. Okay, we're going to
take a break and come back with Victor Bonna. Here
on horse racing Northwest.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
It doesn't matter if you love craps, blackjack machines or
dining on the finest Asian, American and Salish cuisines. It
doesn't matter what you do or where you're coming from.
What you do is all at Muckleshoe, an easy drive
from wherever you are, All roads lead to Muckleshoot.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Much us.

Speaker 5 (15:07):
Soon top of the stretch they come. Princess a Kawai
kicks off the turn two to the good big jolt,
chasing on the outside forest acclamation at the rail. But
Princess he Kawi has reserved energy in the deep stages.
Here opened up six or seven, Princess he Kawi runs

(15:31):
clear to win it.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
Princess Akawi winning at Emerald Downs. Lightly raced horse is
won twice here and added a victory at Santa Santa
Rosa as well down in California, so she is on
a nice run for the Royal Victory. Thoroughbreds a horse
ownership group started by one Victor Bana who joins us

(15:55):
right now on horse Racing Northwest. Victor, good afternoon, good
acting in.

Speaker 6 (16:00):
Thanks Joe for having me today.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Yeah, Victor's going to be out at Emerald Down Sunday.
He's going to be signing and selling copies of his
novel helliocol Star. It's a horse racing thriller and Victors
jumped into the authorship of fiction and he's also a

(16:23):
dedicated horse owner. And Victor, you, uh, let's get back
to your beginnings. You grew up in New York, didn't you.

Speaker 6 (16:31):
Yes, I grew up on Long Island, not too far
from Belmont Park and.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Got to learn the ropes there from I think your
family was a little bit interested, but you had friends.
You guys made excursions to the track.

Speaker 6 (16:44):
We we did, Yeah, we would, uh, we would be
handicapping the races during our our classes in high school.
And then we found the bus that would take us
strictly to Belmont Park from one of my friend's houses,
and so it was very convenient for us to go
straight from school to the racetrack and catch the late

(17:05):
double at Dolmont.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
How about that, Vince, did you ever do any handicapping
at school?

Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yes? I did, remember the Carols at Weinita High School
and we'd zip down the four h five and catch back.
Then you got in the last two races of the ninth
and tenth for free. Did that many a time.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
You bet Good for you and Victor. I start going
to the track the summer right after I graduated from
high school, so I didn't do that, But you guys
are ahead of me a little bit on capin. But yeah,
Victor got into ownership as well. And one of your
early horses was Rooster City, who we did a where

(17:41):
are they now? Recently? That was a fun one, Victor.
I mean he really was a good horse, as you
said in the piece toward the end, the best horse
never to win a state race at Emerald Downs, and
I can't argue with you on that. You outran a
number of long acres mile winners, and you were in
that two and three year old class that included Gallant Son,

(18:04):
Noose of Beach, winning Machine, Peaceful Rain, etc. I mean,
I think that was the best two and three year
old class in our track's history, Victor.

Speaker 6 (18:12):
We definitely hit a tough group of three years three
year old and as a four year old as well,
Rooster was super competitive. He's still a great horse. I
still have him and I still enjoy him every time
I get out there.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, still have to buy carrots for him. I'm sure he.

Speaker 6 (18:28):
Eat carrots like I've never seen I gotta tell you.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Rooster City, Yeah one fine horse, and Victor did quite
well with him, purchasing him in Keenland with trainer Tim
mccanna and losing him for a big price down in
southern California. Claim you claimed him back for much less
and he won some person money for you throughout his career,

(18:52):
so that was a good run. And then you started
horse racing syndicates shortly after you owned Rooster, didn't you.

Speaker 6 (19:00):
Yeah, it was about about eight years ago is when
I started doing a syndicate just to see how how
that might work. Learned a lot about just starting up
a small business as well, and brought in a few partners.
They've been great and it's been a good ride for
those who have been participating, and we currently ranked at

(19:20):
emil Doown's with a few horses mentioned Princess Acali. Yeah,
I've got a few in northern cal and a couple
in the mid Atlantic as well.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
Okay, well we're here too, to talk about your novel
Heliacal Star? Am I pronouncing that right?

Speaker 6 (19:37):
I think halaiako, but announciate pronunciations.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Because I looked up the definition, but I didn't look
up the pronunciation haliacal Star. Well, let's get that straight.
And wow, this is a heck of a project. This
is a you know, four hundred page novel. It's got
just tons of horse racing information in it, and it's
got a lot of thriller intrigue and yeah, when you
get to the loud just seventy pages or so, it's

(20:03):
a page turner for sure. You got to find out
what happens to these characters that you come to know,
and even hellockey you'll star himself the thoroughbred. But what's
the genesis of this project? I mean, did you just
like mysteries or did you want to write a book
as a goal in life? Tell us about it.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
Actually, no, I never really thought I would be writing
a book. It just was one of those light bulb moments.
I think it started probably about at the same time
I was doing the syndicate and I was just thinking
of different projects I could do with involving horses, and
one of those was to write to write a book,
and I thought my inspiration initially was just thinking in

(20:46):
terms of a racehorse, and you know, what happens to
a racehorse that maybe somebody spends a couple hundred thousand
dollars or even a few million dollars for how does
a racehorse potentially and up in a situation in which
they might not make it? You know, they might be
on a trailer heading up to Canada or Mexico with

(21:07):
a with a condemned fate. And so I was thinking
to myself, how does that actually even happen? And so
I did a little bit of research on that, and
I educated myself with regard to just some of the
some of the scenarios that could lead to that. And
I thought, hey, let me, let me actually write a
story that includes that sort of dynamic, but let me
do it in a way in which I'm also bringing

(21:29):
in some different characters and making it, you know, a
little bit more exciting than just to sort of you know,
horse get spot and horse ends up in a in
a potentially dangerous situation.

Speaker 4 (21:41):
Yeah, Victor Vince here one one thing A full confession.
I haven't finished the book yet, but I've read part
of it and enjoying it, and I got to think
you probably got pretty good grades in English growing up,
because as I as I said an email to you,
I was kind of impressed that, you know, I don't
see it those real small spelling mistakes and basic grammar

(22:03):
errors whatever.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
You're really good at that.

Speaker 4 (22:05):
So you have a background in writing.

Speaker 6 (22:07):
It all, well, I appreciate that. Actually, no, I don't
have a background, believe it or not, is in mathematics
and statistics, and my career has been in technology, and
so writing was a very different task for me. But
I've always liked a really good story, and whether it's
a written story or whether it's something that you might
watch on the screen, if there's good writing and it's

(22:29):
a good story, it's it almost doesn't matter what the
topic is. And that's what I've always enjoyed, and so
I thought I would try to replicate that in the
novel itself.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, I really it is a page turner toward the end.
I mean you've got, you know, your two main characters,
and then a lot of others involved that you get
to know. But the overall theme of a horse that
could be in peril, and also the theme of taking
care of a horse when they do maybe have an

(23:01):
injury of physical issue that precludes them from racing. That
is a real benevolent beginning to the whole project, and
that certainly comes through in the end too. So it
sounds like you're a horse owner, Well, Rooster City, You're
still he's still your guy. You're paying bored on him

(23:22):
and buying all those carrots, and so you're concerned about
life after racing for your horses.

Speaker 6 (23:29):
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, Rooster has taught me so much. Actually,
it's been a really great experience for me having Rooster
after his career ended. I wanted to do right by
him because he did right by me. But just being
just watching him from when he was a yearling, you know,
to when he actually ended his career racing. He wasn't

(23:50):
injured or anything, but it was just time. I think
he was eight years old at the time we retired him.
But everything from learning how to de escalate issues to
to to working together as team, being kind to each other,
understanding that each of us at some point needs a
little bit of time and pasture. You know, when Rooster's

(24:11):
pent up in his stall all day, he definitely has
a different energy level than when he gets out to
go to pasture. And you know, a lot of these lessons,
I think also apply to us every day, and we
don't necessarily take the time to think about that. So
it's been it's been a really good experience for me,
and it's been a really good counterbalance to some of
the stresses that you deal with in life and you know,
and work and everything.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
And you did have to do a lot of research.
You know, you want to be accurate in all the
scenarios that you present and their possible outcomes. So this
must have taken a few years.

Speaker 6 (24:45):
Actually it it took about six years to write it
and then another year to get it edited. But I
really enjoyed just the when when I'm writing the book
and this is again new experience for me, I wasn't
quite sure where it was going to go. And the
two things that I had learned through the process was

(25:06):
number one is that you just let the story tell itself.
And that's effectively what happened is you just follow yourself
and you start creating scenarios with these different characters, and
next thing you know, you're you're into the next scene
and the next scene, and you get to the to
the final point, but not knowing what the ending is

(25:27):
as a writing and I think actually makes the book
more interesting because you, as a reader don't really know
what the ending is either, So so that that part
was that part was really interesting. Yeah, just being patient
about it too, just not trying to rush rush through it.
It took probably several rewrites before I finally got to
the point where I thought it was good enough to share.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
That's interesting, Vince, that you know he didn't really know
what the ending was when he was maybe a third
close to a halfway through. I wonder if that's a
common theme on a lot of.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
I would think it's a little unusual, but I kind
of I'm intrigued by it because you kind of, you know,
see where the story lead you. And one thing I
noticed from from reading your book, Victor, was there's so
many different factions in racing, and you kind of doing
your best stort to introduce them all to the readership.

Speaker 6 (26:18):
Thank you. Yeah, I did that to think about the audience,
and you could say the audience is maybe geared for
a racing fan or someone that's interested in horses. But
some of the best feedback I've actually gotten off of
folks that don't really interact with horses very much, and
they talk about how they're learning a lot about racing.

(26:39):
But it's done in a narrative. It's not done in
a technical sort of really dense sort of way. It's
done in the context of the story itself, and so
it really flows well. And people have told me they
really have enjoyed just learning about racing from that perspective.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, definitely. And you know, the intrigue. I thought you
handled that one section really well about when Matt, the
main character, emptied his bank account and was trying to
get enough money to purchase Haliakal Star and went to
the track and made a wager and he had a

(27:12):
mix up and then there was a close finish and
then there was an inquiry. But you know, that was
pretty suspenseful, and you handled it well because there was
a couple of switchbacks in there. So nothing we haven't
all experienced ourselves, that's right, that's right. You mentioned that

(27:34):
there were some recent improvements in racing to celebrate that
you learned in the process of the book.

Speaker 6 (27:43):
Yeah, I have. Actually, I don't know if we don't
talk about this very much, especially in racing, but you
know the sort of after after care that happens. One
thing I would say is all of the racetracks that
we're involved with now Emerald Downs included very active in
aftercare for the horses, and there are various funds. I

(28:04):
know there's a certain amount of money that's taken out
of every race for aftercare, and I think that's a
wonderful thing that we're doing as a racing business. Statistically, also,
I did a little research on this too. At the
time I started writing this book, around twenty seventeen or so,
or twenty eighteen, which is actually the year the story
takes place, the number of horses that were being sent

(28:27):
to slaughter was something around one hundred and ten thousand,
because you can't do it in the US, but you
can transport those horses into Canada or Mexico. And last
year those debts are now something in about twenty twenty
three thousand, I think, so that's about an eighty percent
drop and those horses that are going through that process

(28:49):
now hopefully we can get that down to zero. That's
actually really encouraging to see those numbers dropping. And that's
all all breeds, that's not just the rebreds obviously.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
Well, and I do believe you mentioned it legal in
other countries, but I do believe it's it's illegal low
to transport them across the border from the United States
of Canada for that purpose. So if that is done,
I believe it is illegally being done.

Speaker 6 (29:13):
See, yeah, the illegal part of it. Well, Thoroughbreds should
never be put in that situation to begin with, but
sometimes they get kind of they fall through the cracks
and they end up in that in that place. But
they're not supposed to be in the food chain at
all because of you know, things like Beat and Lasix
and stuff like that, and they're not ever supposed to
be putting and putting them into the food chain. But

(29:34):
as I mentioned, you know, sometimes they get they get
put through, they fall through the cracks. But I think
with microshipping now, with a much more social media, with
a lot more awareness that's happening, and a lot more
charities that have really stepped up, I really think that
we're in a way better place than we were, you know,
at the time I started writing this, and even more

(29:55):
so from like the late eighties or the early nineties
when when it was pretty prevalent. So I'm really encouraged
by that.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Yeah, and you go through a lot of those scenarios
in the book too, just get it in there. So, Yeah,
the Prodigious Fund is in effect that Emerald downs and
owners are encouraged to contribute per start for their horses
as much as you'd like. And Prodigious Fund gets donations

(30:23):
from others as well. And Jack Hodge is in charge
of that, and boy, he's helped a lot about risk
horses over the last fifteen years or so. Prodigious they're
the real heroes.

Speaker 6 (30:34):
I mean, they're the ones, the folks that are on
the front lines in these charities that are driving those
are the three heroes that are taking sure these horses
are being taken care of.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, and Boone mcanna has Down the Stretch ranch outside
of Spokane. There's Second Chance Ranch over there that rehomes
thoroughbreds as well. And Boone's place Down the Stretch is
associated with soldiers. Just the bonding that we've come to
know is just really important and uh, it really is

(31:10):
effective with soldiers, just the one on one in the
nonverbal communication that a horse has with a human. It
just empowers the individual that you know, and Boon's going
strong on his deal and.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
Yeah you did. Where are they now? Feature on Reclining
who was a horse we had to retire for the
Emerald Racing Club with a knee injury and he is
working now with wayward youth And as you mentioned, some
of these people are they can be anti social and
they just respond and the horse respond to them. And

(31:43):
it's almost miraculous some of the things that happened between
the horses and humans sometimes.

Speaker 6 (31:49):
So totally yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, And Victor said that in his piece on Rooster City,
that rooster, you know, wants you to get it right.
I mean he he knows was what you want him
to do, but you have to do it in the
right way, and you know, you have to learn the
routine correctly and you'll he'll do it.

Speaker 6 (32:09):
He's a good coach.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Yeah. So Victor selling Halia CaAl Star at Emerald Downs
this Sunday, So stop by and get yourself a copy.
It's a it's a thriller and a lot of horse
racing knowledge there. How'd you come up with that title, Victor,
Halia cal.

Speaker 6 (32:26):
Star I want it Actually wasn't my working title for
for most of the time. But I wanted the title
that I thought would be a little bit eye catching
and maybe stop you if you're browsing through a bunch
of books. And I did have a horse. His name
was haliaka rising back in the mid Atlantic, and I
kind of just use that as my uh as, as

(32:48):
my line here for this this particular novel. Yeah, I
just thought it was a little bit catching. You know,
hollik is not a common word, so it's it's something
that might stop a few people and take a look
and go, hey, what is this?

Speaker 4 (33:00):
Sure?

Speaker 6 (33:00):
I'm interesting? Okay, I will say too. I'm super encouraged
by the feedback it's been. It's been overwhelmingly positive. As
you mentioned, Kage Turner, that's a common common theme I'm hearing.
I'm here cinematic, you know, quite a bit a lot
of folks telling me that I should, you know, find
a way to get this on the film. So it's
it's been. It's really encouraging to hear all the feedback

(33:23):
as well. And I you know, anyone that looks likes
a good thriller by all means, you know, come on out,
check it out. See me on Sunday, and uh you know,
I'd love to see out there at Emerald.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah. I thought of that many times while reading it.
The movie rights, you know, and then one of the
later scenes, uh, when the horses were coming out of
the trailer, and I thought, that one's going to be
a little hard to film, but they'll they'll figure it out.
They'll figure it out somehow.

Speaker 6 (33:51):
So yeah, that one, that one would be a little
bit tough. That would have to be, you know, very
well directed.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
But okay, did you want to say the of the book? Yeah.

Speaker 6 (34:03):
The book is available also on Amazon and any of
the online retail outlets. The paperback is nineteen ninety nine,
the hardcover is thirty four ninety nine, and the ebook
I think is nine.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Ninety nine outstanding. Okay, well you'll have copies of Emerald
Downs horse owner, syndicate manager and now author. We didn't
get a word in for your trainer, Tim mccanna. I
know he's been a big influence, a very positive influence
in your horse racing experience, Victor.

Speaker 6 (34:32):
Tim has been fantastic and I do acknowledge him at
the end of the book as one of the people that,
you know, the people haven't been associated with in racing
have all been fantastic. You know, Tim has been at
the top of the list as well in terms of
just his care, what he does with the horses, what

(34:53):
he's taught me, and just everything that he does. And
Jam and the whole crew over there, they're they're extremely
passionate about what they do, but they're also you know,
they care for these horses incredibly well. And my hat.
I hipped my hat all of them for the amazing

(35:13):
jobs that they do every single day.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Well said Okay, Victor, we'll see you on Sunday at
Emerald Downs.

Speaker 6 (35:21):
I'm looking forward to Thanks. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
Thanks victors Or. Victor Bonna joining us on horse Racing Northwest,
the author of Haliacal Star. And yeah, a lot of
horse racing education in there too, Vinces. We we brought
that out, especially on you know, horses at risk and
what what can happen and some of the things that

(35:45):
they're done illegally and hey it's all yeah.

Speaker 4 (35:48):
And I you know, I have a bit of journalism background.
I can get a pretty quick feel whether something's done
well or not. Uh. And as I said, all the
grammar and the structure and those types of things that
the syntax is all good, and he's got a gift
for it, and I look forward to reading the end

(36:11):
of it. And the book is even the it's got
a professional appearance and graphics and all that too. It's
just very well done.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
All right, we'll see Victor on Sunday and you can
get your copy at Emerald Downs at that time. All right,
let's see a few items before we go to break
Washington Bred leading earners for twenty twenty four. Lonesome Boys
still at the top of the list. He made his
comeback at Parks in a sprint steak and hopefully that'll

(36:40):
set him up for some routes before the end of
the year. He's at the top of the list after
that fantastic winter New York and Pennsylvania. And he did
stumble at the start in his comeback race a little
bit was out of the money in that sprint, but
he is leading the list. Huge Bigley is second, and

(37:01):
I think he was second or third a couple of
years ago. I know he was. He's still going at
the age of seven. He's in it. Let's see he's
in a Colonial next week. Huge big Ley precise timing's
up to number three events after winning her third stake race.
She's over ninety thousand dollars there now number three and
going strong. Possible start as you mentioned two weeks from

(37:23):
Sunday in the Gottstein. Okay, and Vince over to you.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
Yeah, okay. A couple items Brody's cause I mentioned a
little research on that I'd forgotten, you know, the sire
of he's not talking. I forgot he had run third
in the twenty fifteen Breeders Cup Juvenile. Do you remember
who beat him in that race?

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Twenty thirteen, twenty fifteen, twenty fifteen? Where was it at?
You know what? I can't come up with that now?

Speaker 4 (37:54):
Niquist?

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Who else?

Speaker 4 (37:55):
Would go on to win the Derby? So that was
a pretty pretty strong race.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
And then what how did Niklas beat Gunrunner though in
the Derby? You know that that puzzles me?

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Well, gun run Runner and got him of course in
the Preakness. Yeah, you know, Nikes was I think eight
for eleven lifetimes. He was a very good horse.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
It's been a pretty good sire too.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah, So I mean, I wouldn't I think gun Runner
was a better horse, but I wouldn't rate it a
fluke that he beat him in that one.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Now it was at that time of their development. Gun
Runner was better at age four. Okay, let's see, favorites
are winning at thirty six point six percent at Emerald
Downs this year and last year was thirty eight percent,
so a little bit more money being spread out, and
that is reflected in the average two dollars win pay.
It's ten dollars and thirty cents this year. It was

(38:44):
nine dollars and eighty cents last year, and ten to
one winners ten to one or greater long shot winners
eight and a half percent this year. It was only
seven percent last year. So I think we mentioned several
weeks ago on the podcast, thought the race was pretty
good this year. You know, we know we don't average
eight point eight horses a race, but it's been pretty

(39:07):
interesting racing this year.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
We'll talk about some interesting horses here. You know, we
got some pretty fast four year old geldings around this place.
Right now. Let's take last Sunday for instance, Chuckinut Bay.
It was in a fifteen claimer. I believe he went
six furlong. I know, granted the track was a little
bit fast after the rain and then dran out, but
he went six furlongs in one oh seven point six nine,

(39:30):
got an eighty six buyer, which is huge. And then
later in the cart another four year old guilding chuckin
at Bay. He's by a broadge I believe. Yeah, this one,
another four year old gelding Nieman. He went six furlongs
and one awight point oh two geared down to beat
a pretty darn good allowance field there. And prior to
Sunday he had had the fastest six of the meet

(39:52):
one oh seven point nine eight, So chuckingnut Bay clips Nam,
but Neieman has the second and third fastest now six
furlongs one of seven point nine to eight and one
o eight point two. And then another fast four year
old building comes back on Sunday gunning for gold, and
he somehow is eligible for a ten thousand dollars starter allowance,
so he's going to be a heavy heavy favorite in there.

(40:14):
In his last start he went six furlongs in one
of eight point three four. So we got some pretty
fast four year old buildings around this place right now.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
All four year olds. Yeah, chuckinut Bay by a brage
out of Zenovich, of course, was a top two year old. Here.
A couple of years ago and was favorite in the Gottstein.
Actually there's another horse like Lady Ledux running out of days.
He ran twice and won two stakes, one of them
by DQQ on Chuckinut Bay. Yeah, and he was very fast. Right, Okay,

(40:45):
let's see what else do I have here? Slewsed his
Whiz with a victory on Saturday. He can move into
the top ten at Emerald Downs all time earners. He's
in going a flat mile, and of course he's got
a big shot. That's a short field. You know, he's

(41:06):
used to these big fields. We've had good field size
and our sprint older horse sprint steaks in the mile,
and he's used to getting a good hot pace set
up and Jose's innino finding room. But this pace could
be a little tricky.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
Those can be tricky, those shorter fields. And there are
a couple of decent horses in there, you know, Armadoro
dead heated with them, and the governors and surprisingly perfect.
We all know how good he's been at the meet.
So Slew's Tez Whiz probably have to run a little
bit to get the money there. Ray seven Saturday, we
mentioned it's Pacific Classic Day at Delmar there's seventh race.

(41:42):
Interesting name of a horse number three is heywood h
a y wod woody Woody, and I don't know if
it's named after Spencer, but it's spelt the same way.
And just you know, one of the all time greats.
Kind of forgotten because he wasn't on those championship team
of seventy seventy nine, but he finished fifth. Spencer Hayward
was fifth in the MVP voting in seventy one seventy two.

(42:03):
He averaged twenty six point two points a game, was
a first team All Star, and then in seventy two
seventy three, I was third in the league in scoring
twenty nine point two games, once again a first team
All Star. So Spencer Haywood was quite a player for
the Sonics there in the early to mid seventies.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
He could rise up over his defender and get that
jump shot just over.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
He had a tough, medium range shot, didn't he could
get it off on anybody.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
He released it at the top of his arms. You know,
he was really extended his arms up and it was
twenty nine point two. That's a pretty dwn good y. Yeah,
before the three point shot, you bet Washington Cup is underway.
We had a couple of juvenile races, and in Washington

(42:49):
Cup history, we've had what one hundred and twenty four
races now, starting in two thousand and three. I forgot
to give credit to Debbie Papps for being one of
the founders of the Washington Cup and she won one
of the the races last week, and of course with
precise timing her syndicated horse. So that's about forty six

(43:09):
percent on betting favorites, and of course a lot of
the Washington Cup races we've had shorter fields, especially in
the Fillion Mayor and the older horse races the past
several years, twenty three percent on second favorites exactly half
and eighty four percent in the money ten to one
winners it is ten percent. So that's not bad considering

(43:33):
all those favorites that have won. So keep your eye
out for a price horse on September fifteenth in the
Washington Cup.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
I got one final thing the Jill. You might be
doing one extra interview this week in the Winter Circle.
Any idea what that might mean?

Speaker 1 (43:50):
Oh? Yeah, I think I do. We're sitting on a
possible milestone.

Speaker 4 (43:54):
That's right. Blaine Wright is at four ninety nine at
Emerald Downs will become the sittingy a sixth trainer to
hit five hundred, and then probably early next year Tom
Wenzel will join him in that category as well.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
And both those guys are just on a tear to
become the all time leading stakes winning trainer.

Speaker 4 (44:10):
Right they're six back. Tom is six back of Doris
Harwood and Blaine Wright is eight back.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Tom's got a one steak win lead over Blaine for
leading stakes trainer this year. And then that thing I
mentioned on precise timing steak win, steak win, steak win,
pretty good, you know, unprecedented name for Norm It's got
a little last risk. He had run three times up
at Hastings before he made his Emerald Downs debut in

(44:40):
nineteen ninety six, the son of Jazzing Around. He had
won a maiden race and a steak race and actually
had run out of the money in his first career start.
But then he came to Emerald Downs for four of
his next five races, and they were all stakes and
he won them all. So he was actually four for
four as a two year old in mistakes races in

(45:01):
nineteen ninety six, which no other horse has done in
Emerald Down's history for a juvenile, but it wasn't his
career debut. Races like it is precise timing, So I'm
getting a little technical there. Okay, we're going to take
a break here and we're going to come back with
and Catherine Zeeman on horse racing Northwest Muchos.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
It doesn't matter if you love craps, blackjack machines or
dining on the finest Asian, American and Salish cuisines. It
doesn't matter what you do or where you're coming from.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Mucos.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
What you do is all at Muckleshoe, an easy drive
from wherever you are. All roads lead to Muckleshoe.

Speaker 5 (45:51):
Mucosuit as they kick off the turn and run from
Little Joker, fighting to keep paid set the inside, but
with a final prolong ago, Bishops of Compton's drawing away
Little Joker at the inside, chasing Atthia's next, but Bishops
of Compton in the final seventy yards clear by three.

(46:14):
Here's the wire, Bishops of Compton in.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Front, Bishops of Compton winning at Emerald Down. She won
a couple different seasons here and she ran through her
eight year old year up from California, but she's a
Washingtonian now and she has got an owner that is
pretty happy with the situation. And we're talking with Anne

(46:41):
Catherine Zeeman of the Washington Horse Race Commission horse Racing Commission,
and Annie is the deputy secretary and also spent a
couple of months and maybe a year and a half
in the main chair over at the WTBOA. She's fully
involved in Washington racing and we welcome her to horse

(47:02):
Racing Northwest. Annie, good to have you on.

Speaker 7 (47:05):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Vincent, Joe, you bet, and uh, your enthusiasm for Washington
racing is really good. I mean, we like to have
people on like that, but you also are the subject.
Your horse is of our Where are they now this
week that we show before the first race? It's on
Bishops of Compton.

Speaker 7 (47:24):
Yes, I'm very excited about that. She's a good girl.

Speaker 8 (47:28):
Her last Yeah, and uh, she got a nickname, Vince
that you'll figure out pretty easily where that came from
the name Bishops of Compton.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
They call her Snoop or Snoopy.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
You know. Yes, I remember the horse because Sharon was
training a bit for the Emerald Racing Club at the
time and Jim Angstrom, a great guy and his wife
had horses over there, so I remember the horse.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Well yeah, yeah, and of course Snoop Dogg was a
Compton guy, and so yes. Anyway, Annie, she is in
your care now, and Gosh, in talking to you about
her last week, you couldn't be much happier to have her.

Speaker 7 (48:07):
Yeah, she is a she's a very smart horse.

Speaker 6 (48:11):
I used to say she's.

Speaker 7 (48:12):
Smart, you know, too smart for her own good. She
I never owned a thoroughbread, but I've been around horses
almost my whole life. Is in the age of three
and since I've been more involved in the sorrow but industry.
I always wanted a horse off the track, and she's
super smart. She picks up on things very quickly. She's

(48:32):
also very spirited, you know, as they should be. But
she has a heart of goals, like she's a she is.
She would go through helend back for you, for sure.

Speaker 6 (48:42):
Fighter.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
That's great, you know. And in hearing your story, you
know you did grow up in Germany and you just
were a horse lover from day one. And I know
your dad said to you at a certain age, well,
the time you can get a horse is when you
can pay for it yourself and take care of itself,
and you were happy that that day came.

Speaker 7 (49:04):
Yeah, correct, Yeah, my dad. My dad worked for the
German government, so I'm sure you know, he had enough
money to you know, purchase me a horse. But no
one in my family is a horse person, Like my
dad is into motorcycles. As a matter of fact, he
owns tudor Kattis that are his bride and joy. So
my dad was always you know, concern, what would happen

(49:24):
to the horse if I would outgrew my I love
horses face, but you know, little did he know that
I am still in it full force and never outgrew
my you know, I have horses face. So I'm very
happy that I you know, but it makes you humble too,
like when you you know, work for something for so
long and it's your dream to own your own horse.
I was always admiring like all the staw signs at

(49:45):
the barn, you know where, like it's the name of
the horse and the owner. I dreamed of the day
where I could put my name in deadline right there.
So it makes you humble and makes you also more
appreciative of what you can achieve if you put your
mind to it, you know.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
Yeah, you've picked up all the little things over the years,
and you're just making it happen now. And Bishops of
Compton came up. Jim Angstrom, as Vince said, was in
the racing club and wanted to get a horse of
his own with his smaller group, and raised her and
she was a good route horse at Emerald Downs with
the Sharon Ross involved. And then Sophia McKee got her

(50:23):
in retirement. I think it was twenty twenty one.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Yes, and she bred her.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Sophia is well known as a marathon horse rider, and
I know she did the deal in Mongolia, which was
a several day event. But tell us the stories Bishops
of Compton was bred.

Speaker 7 (50:44):
Yeah, she was bred to I think Castalian's name is
our Elijah. I think he has since passed, which is unfortunate.
But the movie had a baby and last year in
twenty twenty three in May. So her baby is called
Miss Mayflower because she was thrown on May Day, May first,
and she's a yearly now and she is a beautiful, beautiful,

(51:05):
large Philly like she's she looks a lot like Snoopy.
You know, I might be biased, but she is a
she's a very pretty horse, and I hope Sophia will
achieve a lot of good things with her, for sure.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
And so Sophia was getting accumulating horses here with the
young foal, and she was ready to move Bishops of
Compton on, but she was concerned, uh, you know, what
her next stage would be. And I think she's pretty
happy that she got associated with you, Snoopy.

Speaker 7 (51:34):
Yeah, I mean it was. It was funny because we
were sitting here in our like breakfast table at the
Commission and I was just getting frustrated because I kind
of like, you know, the horses that are selling on
the backside, and like, you know, like this one is not,
you know. And then Amanda actually told me, like, you know,
Sophia is looking for a new home for Snoopy, And
I looked Snoopy up like on ecuobase, I googled her

(51:57):
racing name and come to find out that she has
the same birthday that I got my puppy that I
lost in May. You know, it was like February second,
twenty twenty thirteen she was born and on that date
I got my Pluto eleven years ago, and I was like,
that is just meant to be like I believe. I
don't believe in coincidences. I believe that things are happening

(52:18):
for a reason. And that kind of gave me enough,
you know, force to go forward with it. And I,
you know, I think like two days later I looked
at her and it was lost at first sight.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
So yeah, well the pictures are great, and you know,
she's been busy. She was in training for a lot
of years. Then she had a baby and raised her
own baby, Snoopy did, and now she's with you, and
you I think you told me you weren't going to
ride her until a few months, just kind of let
her cool out for a while. And anyway, but you

(52:52):
do have plans to ride her, and oh yeah, yeah,
go ahead.

Speaker 7 (52:56):
I just you know, I want us to get to
know each other and I want her to us to
have a good time from the ground before I get
on her, like right now when I launch her, you know,
and she's I tol her to candle like she's just
full speed, and which is like have like control of
speed for a little bit, you know, before I get
on her. But I mean, Sophia wrote her on trail,
she's a great whrse she's not unsafe, but I just

(53:17):
want us to give the time to establish a connection
and you know, be cool on the ground and then
you know, go from there. I mean, I don't we
have all the rest of our lives together her, you know,
so there's no rush in like getting on her as
quick as I can. So she's doing great, she's coming along.
She's coming along really nicely, and that makes me really proud.
She niggers at me when she sees me, So that's

(53:38):
all I care about. I don't care if people like me,
but I really sure care about if my horse likes
me or not. So I hope she does. Yeah, and
that's where we that's where we're at right now.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Yeah, I can feel that it's been a great relationship.
So uh and I think, what is she aged ten?
Maybe right now?

Speaker 6 (53:57):
So she's she's eleven.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Eleven, so she's got a lot of years left and uh,
you know, she couldn't have a more appreciative owner than you,
which is fantastic and thank you. So anyway, we're happy
to do these stories, very happy to do them, and
your your stories this week, Vince.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
Yeah, and and uh, I know you Amanda Benton is
the executive secretary down there, and what are your duties
now down there with the Commission.

Speaker 7 (54:26):
Well, on the second in line, basically we're like, I mean,
the Commission is like regulating horse racing. I mean not
as much as we did now with Haisa, but were
still you know, we have the stewards or our employees,
like our the receiving Bard personnel is our like our
employees were stilly pretty much involved, and you know, do
to test bond this year. And we also regulate wagering

(54:47):
in the state of Washington. So that's a big part
of my duties, you know, like putting in the wagering
and talking to the ad w firms and all that
kind of stuff that goes with that. But I also
want to take the time real fast, if you guys
me like one minute or so to thank everybody in
the thorober industry in the state of Washington, especially the
folks down at a w g BOA. Of course, my

(55:09):
ladies here at the Commission, they're like great. Joe and
Sally Steiner and their two daughters are fantastic people, like everybody.
Of course, you and you, Joe and Vince. Everybody has
been so accommodating because I'm not coming from a racing background.
I was a radio employee back in Germany. I did
like YouTube marketing for radio station back in Germany. No

(55:31):
one like you know, looked at me sideways so weird
because I don't have that background, like that long history
background that a lot of you guys have long so
back way back when the long Acres times. But everybody,
but everybody accommodated my situation and I felt like, really loved.
And I also call my race like family. That's you know,
that's my second family away from home. So I just

(55:51):
wanted to thank everybody to like, you know, adopting me
as your own and not giving me the chance to
be a part of that industry.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Well, you were easily embraced with your smile and your
enthusiasm and your love of animals and especially horses, So
uh yeah, we were sorry to see you stay down
there toward Olympia when you left the WTBOA, but you're
still in the industry and your love of your Snoopy

(56:24):
Bishops of Compton is really catchy. So we're we're really
happy to do the story and we'll be saying.

Speaker 7 (56:33):
And I hope everybody that has the chance that has
the time and the money. I have to say to
afford an off the track throwbread, don't waiver that opportunity.
They're great horses, they have great minds, they have they're
loyal to the end. Like every time I said tell
people I have a thorrow Bread, they're like, oh my gosh,
you know, like they have that reputation of oh they're

(56:54):
all crazy and they're you know, they're not. They're really
they're really into the humans and they would go through
fire for you. So everybody has the opportunity and the
chance to adopt and off the track throw bread, like
do it. That's all I can say. It'll it'll, you know,
make your life so much better.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
Yeah, well said, well yeah, your enthusiasm is continues to
come out. But thank thanks for joining us, Annie, and.

Speaker 7 (57:17):
Uh hope you thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
I know you'll enjoy the video. And it's centered around
Snoopy the former bishops of Compton and she is off
the track Thorowbread where are they now? And she is
having a great life due to Anne Catherine Zeeman. So,
uh take care, Annie, We'll see you soon.

Speaker 7 (57:36):
So much for having me.

Speaker 9 (57:38):
Okay, Yeah, there's a lot of enthusiasm there, and I
was as we do this podcast, I was asking Vince,
I go, boy, I don't is any Washington Breads even
run at del Mar this year?

Speaker 1 (57:52):
And you go, yeah, there there was. And then we
open up the program and uh, a horse by name
of Terry's Boy. He had a really good year last.

Speaker 4 (58:01):
Year, just claim from Tim mccanna, and the last start
Washington Bred is well, if there is an inquiry, yeah,
it got the money. It came over a little bit
in mid stretch. Looked kind of minor to me, but
they're just I'm not the one who decides it. There
wasn't much hole there really, right exactly, and so I
don't think he's going to come down. Well, what we're

(58:22):
saying is he was first of the wire and raised
three at del Mar forty thousand dollars perse nine to
two mutual.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
So that will move him up, shoot way up on
the list this year. You know, we've got, as we said,
Lonesome Boy, huge bigley precise timing of the top three,
but up to forty he'll be up around forty thousand,
which will put him in the top fifteen for sure.

Speaker 4 (58:44):
Tim McKenna another one Terry's Tomcat. I remember that it
produced a couple bombs at Delmar over the years too.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
Yeah, so yeah, that's right. Tim's down there. Huh yep. Okay,
Well let's get into our remaining segment here with sports shorts.
I can go first here. Frank Lukerelli has won twenty
six two year old stakes at Emerald Downs. He of
course is our all time leading trainer and our all

(59:11):
time leading money earning trainer, and he's won twenty six
two year old stakes that is second to Doris Harwood's
twenty seven. So there's that. Frank has been in all
six two year old races this year, hasn't won one yet.
But how about this Vince who's got the longest consecutive
streak of starting horses in the Gottstein Futurity. Well you

(59:35):
might guess Frank Lukerelli, and you'd be right by a
long shot. He is run in the past eleven Gottstein
few charities, he had five in one year and he's won.
He won with Blazing Beauty Philly. Yeah he beat the boys.
He also won with No Curfew back in like ninety
nine or so. But he's running eleven straight Gottstein. So

(59:58):
Frank Luke Corelli is a participation guy, and he is
in the Washington Hall of Fame for what he's done
at Emerald Downs, and congratulations, good luck the rest of
the season.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
To Frank, Well, I'm showing my age here again. But
when I was looking up Spencer Haywood, I couldn't help
but notice again one of my boyhood favorites, Dick Snyder.
You'll remember him, of course, Joe what was he called, Captain.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
Duck on Nick the Duck Snyder. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
Now to say it was a good outside shooter would
be an understatement. Do you realize in sixty nine seventy
season and in the seventy seventy one season he shot
fifty three point one percent from the floor.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
That wasn't happening much back then.

Speaker 4 (01:00:41):
And then in seventy one seventy two fifty two point
nine percent, so consistently great, fifty three point one, fifty
three point one, and fifty two point nine. Not many
of those were layups. I mean, he could hit those
eighteen to twenty footers like nobody's business. And he was
deadly from the corners too. Good player, wasn't.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
He the guy that the Celtics thought they had won
a game, and then they pulled that's right.

Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
Yeah, they put three seconds back that clock and the
Celtics ran a play. Dave Cowens made a basket with
one second to go on a layup on an inbounds
pass from Jojo White. So now there's one second left.
Sonics called time out the inbound to Snyder and it
was just a turnaround like a twenty six footer and
it hit nothing but net. Half the crowd was gone.

(01:01:26):
They thought the Sonics had already won, and had to
hear about it on the postgame show. But yeah, what
a dramatic moment that was. In February of seventy two
when that play happened, I.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Was listening on the radio. I remember that. Two more
buckets in the last three seconds.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
You know. When Lenny Wilkins came back as coach in
seventy seven to seventy eight, in the offseason in the
summer seventy eight, they reacquired Dick Snyder, who was winding
down his career, and he did get a ring with
the Sonics. He was about the toy. Him and Joe
Hassett were the last two guys off the bench. But
he did get a ring in seventy eight to seventy nine.
And he could play individual defense as well. You bet

(01:02:04):
he was a good defender. He was part of a
winning team. Dick Dick Snyder. Can you name his college?

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
I sure can. He played with Fred Hetzel at Davidson.
Very good.

Speaker 4 (01:02:13):
The listeners are going, man, these guys are old, but.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
Well, Vince Vince is pretty amazing on his NBA recollection.
It's really it's really good. Of course, I've been a
lifelong basketball fan myself, so okay, there's our sports shorts selections.
You know, this segment hasn't really been going too good
this year, and I not had a bad year overall, but.

Speaker 4 (01:02:36):
I recall one Mike, I kind of like Dan fantastic
day last week, and no one was beating Neeman as
it turned out, No.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
No, And I end up did picking him on our website.
I mean it was just he was just kind of tough.

Speaker 4 (01:02:51):
The fat horse.

Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
Yeah uh. The feature race on Friday night is a
Pilly and Mayor sprint at six and a half, and
I'll say a horse I've been wrong about Frisco Frills.
I look back on the on my computer and when
she won by five, I didn't have her in the
top three. Then she won by eight. I didn't have
her in the top three. Then I picked her reluctantly

(01:03:12):
because she was stepping up, and she lost. And then
she dropped a little bit and I picked her again.
I thought, she's going the wrong way. Why did I
pick her? And she lost again? And then on August seventeenth, No,
you know, she's had two kind of dull races. She
did go off the favorite at two thirty eight. I
didn't have her in the top three and she wins
by five. So she and sometimes we're just out of sync.

(01:03:35):
We're not getting along, and I think, isn't the race
again six and a half and that seems to be
her distance. Oh you know, but pace makes the race.
The cliche applies, and you know you got don't tell
Heidi who gets into the race. You got the one horse,
the three year old Philly, simply gracious, she gets into
the race. And they've been in some sub forty five

(01:03:56):
half miles, and so is rocket a day on the outside.
I'm going with the little upset with the three year
old Rocketed day for Bonnie, Jenny draws nicely to the outside,
has been involved in a couple of forty sub forty
five half miles and when Frisco Frills is one, she
has gone sub forty five, but it's been forty four

(01:04:17):
and four a couple of times. So I think Rocket
a Day can stay close, put some pressure on and
Fristco Frills when she gets to the half mile pole
with a clear lead, she's super tough. But that might
not happen Friday night. I'm gonna say Rocket a Day.
I think you made her four to one on the
morning line, so I'm going there. I haven't really picked

(01:04:39):
too much else on Saturday and Sunday, and so we'll
just move right on. We've done our Okay, I guess
we're into trivia here. The all time leading jockey born
in the all time Emerald Downs leading jockey in races
one who was born in Washington State. I posed the

(01:05:00):
to Vince before our marketing meeting last week, and I
think you came up with the right answer in about
five seconds. And who was that answer?

Speaker 4 (01:05:06):
Jennifer?

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
Jennifer Whitaker is the answer five hundred and twenty five
Emerald Downs wins. Not riding this year. Hurt her ankle
in preseason training, but figures to be net back next year.
And you know who's second on that list is Debbie Hoonan. Sure, yeah,
two gals, Yeah not awesome, Yeah, Debbie with four hundred
and thirty nine wins. So Jennifer Whitaker is the winningest

(01:05:30):
jockey in Emerald Down's history who was born in Washington State.
We did get some right answers on that, and Russ
wanted me to revisit which I hadn't visited, so it's
not even revisiting. But I threw this out before the mile,
which long Acre's Mile winner had the most starts that

(01:05:52):
season leading up to the race, So you know in
recent years horses don't run quite as much. Figure it
was going back aways, and it is. It's going back
quite a ways. In fact, all the way to the
first long Acres mile. Coldwater had twenty starts in nineteen
thirty five before he ran in the mile that year. Wow. Yeah,

(01:06:15):
and he was the winner. There's a couple of nineteen,
but Coldwater's the answer in the first mile twenty starts
in the calendar year leading up. Okay, so our trivia
question this week, it's a little not too convoluted. How
many Emerald Downs two year old stakes races had zero

(01:06:35):
runners in the race coming off a win, because that
did happen in the Washington Cup Juvenile this past Sunday
won by He's not talking. None of the eight horses
had a were coming off of victory, which you know,
if you think about it, it's pretty rare for a
two year old stake Vince, except for maiden races.

Speaker 4 (01:06:53):
It's kind of rare for any race, but especially two
year old because usually get a win and you have
to wait and uh, because we don't run that many
two year old races, and so.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
The top maiden winners they go into the steak in
two year old racing and then there's a lot of
repeat two year old steak winners too. So we've had
two hundred and forty two year old stakes races and
Emerald Downs history after the two last weekend, we've had
two hundred and forty. I want a number, and it's

(01:07:26):
pretty much a guess on how many of those two
hundred and forty races had no winners in their previous
start in that Emerald Downs two year old stakes race.
So it's a low number. So give me a guess
on your number of stakes races without a horse coming

(01:07:46):
off a win too year old stakes. And if you
get if you actually pick one of the races, you're
going to get a nicer price if you can find
a race where because there's not many of them. So
send your answers to trivia at emeraldowns dot com. That
was a little convoluted, but I.

Speaker 4 (01:08:01):
Think I I understand it. Yeah, defense can understand it well, defences,
if I can understand it, anybody, is that what you
were saying?

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
No, I was going to say, you're a little advanced
test market there. Okay, thanks for joining us on horse
Racing Northwest. Thanks to our guests and Catherine Zeeman and
of course mister Bonna take care of see at the races.