Phil Ziegler & Howard Gibson Join Joe & Vince - Episode #143

Just six weeks away to Emerald Downs 30th Opening Day! Make plans to come out on Sunday, April 27 for the 2025 lid-lifter. Track President Phil Ziegler and trainer Howard Gibson join Joe and Vince on this edition of Horseracing NW. Ziegler looks to build on last year’s successful mark of a more than 10% increase in attendance with a revamped stakes schedule and several tried and true promotions Gibson, who’s been a top assistant to Tim McCanna, Frank Lucarelli and Vince Gibson in recent years, is in the top 10 at Turf Paradise and his EmD stable totals 20 head. Next week, go to emeralddowns.com to purchase tickets for all your favorite days. For parties, business meetings, anniversaries, memorials, etc, book your event through Emerald Downs Group Sales at 253-288-7700.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Muchos.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
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 a round the turn and head for home. Now

(00:53):
Langston Road shows the way Kayline takes a run at
the leader. Now from the outside back to Jat's watch
and Clayton Delaney, it's Langston wrote on the inside. But
Kayline comes racing by in the final seventy yards and
Kayline win's the finale by two and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
That was Kayline winning on September fifteenth last year, Race
number eleven, the final event of the twenty twenty four
meeting at Emerald Downs and Vince Bruin Joe Whiti here
on horse Racing Northwest thanks for joining us and pretty
good capper on the meeting for one trainer Justin Evans

(01:35):
there on the final race, Vince.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Sure was and earlier on the card of course, Colonel
Ludlow had won the Gottstein and justin two for two
winning the title here went out with a bang that
was twenty twenty four and guess what, not too far
off as twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Five opening day in less than seven weeks. Coming up
on Sunday, April twenty seventh, opening day four season number
thirty at Emerald Downs. Track President Phil Ziggler is going
to join us and trainer Howard Gibson, who is doing
some great work down in Phoenix and we saw him

(02:13):
here at Emerald Downs this week as well as he'll
be moving his stable and we'll talk with Howard Howie
Gibson coming up on the show. Well, as you said, Vince,
the twenty twenty five meeting not that far off, and
we're looking forward to more horses in the stable area,
more horses in races, and just some good action at

(02:35):
Emerald Downs this.

Speaker 5 (02:36):
Year, right, Joe.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Stall applications as we know, are well up over eleven
hundred for the year, probably about three hundred and fifty
or four hundred more same time last year. Of course,
stall applications is not equal to number of horses we'll
have here, but that's sure optimistic, looking good. We all
know the situation in northern California. Pleasanton will see operation

(03:01):
here the next couple of weeks, and we're going to
have several of those trainers, including some big barns coming up.
So yes, Joe, the bottom line is we look to
have bigger field size and more.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Competitive racing here exactly looking forward to a great season
at Emerald Downs, and Phil Zigler, our president, will be
coming in to talk about that. We're coming off a
really good year of attendance, so we can build on
attendance and the field size and more wagering, better racing,
more interest. And you know, unfortunately the lack of Northern

(03:34):
California racing for them can't hurt us, as we'll be placed,
you know in that every fifteen minutes for Emerald Downs,
fifteen more minutes Southern cal fifteen minutes after that Emerald Downs.
That should work out, you know, to our benefits. Well,
it's certainly worked out well for Northern California over the
years to have the races staggered like that. And I know,

(03:54):
just you know, in my own little simulcasting world here,
Santa Anita runs a race now and I'm kind of looking, Okay,
they ran their race. Where's the pleasant and race or
the Golden Gate Race, and there really is kind of
a void because at that time of day, most of
the you know, the big Eastern tracks are done for
the day.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
You know a little later on at least, and there
is kind of room for maybe some Emerald Downs and
with some of those more familiar horsemen and you know,
Northern California coming up. You know, handicappers like familiarity. They
like horses and jockeys and trainers they're familiar with. So
I really think you're right, Joe. I think it will

(04:32):
you know, add could add onto our handle and excitement.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Okay, and talking about Northern California trainers, we began our
training day video this week. That's available on YouTube. Go
to Emeraldowns dot com. Excuse me, go to YouTube. Type
in Emerald Downs Training Day and we've got a video
from March eleventh. And Ruby Thomas one of those trainers

(04:58):
from Northern California already he has several horses up here.
Her grandson, Troy Thomas, is overseeing operations right now. So
a couple of Ruby Thomas horses on training day and
quite a few regulars. You know. Vince Gibson's here in Forest.
He didn't go anywhere in the off season. Tom Winsle

(05:18):
training bling right, big stable, lot of his horses out there.
So training day is going to be available every week
on the Emerald Downs YouTube channel. Our next training day
will be Thursday, March twentieth, and it's starting to get
a lot of hits, you know, certainly the exercise riders
like to see themselves in action, the trainers like to

(05:39):
see their horses, so to the owners and even trainers
checking up on the competition as well. So we'll be
shooting training days on Tuesday other than next week March twentieth,
on Thursday. More info on the upcoming meet. Tickets for
all events will be on sale this coming week at
emeraldowns dot com, So check out our website this coming

(06:02):
week for tickets to all the big events and all
your favorites.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
There's a great deal.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Again this year events on a season pass. Fifty five
dollars for a season pass and that gets you in
every day fifty one days of racing. Plus for your
fifty five dollars, you get twenty extra tickets, So that's
basically a two hundred dollars value right there. You get
twenty extra tickets to distribute to your family and friends,

(06:28):
so check that out as well. That's up for grabs.
Group events, of course, Emerald Downs Forever has been a
great place for parties and business meetings, anniversaries, memorials, parking
close to the building and our great rosso's doing such
a fantastic job in the kitchen. Boy, we sure got

(06:48):
a lot of rave reviews from the WTBOA banquet. For
the buffet put on that evening, I sure was yeah,
no outstanding fair And I know whenever I have family
and friends come out to an event like that, they
always talk about how good the food is, and they're
not just saying that it really is. Yeah, and it's
good stuff, and the desserts are good too. Yeah. Uh.

(07:11):
And by the way, group events phone number two five
three two eight eight seventy seven hundred two eight eight
seventy seven hundred for group events. And again, so many floors,
so many different type rooms. Audio visual needs taken care
of as well for any of your group events. Keep
that in mind. And of course Mother's Day Father's Day
tickets going on sale. Yeah, speaking of the WTBOI banquet,

(07:35):
we did have that late last month, and let's talk
about some of the aftermath of that, we had a
hotly contested Horse of the Year issue.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
This year we did and it was kind of a
two horse race. Everyone new going in with a Lonesome Boy,
the fine three year old owned by John Parker and
Precise Timing the two year old Philly campaigned by Kay Cooper,
and the blue ribbon racing number twenty three three for

(08:09):
three horses the meeting here, and you know, it was
one of those things you can't go wrong no matter
who wins. Lonesome Boy did end up getting it, and
I have no qualms with that. I would add no
qualms with Precise Timing either. Lonesome Boy, maybe, you know,
had a little bit longer of a campaign, which you know,
to me that means something.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
He did run in January. He wanted aqueduct in January.
He won a stake at Parks in the winter of
last year, and then he did have minor surgery, came
back strongly from that one again at Parks. Faced some
really good horses in the Wood Memorial horses that were
on the Triple Crown Trail and did run in the
Kentucky Derby, and you know, fourth place finish in the

(08:53):
Wood was really really strong. It was a big feel
that was eleven or twelve and he was right there
on the lead at the top of the stretch. But
nonetheless his highest. He had the highest earnings total since
Ata Boy Roy in twenty ten for a Washington Bread
just fifty dollars. I believe it was under two hundred
thousand for the year Lonesome Boy earned. And of course

(09:15):
Precise Timing had that Emerald Downs new record of three
career starts and three Steaks wins to start off a
career with three at age of two, anyway tremendous season. Four.
Precise Timing, trained by Kay Cooper and Lonesome Boy, is

(09:36):
in action next Tuesday at Parks in an allowance going
a flat mile, and he is going to be sent
out to Emerald Downs for stakes opportunities this year. That's
exciting for us.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
It is exciting to see him added to our older
horse division. He did come out here for the twenty
three Gottsteen for whatever the reason, he really didn't fire
that day and which is not like him watching him
all year, so he'll be out here trying to make amends,
and it's always exciting to you know. Our Glamour division
is kind of our three year olds and up because
the mile is our biggest race, you know, the long

(10:09):
Acres mile of course, and uh yeah, he'll be he'll
be in the mix against you know, slew'st his Whiz
has kind of been the best local horse around the
last couple of years. And of course he got a
couple more awards at the bed what.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
Top Sprinter for the third straight years, lose his Whiz
and top older horse as well. Uh and speaking of
that this year and last year, you want to go
over some of those divisional winners we did talk about
precise timing and some of their activity going on presently.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah, I forgot to bring my list off the top
of my head. I know Dynamic Secret, Yeah, she was
a very exciting three year old. You know, Bonnie Jenny
is really having a busy spring. You know, just looking
at the work tab, we had our first horse's breeze
here I think on March eighth. She's had about forty
of the workers, including Dynamic Secret. And you know, he

(11:06):
he really came on as the season went on and
kind of looked like a horse in the in uh
in the Emerald Derby coming away from that field that
he's pretty good, you know, and he could uh, he
could make some uh uh noise in the UH in
the older horse division this year.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
You know who else did we have a precise time
in Kay Cooper? I think she said that horse is
just coming in today along with Chai, right, yeah, and
Chai was champion. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:38):
Chi beat older horses in the UH in the in
the Washington Cup.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
So, uh, those are a couple closed his whizzes here.

Speaker 5 (11:46):
He's here.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
In fact, he came in the first weekend here.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
I know.

Speaker 4 (11:50):
He winters up at Oak Harbor and uh or over
on Woldby Island, and he looks good, you know. Uh,
it's interesting. He'll need a new rider this year. Jose Zanino.
I see him up on a sixth floor. Of course,
he's working for our maintenance department. Now he's up to
one hundred and fifty two pounds. Looks great and would

(12:12):
you would you think would get them mount there? Maybe
Carlos Montalbo. Boy, he's done some good work for that barn,
so yes, you know that'll be interesting.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
And Blazing Bella Blue retired gosh, I forget who she's
going to be bred to.

Speaker 5 (12:27):
I think did she say it was uh Grayson. It
was either Grayson or Clubhouse.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Ride, and I think you're right.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
I think it was Clubhouse And I get a chance
to tell Petra that Lewin who's the co owner, that
I'm Clubhouse Ride's biggest fan club at Emerald Down. So
I'm really going to be anxious to see that. Blazing
Bella Blue went out a winner in the Hastings last year,
actually beat a Loja Breeze, which is an easy to
do around here. That was the day they had that

(12:56):
twenty one flat quarter and the forty three and something
changed for the half and Blazing Bello Blue and Young
Life Flora rallied as a team and Blazing Bello Blue
that ended up being her final career race.

Speaker 5 (13:08):
She's what a three.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
Time champion now four time champion, just tied the record,
most tremendous career and a lot of heart and one
of those horses that kind of earned it because not
a whole lot of early speed when that's right.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
So in Aloha Breeze she was our top older filling
or mayor last year. She's won twice down in Phoenix
and the George Tataro Runners trained by Wade Rehrick down
there and boy, they sent some nice horses to Turf Paradise.

Speaker 4 (13:37):
I think they were nine out of twenty at last
count twenty starts. Yeah, I think Aloha Breeze actually is
back on the grounds as of a couple of days ago.
So you know, the biggest question with her was always
can she get a route? Well she proved that emphatically
in the distaff.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Here last year.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
Oh wow, that was one of the top races of
the meet.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Sure was, and so she will be back Loha Breeze
and she has been her divisional champion here at Emerald
Downs all three seasons, top two year old Philly, top
three year old Philly at the meet, and last year
top older Philly or Mayor. So she's on quite a
streak as well. Surprisingly perfect who was our claimer of
the meet last year for Justin Evans. How about that

(14:21):
eleven year old Vince. He's run three times this year,
has two wins and a second down at ter Paradise
at age eleven, and he kind of missed the start
last week and still won.

Speaker 5 (14:34):
Yeah. I mean, just an amazing horse.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
And I think he is twenty three for ninety lifetime
now and.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Twenty three wins.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
I know that twenty three wins and the first career
start was way back in twenty sixteen at Woodbine Wow
on the synthetic track. So you know, I love these
old war horses like that. Twenty three wins, five wins
last year even ran in the mile and didn't get
embarrassed either, so.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
Real exciting. I mean, what is eleven now, Joe.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, eleven year old dynamics and our top juvenile mail
last year was Colonel Ludlow who won the Gottstein. You
mentioned Bonnie Jenny's sources, he's not talking who won the
Washington Cup and just was a little fractious there going
to the gate in the Gottstein and had to be scratched.
That was a disappointment for their camp. But he was impressive.

(15:25):
He improved throughout his two year old season, so he's
already had to work as well for Bonnie Jenny, as
you mentioned, she has been active. So yeah, there's some
updates on some local horses from last year and this year.

Speaker 4 (15:40):
I know another one too. We always talk about Clovis connection.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Our mile runner up last year.

Speaker 4 (15:46):
He's going to run again and he ran into a
big city lights at Santa Anita, who is just one
of the sharpest sprinters on the West Coast finished second there.
That was in the California Cup Sprint. Going to go
in a sensational star. I guess next six and a
half down the hill according to train or Blaine Right
and horse ran third in that race last year. It's
restricted to cowbred's and it is on turf, so Clovis

(16:10):
Connection eleven for eighteen lifetime up to four hundred and
sixty three k.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Oh fantastic Okay Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool number five
in action this week Friday through Sunday afternoon, So you
want to get down on your Kentucky Derby favorite again.
The odds are better the last couple few years with

(16:34):
I think it's thirty nine individual horses in the pool
and then all other is your fortieth option, So the
odds are better than in the past when there was
just twenty to twenty two or whatever. Anyway, you can
get that wager down right here at Emerald Downs Kentucky
Derby Future Wager Pool number five this weekend Friday through Sunday.

(16:58):
The Phoenix Gold Cup is Saturday, and I'm going to
be talking a little bit about that race in our
selection area. But we do have two Washington Breads in
the race this year, Coastal Jazz and Perfect Dude. It's
a nine horse field and plenty of early speed in there. Vince.

Speaker 4 (17:18):
Yeah, and Perfect Dude is up to nine years old
now and now being trained by Kevin Eichelberry Bridle up
to the bars and they're another stakes winner here two
years ago. And Pea Jabez who we were familiar with
here at Emerald Downs from a couple of years ago.
A lot of local flavor in that race, not just
this year but going way back. But yeah, Coastal Jazz Boy,

(17:40):
he's been on kind of a heater since we last
saw him here at Emerald Downs.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
He has, in fact, he's won three out of four
since his last race at Emerald He won at Fresno.
He's won two straight down in Phoenix. His vi our
speed figures have been going up as well. In career
stakes races. He is five starts with one second and
one third, so he's looking for his first steaks. Win

(18:07):
four of those stakes at Emerald Downs. And he did
run in the Hank Mills down in Phoenix at Turn
Paradise in November, finished second to Redline, who's the morning
line favorite for the Gold Cup on Saturday, and red
Line's undefeated at Turf Paradise three for three.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
In all his career all Steaks wins. Listen to red
Lines last five buyers ninety one, ninety one, ninety two,
ninety five, ninety one. He won two straight. He won
us the Hank Mills as you mentioned, at six and
a half. Then he won the Schwartz by nine and
a half. That was a mile in thirty five and three,
then shipped to some one for the Fort Bliss Gott
beat a neck there by a very good horse called

(18:45):
Jackson Traveler, and as you mentioned, Joe three for three
at Turf Paradise five to two on the morning line
did draw the rail. We'll have a lot of pace heat.
As you mentioned in there, he's the one to beat,
but he's not invincible.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Okay, and he's got the one hole and there's so
much speed outside him. He's fast, but yeah, he's going
to He has stalked in won before which helps his
options there as well. And we'll get a little bit
of the track profile from Howard Gibson coming up on
our horse Racing Northwest. We'll have our selections and our

(19:19):
sports shorts and our trivia in our final segment. But
a little more to talk about here before we bring
on Track president Phil Ziggler. Banks is owned by Tom Lambreau.
Lambreau the Lambrough clan pretty well known here in the
renting area. Tom currently lives in out By Kent there

(19:41):
and he has been part owner of Call Me Fast
with Bob Rondo, who they've campaigned very successfully the past
couple of years. Well, Tom claimed Banks and he immediately
won two straight at Turfway Park, and of course those
pots have been really good. Banks is going to go
in the Rush Away a week from Saturday, Saturday March

(20:04):
twenty second, and that's the day of the Ruby Steak Steaks,
which is what seven hundred and seventy seven thousand.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
Grade three, seven hundred and seventy seven thousand. The only
catch there it is on synthetic. But as we talked
previously with their track announcer, the race has actually produced
some Triple Crown.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Horses the last few years the Ruby, so Tony Kaylo
joined us a couple few weeks ago. But Banks is
going to go on the Rush Away. It's the same
day as the Ruby Steaks Steaks and the rush Away
is two hundred and fifty grand of its own And
both of Banks's wins were at a flat mile two
turn races and the rush Away is a mile out

(20:43):
of sixteenth And Banks is coming off a fourth place
finish in the Battaglia Memorial on February twenty second, fourth
of eleventh, So he ran well there. So Tom Lambreau
looking much forward to that. So let's see anything else
to talk about here in the first segment. I think

(21:06):
we covered quite a few things. Oh. The Hall of
Fame inductees for twenty twenty five were announced at the
banquet in February the Wtboa Banquet.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
Yes they were, and four winners this year for training,
breeding owners and horse Mark Glatt local Auburn. Yeah, youngster
no longer, but he was a youngster who grew up
here he is now and they're going to be in

(21:36):
the Washington Racing Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will
be on Saturday, August sixteenth. Congratulations to Mark Ronanina Hagen's
El Dorado Farms make it as the breeder Paski di Domenico,
father of Mark di Domenico. In the owner category and
finally in the worst category two thousand and eight Long
Acres Mile winter Wasserman beat a real tough field of

(21:59):
four their to uh take down honors. So Wasserman goes
in the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Wasserman gets in the Son of k Hill Road. He's
still is Emerald Downs all time leading money earning horse,
and he is here again this year. Washerman now aged
twenty three, born in two thousand and two and hero
of that very memorable two thousand and eight Long Acres Mile.

(22:24):
So that ceremony will be the day before the Long
Acres Mile. I think you mentioned that August sixteenth, so,
and then the Emerald Racing Club is going to be
involved again this year.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
Yep, registration has begun. Uh if we got plenty of room,
so uh email me vincebat Emeraldowns dot com or you
can call me two five three two eight eight seven
seven two three or two five three three three five two.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Six five seven.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
I will respond to you very fast. And if you
want to come out and see a tour of the
stables or have a cup of coffee at the uh at.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
The Lost Margariteas Cafe. How did I say that Lost
Margerita's Cafe, Lost Mark's Cafe, Lost Mark's official name. We'll
sit down and I'll tell you any questions you got,
and yes, we will be back beginning hopefully with a
couple of horses by opening day. And at the end
of the meeting you moved the horses onward to a

(23:23):
new home and one of those from last year, Warren's memorable.
What a fall and winter she's had down at Turr Paradise,
and you retained part ownership of her.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Yes, she mean's memorable. Yes, she has been a lot
of fun. She's had a win in two seconds in
her last three starts. A group of Emerald Racing Club
people and trainer Scott Tubbs took a piece and she
got another win last week. So she's been a lot
of fun. And Joe, we need to get the boss
in here.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah, we'll take a short time out here and be
right back on horse Racing Northwest.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
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.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
From wherever you are.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
All roads lead to Muckleshoe.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Mucosu horse Racing north West continues from Emerald Downs. Joining
us in the studio at the track is track president
Phil Ziggler. Phil, Good afternoon, Thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 6 (24:42):
Joe Vince, how's it going good? I mean, I know
how it's going because I see you guys every day.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
But we had a long first segment there, but a
lot of items to talk about. We hadn't had a
podcast in about four weeks, but you know, we just
marvel at the fact that we were up over ten
percent in attendance last year, and just looking at tracks
around the country, that stands out, Phil, So congratulations to

(25:10):
you and all the staff for making that happen in
twenty twenty four.

Speaker 6 (25:14):
Ye it's a group effort, and we love it when
we see all the families and the kids and having
a good time and eating food and just enjoying the sunshine.
You know, the winter's along around here, so we're looking
forward to that nice weather and the mountain being out
and seeing kids running around here and people betting on
the horses and enjoying it. It's coming close yeah, only

(25:38):
a few weeks away, not too far away.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
And when you got here, we had the Wiener Dog
races and you know, they were pretty successful. Let's face it,
I don't know these dog families and their friends in
the neighborhood and everybody comes out to support, so we
had some good days there. But you have really built
on that. And one thing you did took over the
Wiener Dog Show to Emerald Downs for us to run it.

(26:05):
But the corkis you're a dog owner yourself.

Speaker 6 (26:09):
And yeah, I have mutts though I mean my two
are mixed breede.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
One of them pretty rescues.

Speaker 6 (26:15):
From the pound, you know. But these corky folks, you know,
are We have our VP of Racing, Jack Hodge, been
here since day one, has a couple of Corkis at home,
and people love their Corki's. Everybody loves the corgi's and
when we have our Corki races, it's one of the
biggest events of the year. It's been on the ESPN

(26:36):
The O Show the last few years, it's going to
be on again this year and Corky Racing is just
every time I look on Facebook, there's a college basketball
game halftime there are at least five or six NFL
teams that do corky races at halftime of games, and
they even do it at hockey games on the ice.

(26:56):
So corky racing has just taken off as a sport,
and a lot of it has to do with that
show that shows up on ESPN.

Speaker 4 (27:04):
You know. You know, I remember the first year we
had the Corgis here and we usually have staff meetings
here maybe once a week, and to go over what's
going to happen. And I remember Phil Warren and everybody,
this is going to be pretty big with the Corgis,
and there were some doubters in the room and it
was beyond everyone's wildest expectation, my gosh.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Past capacity almost, So that's going to happen. We're also
going to have a second show on.

Speaker 6 (27:31):
You Yeah, this is exciting. So everybody knows these t
Rex races. Now, I can explain a lot of things,
but I can't explain what really motivates folks to dress
up as a t Rex in one of these inflatable
costumes that come out here and be in a race.
But people love to do this. So it went viral
a few years ago and all over the world, and

(27:53):
I'm not exaggerating. All over the world, newscasts and everything
showed these t Rex races. We've had a couple of
things go viral here, the t Rex races and the
Grandparents Race. So the t Rex race now has become
where ESPN said, hey, you got something else you guys
want to do on the O Show? And what is
kookie or you know, because the Oho is all about

(28:13):
these weird sports and people doing just interesting things, while
there's nothing more interesting than these t Rex races. So
no joke. I got an email today from somebody who
wanted to know when they can sign up. They're flying
in from Australia to be in the race. So it's
become a thing, and once it's on TV, it's going
to be even more of a thing. And yeah, what

(28:38):
a spectacle it is. We're looking forward to it.

Speaker 4 (28:40):
Phil Is phil brought up something when he said, Emerald Downs.
There's a real good racehorse now called Emerald Downs. We
found out in Europe.

Speaker 6 (28:48):
Yes there's a racehorse, and there's also a golf.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
There's a golf course in Australia. And I'm wondering if
these folks think maybe it's at the Emerald Downs golf course.

Speaker 6 (28:56):
No, they know, they know that they're flying in from
Australia for the thing. Yeah, it's just crazy how much
this has taken off and people come from all over.
Even for the Quarki races. We had five or six
different states represented with dog owners bringing their dogs in
for the QRGI races. And let's face it's a thrill

(29:17):
to be on TV or be in front of the
big crowds, and I guess that's the appeal to it.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well, three years ago that gal from Wisconsin came in
or Yeah, her parents brought her to Emerald Downs for
on Corgi Day because she loved Corgy. She just graduated
high school and the whole family came out for that
day from the Midwest.

Speaker 4 (29:39):
So I'll tell you the first Grandparents' race was a
pretty great moment. And what was the genesis of that?
Did you think that one up? I know that that
t Rex kind of was a company that wanted to
have an outing is kind of how that got going here.

Speaker 6 (29:53):
That was a right guard pass Control. To give them credit,
they're the ones that came up with that. The grandparents races.
We just had a grandparents weekend where we had drawings
and free admission, and I think somebody half kiddingly said,
let's race to grandparents.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Oh you film? That was me.

Speaker 6 (30:07):
Well, somebody might have said it before me, but in
the meeting in front of everybody, I said, well, we're
going to race the grandparents. And everybody thought it was crazy,
and probably was because then the grandparents went out and
a couple of them took a tumble and that went
viral all over the world. So as race tracks go,
we've had a couple of our kind of quirky promotions
be seen around the world and it just makes coming,

(30:31):
you know what it does to get back to why
we do these things because people say, well, you care
more about I've heard this. Ye people, I've heard this, folks.
You know who you are out there for. The people
who say, well, that guy cares more about these corky races, well, no,
it's a fun event. It's all about getting folks to
come out to the horse races and expose them to

(30:53):
a sport that we all have loved since we were kids.
I went with my dad and when I see all
these parents bringing their kids out to the track, whether
it's to come watch the Corgis, but they're also seeing
the horses, and we hear the crowds on these big days,
these big promotion event days when the horse is coming
down the stretch and you know there's so many people

(31:14):
standing around with their two dollars show tickets. But that's
what it's all about. And if we can expose more
people to that, to our sport, to horse racing, they
will come back. So that's really why we do it.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
And that's what I was gonna say, Phil, you just
took my next point. I was going to back because
you know, I've known Phil well now for at least
ten years, and he's talked about a lot of big
days at Aqueduct or Belmont Park that he went to
with family, going back to even the late seventies. So
Phil has a love of thoroughbred horse racing. And now

(31:46):
it's even tougher to get fans to the track because
of now sports betting is legal in one there's.

Speaker 6 (31:53):
So much competition, Yeah, so many things going on that
look when people and this is the other thing, and
again you people know who you are, right.

Speaker 4 (32:02):
The thing, Phil is, it's not an either or thing.
There's room for it all at the racetrack. As you said,
there's twenty five to twenty nine minutes between a race.

Speaker 6 (32:10):
That's right, you have all these kind of halftimes. But
it used to be because you hear the folks to say,
well back when I went to Long Acres, right, and
you hear that a lot. Well, you know, there's a
reason why other sports have evolved other sports. You hear
what was the latest thing we heard from the NBA.
So the NBA, the commissioner was talking about, well, maybe

(32:33):
we don't need to play twelve minute quarters. We could
play ten minute quarters because our games are going two
and a half hours and we need to fit in
the two hour window that catches people's attention these days. Right,
it's a pitch clock in baseball, we can go through it.
Hockey has done things. Every sport has done something. Football,
you know, it used to be every out of bounds

(32:54):
play the clock stop. Doesn't do that anymore because people
don't have the same attention span When you were younger
and went to the track, it was a different time
and a different generation, and there's more competition and more
distractions in the world today. So we have to make
it so that a day at the races is not
sitting around, as you said, for twenty eight minutes in

(33:15):
between race.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
But if someone wants to do that, they're welcome to
do that.

Speaker 6 (33:19):
There's nothing stopping you from doing that. But if you
want to know why the crowds aren't coming at some
of these tracks around the country, well you have to
create the excitement. You have to have good food, good drinks,
good social aspect of being at the track, and a
lot of these fun promotions. So that's what we do
here and attends to work.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
And concession prices are reasonable at Emerald Downs. You know,
if you guys were talking cracking hockey, oh boy, yeah,
a little bit, a little bit expensive.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
Born in a diet pepsi last night, I'm going to
tell you how much it costs.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
So we're we're more reasonable in that area. We have
free parking on site, will shuttle your family right up
to the front gate from our remote parking areas, so
keep that in mind as well. And we went over
the great season past number more about racing, Phil. The
stakes schedule has changed a little bit this year, more

(34:15):
concentrated days. I know a lot of tracks are doing that.
When you see a big three year old prep race
this winter. They know some of those tracks have six, seven,
eight stakes races on the same day. I was talking
with the big A Anthony Stabili yesterday and looking at
their stake schedule. They're doing what we're doing. They have
like three stakes days during their meat at finger Lakes.

(34:37):
But you discussed it with Vice President Jack Hodge and
whoever else, and we've got a little change in our
stake schedule.

Speaker 6 (34:46):
Yeah, So it's just condensing things. Instead of having one
or two stakes races every week, we're really putting all
the stakes races onto four big stakes race days, and
we'll have four stakes races on two of them and
six on the other two of them, including mild Day,
And it's kind of exciting on those days at least
I think it's going to be when folks come out
to the track that you know, you're going to see

(35:06):
all the different divisions of the sport and all the
best horses we have here competing on that same day.
It's also, I would think more attractive to maybe a
trainer who has a couple of horses somewhere else out
of state to bring their horses up here instead of
coming for one race. You know, maybe they bring two
or three horses for a couple of races. So I
think we're going to see more competitive, exciting stakes races

(35:30):
and on those days we can have with space. It's
about the betting as well, so you can have all stakes,
pick fours, all stakes, pick six is, you know pick five,
you know, all these great multi race bets that will
be all fifty thousand dollars races or more. And that's
very attractive and hopefully we'll have big full fields this
year and some big payouts as well.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Yeah, that is great. And you know, Haisa has come
in the last what three years now, and you've kept
us our staff upprized as to what might happen in
twenty twenty six with highly increased fees, which does not
seem equitable compared to the tracks with one hundred and

(36:14):
thirty thousand dollars purses for non stakes races. But it's
a reality that we're facing here at Emerald Downs.

Speaker 6 (36:22):
Yeah, and they said they're going to work with us,
so we hope that they will, you know, and finding
ways to not create too much of a hardship, because
the hardship lands on our racing Commission, who regulates the sport.
You know, there's three major players in this. You have
the Racing Commission that regulates things, you have the racetrack
that has the business of putting on the races, and

(36:45):
then you have the industry, the folks, the horsemen, the
horse owners, the trainers and all the folks out there. Well,
if one can't pay for something and passes along to
the other one and the other one can't pay for it, it's
going to wind up coming out of the pockets of
horse owners and trainers and jockeys, and that's not what
we want. We're fortunate to say that through this year,
including this year, our horsemen have not had to pay

(37:06):
a single dime in HEISA fees since HESAS started, and
we've been able to do that through some generous appropriations
from our state legislature, and we're trying to work with
them on more long term solutions. So it's a cooperative effort.
We're very fortunate to have our Horsemen's Association, our Racing Commission,
on our track all working together.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Okay, and Vince and I were talking about, you know,
we're the benefit of some misfortune in northern California and
that there is no racing there right now and for
the foreseeable next couple of months. So we're going to
have some new names up here, you know, install apps
we're up, and we're probably going to get a few
new jockeys as well, so that'll be of interest to

(37:47):
our fans. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (37:48):
The stable area, I know, Vern Base, our stable superintendent
is actually having to move people around and get people
in because it's some of the largest stables have to
be together. And then it's this is the first time
in a while there's a lack of available space out there.
In fact, there were a couple of applications that came

(38:09):
in late that as of this moment, they're kind of
on a standby list. We haven't had that un heard
of quite a while. Yeah, So yeah, we always hate
to see other tracks closing down or not operating. That's
not a good thing for the sport. But we are
happy that we're able to offer an opportunity to some
of those trainers as an alternate. I think when they

(38:30):
come up here a lot of them for the first time,
they'll see the weather, they'll see the crowds, they'll see
the excitement, they'll see how wonderful Emmill Downs is and
hopefully they'll come back year after year.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
I agree with that wholeheartedly. That we and Joe went
down there and as salesmen trying to present a product.
You know, you like to have a good product, and
we're confident that if they come up, they'll have a
good time, and they'll enjoy our facility, they'll enjoy the weather,
and it'll be a great experience. I fully believe that
to any newcomer who comes in.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Well, people at the racetrack, you know, you always you
don't want to be all alone out there in the
on the apron, and that does not happen at Emerald Downs.
So you know, I mean a number.

Speaker 6 (39:12):
Of years ago, somebody was here from one of the
other racing companies, let's just say, And it was a
Friday night, and it was really kind of one of
our slower Friday nights. You know, it wasn't a lot
of people here. And he walked out and he was
here I think for a commission meeting and that happened
earlier that day. And he walked out and he goes, wow,
look at all these people. Yeah, exactly, all these people.

(39:34):
I go, this is one of our smallest crowds of
the year. And he says, well, back in my track,
which I'm not going to mention, he says, this would
be the biggest.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Crowd of the year.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Absolutely true, and I've experienced that at other tracks, and
I'm always grateful to have a great live experience here
at Emerald Downs. And I'm always confident if family, friends,
or anyone new it comes out is going to enjoy
it because atmosphere. I knew that drew me and Joe
in initially, and it's what makes race fans.

Speaker 6 (40:01):
You know. I have to tell this because this is
this involves you, right. I know because I walk around
every race day and one of my favorite things is
when we have all our suites. We have these suites upstairs.
We have four of them, and they're reasonably priced. So
this isn't the uh, you know, big money item that's
sold for the year. We sell them on a daily basis.
So a bunch of buddies and friends or ladies or

(40:23):
couples or whatever can get together or business can get
together and have a day well when all our suites
are full, and I know if they're having good time
because Vince has his door closed right because of all
the noise coming from the suites, right. Yeah, so when
they're allowed and Vince's door is closed, that's a good thing.

Speaker 5 (40:42):
That means it's a raucous time. They're good. Yeah. No,
I'm happy to close it because that.

Speaker 6 (40:47):
More days your door has closed, the better.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
I'm kind of sandwiched in between them now, I know
you avoiding. I had a question for you. Phil grew
up in New York and you saw some glory days
of New York racing.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
What is your.

Speaker 4 (41:00):
Greatest on track recollection as a youngster back when New
York was really thriving. You had Aqueduct, you had Belmont,
you had Sarah Tooga, you had all the great harness tracks,
you had the metal lands.

Speaker 6 (41:14):
Oh yeah, going to Roosevelt racally at night. But okay,
this too. I got to give you two because one
I used to go with my dad all the time,
and he used to work two jobs, so he was
only off basically on holidays. So we went to the
track Memorial Day, Labor Day, and somewhere around the third
or fourth of July holiday, whatever it fell on, you
know that he was off and Memorial Day. So those

(41:36):
were the big ones. And for a period of I
don't know how many years, in there on any one
of those days, and every one of those days, Forego
would be running. Great horse Forgo. You look up his
past performances. So that was always the memory of just
going there and seeing Forego run. The other thing is
I was at the track at Belmont two days before

(42:00):
for the big match race back in seventy five. It's
just finish a roughian, foolish pleasure, and you know, we
know that that was kind of a tragic thing, but
just being at the track and they were hanging out
the buttons and his and the horror and that whole thing.
So I have a very vivid memory of that. You
had to choose one of the buttons in which one
were you going to take, and who were you rooting for,
and all that enthusiasm going into that. So those are

(42:22):
kind of the memories. And the other memories I have
is that used to have to sit in traffic on
the Cross Island Parkway and on any holiday and again
it's not like that anymore. And then you park really
far away from the racetrack and got on a bus
and there was no air conditioning back then on those
buses and stuff, and it was just so much fun,
great memories of going to the track, and they're rebuilding

(42:44):
Belmont now. It's very exciting to see what they're doing
and building a brand new, modern facility for the next
generation of fans to go to the races there.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Four Go. Was it three or four consecutive Horse of
the Year titles? It was at least three. I think
it was four. I think it was, and he was
in secretary. It's nineteen seventy three Contecting Thereby finished fourth.

Speaker 6 (43:06):
He's also the only horse I ever have known, probably
and this has never happened again. He won an Eclipse
Award for Best Sprinter of the Year in the same
year that he won a race at least one race
at a mile and a half. He's incredible anymore. The
versatility he would win at seven furlongs, he would win
at a mile and a half, and he would also

(43:26):
be carrying all a lot of weight.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
That's one of my favorite races ever to watch or
something on video, is when he'd beat Honest Pleasure. I
think it was the Woodwall high Weight or no, I
think it was the Woodward. It was a one turn
race at Belmont and he he was way out of it.
Shoemaker aboard and he carried his pilm mentioned one hundred
and thirty at least one hundred and thirty two. But

(43:49):
by the time he got into the stretch he had
about eight pounds of mud on him as well. It
was just muddy or honest, Pleasure didn't have a drop
on him, was on the lead all the way and
what a well for back.

Speaker 6 (44:01):
You know, back in those days, the racing secretaries tried
to beat those horses by putting all the weight on
because they were handicapped races and they really weren't too
many alternatives. So you had all the best horses running
in those races. In an ongoing basis, you had the
best East Coast horses competing against each other on all
of these holidays, and you had the the Fall Triple Crown,

(44:23):
Older Triple Crown, which was the Marlborough Woodward and the
Jockey Club Bowl Cup.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
Yeah yeah, And as Forego was to the East Coast
kind of later on, John Henry.

Speaker 5 (44:32):
Was to the West Coast.

Speaker 4 (44:33):
These old hard knockers that were good for fifteen to
twenty thousand extra people every time they ran, and they
were kind of blue collar horses because they showed up.
John Henry.

Speaker 6 (44:45):
I went to his last races in the Meadowlands.

Speaker 4 (44:48):
Around eighty four.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
Yeah I was there.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
Yeah, he didn't make the first breeders the first training
that year, but just couldn't quite make it. Well, Phil
out Opening Day Sunday, April twenty seventh. Day number two
is Saturday, May third, Kentucky Derby Day. That'll be a
one day week as well, and then we'll get into
our Saturday Sundays for a few day free weeks and

(45:14):
then Friday Saturday Sunday.

Speaker 6 (45:15):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun. We'll have our magnetic calendars
an opening Day and on Derby Day of course, the
fabulous best Dressed Hat contest and everybody gets dressed up.
And that's one of those days where if the weather
is really nice, it's we usually get a great crowd
for that and people just have a great time. A
lot of shrinking going on there day as well. In fact,

(45:38):
it might be a little drinking before a lot of
those people get here too.

Speaker 5 (45:41):
They usually come on busting though.

Speaker 6 (45:43):
So the roads are safe, right, yes, all right.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
Well, Phil, thanks for stopping in, and yeah, getting closer
to season number thirty at Emerald Downs, so much information
at Emeraldowns dot com, Promotions, racing and everything else. So
we'll see you soon. Yep, Bill Ziegler joining us on
horse Racing Northwest. We'll be right back Muchoson.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
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.

Speaker 7 (46:22):
From, Muchoson.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
What you do is all at Muckleshoe, an easy drive
from wherever you are. All roads lead to Muckleshoe.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Muco Soon.

Speaker 7 (46:39):
It is Nightline with a big target on its back.
Eas it's run by four legs. That one's that it's
desperately trying to keep up. It's second place, but it's
just a battle between him and who is pabo for
runner up? It is going to be Nightline full six
by five.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
Las Nightline Washington Bred Nightline winning at Turf Paradise on
February twenty second, one of five consecutive starters won by
trainer Howard Gibson. And we might call him how we
hear on the show and he joins us right here

(47:16):
on horse Racing Northwest. Howie, you're having a great fall
and winter down there in Phoenix. Congratulations, Yeah, thank you.
Oh you bet five wins in a row, Evince, how's that?
And I think on a previous podcaster maybe two back,
you were rattling off some stats on the difficulties to

(47:37):
win at Phoenix this year.

Speaker 4 (47:38):
It's real tough down there, as how he knows, with
Justin Evans, Diodoro and a lot of these guys with
the real big barns that have come in there loaded.
So I mean, just look at Frank Lucarelli, our time
all time leading trainer. He's kind of struggled down there
this year. And you know, Frank's a great trainer, so
you know, it tells you it's tough. So I think
at last count, how he over all your twelve or

(47:58):
forty nine?

Speaker 5 (48:00):
That out right?

Speaker 8 (48:00):
Yeah, I'm twelve for forty nine. Yeah, that's it. I've
telled people all the time that if I would have
said that when I showed up there, then they would
have thought I was crazy. So like, I've been real
fortunate with the horses I've gotten there and everything with
Vince and all those people that sent me their horses
to help me.

Speaker 5 (48:17):
Super job.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Did you have any other numbers you wanted to say.

Speaker 4 (48:20):
Yeah, well I think, yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
I got something. Well you're looking. Justin Evans is leading
down there with fifty wins, George Rosaliz is eight with
thirteen wins, and Howie along with Scott Tubbs, you're in
the top ten. That is fantastic. You guys are tied
for ninth with twelve wins, and how he's winning percentage

(48:43):
fantastic at twenty four percent.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
So yeah, and Howie back like in twenty fifteen and
twenty sixteen, he won twenty three out of one hundred
and twenty two starters.

Speaker 5 (48:53):
And then you kind of.

Speaker 4 (48:55):
Worked for some bigger guys or you were working as
an assistant, so we didn't really see you with big
numbers here the last few years.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (49:01):
No, I went to work for Tim mccanna for a
couple of years, and I went to work for Lukearelli
and for Frank and when they both taught me a ton,
especially about how to develop horses and stuff, and like,
you know, I was real fortunate. Frank let me go
back and run his barn at a lone Star in
Remington Park and I got to meet a lot of

(49:23):
people back there, and you know, They gave me an
opportunity to kind of learn how to run those bigger
barns instead of just having and doing all that stuff yourself.
You know, a good opportunity to learn how to deal
with people, because a lot of training horses is just
learning how to manage, learning how to manage all that
stuff like that's what Tim Tim told me, Like there

(49:45):
was one day I was having a hard time with
Gallop Boy or something, and he said that the horses
are the easy part. It's learning how to deal with
everything else.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
So well, when you mentioned mccannon and LUKERELLI working for
them and with them a couple of Washington Hall of
Fame trainers, and you know that that's right up there,
and you know how he's always going to be young looking,
but he's been in the game a while. And your
last name's Gibson, which is a huge name.

Speaker 4 (50:11):
Like Bays and Steiner and all that iconic And what
what tell us your lineage and the Gibson family.

Speaker 8 (50:17):
Uh, well, there's eight brothers and my my grandfather. That's
that's where a lot of the Gibsons come from. There's
eight of them, and a lot of people know Vince,
which is Claude's son, and uh Hr Homer and uh
Claude's brother, Claude's brother and Elwyn. Those those are the
main three trainers. And then my dad, uh is Victor Gibson.

(50:41):
He used to train. He trained a few at Long Acres.

Speaker 6 (50:44):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (50:45):
I don't think he had as big as stable as
most of them, but he I just grew up. He
used to talk about being there and everything, and it's
just something that I've always wanted to do. I've always
loved it and I've never really thought about anything doing
anything else.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
So that's just a big part of it. Fantastic like
so many other Gibson's in Washington State, and you've got
a good reputation of breaking babies, you know, teaching the
yearlings to two year olds their early lessons. And but boy,
things have really come full circle now you're here at
Emerald Downs today and have been for a few days.

(51:22):
But what's going on with your stable in Phoenix right now?

Speaker 8 (51:25):
Right now? I sent a few home, but I got
seven there and then I got a couple in on
a Saturday nightline which he hopefully he runs his race.
Sometimes he doesn't always run the best race, but hopefully
the first couple of races off of a layoff, he
doesn't run his best, but he ran a really big
race the other day and he looks pretty.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Good in there.

Speaker 8 (51:47):
If he runs back to that race. And then also
we have lets the Clare Piece, which that's a tough race,
but those Phillies, you know, they always run about the same.
So hopefully she runs back to that race.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
She ran on the.

Speaker 8 (51:59):
Twenty second or the twentieth or something.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
She might have been stakes placed here.

Speaker 5 (52:04):
So he did.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
She ran third, Yeah, and I know Chad Christiansen, Chad
and Josh claimed her out of I believe it was
her either her first your career, second career start as
a two year old, and then they did well with
her in the Remington, Texas circuit. But she's making a
little bit of a comeback.

Speaker 4 (52:24):
She hasn't had too many starts in the last I'm sorry,
how about that last race where you got up at
twelve to one?

Speaker 5 (52:30):
Well, were you there for that race?

Speaker 8 (52:31):
I was there for that race, And like I feel
like the last the last couple, she's kind of got
in trouble. I was having a hard time keeping the
same rider on her Alex cruizerrote her one time, and
then we had Frank Alvarado that was supposed to get
on her and Glad Corbett he wrote her well, but
he didn't really know her. So I was pretty fortunate
to get Kevin on her and Kevin wrote her just great,

(52:52):
so like and then we got Kevin back on her again.
So that should help a lot because now he knows
her and he's been on her a few times.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
So she's one of his five in a row that
he won that super impressive street Gold, Coast Girl, g Dog,
Blue Spiritt, Nightline and Let's Declare Peace. Five straight starters,
one for Howie.

Speaker 4 (53:11):
Yes, you mentioned uh Chad Christians and you also mentioned
you're uh training a lot for Eldorado Farms.

Speaker 8 (53:18):
Now, yeah, Hagen, Yeah, all of them I have. I'm
real fortunate and I have a lot of great people,
like Chad's. Chad's amazing. He's not as big as he
was before, but he's still you know, he's still very
he's he's he's given me a great opportunity that these
last few years. He's he's a very generous person. He's
helped me out a lot. Same with Ron and Nina.

(53:38):
They've given me like Nightline, right, now he's my best
horse that I've ever had. He's the one that's made
the most morning money and everything. And then like he
I was able to get him ready as a two
year old and he was you know, he has a
lot of speed and everything. And then uh, you know
that that stuff kind of just snowballs. And then I
got some other great people that are that are around,

(54:00):
and I think that's a big part of training horses,
is being able to have those good clients. And yeah,
they're amazing people.

Speaker 4 (54:08):
Joe, I can tell and you probably tell too, how
you love what you do.

Speaker 8 (54:11):
Yeah, I really, yeah, it's all I've ever thought about so.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
Well, you know, being an assistant for those top barns
and how he was around And you brought up Coach
Royal right before we went on the air here, and
oh yeah that.

Speaker 4 (54:26):
Was a big kind of help put you on the
map a little bit here, I would yeah.

Speaker 8 (54:29):
Yeah, that helped a lot. I would say that was
just me just knowing a lot about horses. I guess,
like just growing up around it and being around my family.
They've they've helped me out, you know, they were they
always were people that took care of the older horses.
And stuff and just being around hr and those guys
all the time and just Vince's you know, Vince is

(54:52):
really good about having those old horses win a lot
of races in a row. Like he's had a lot
of those horses, like like Buddy Dave. Yeah, and like
he gets those older or why at nine or you
know where they where, those old horses they'll win like
like a lot of racist consecutive in one year. Like
he's had a lot of those horses, and I think
a lot of that's just the way Vince kind of trained,

(55:15):
like he trains slow and he takes care of him,
and it seems like he always has those horses when
like those older horses get on a roll.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
Like that he did. You're right. We had a picture
of him with he got all four of them out
and they were all seven, eight or nine, and all
of them had buds of flying with Yeah, yeah them.

Speaker 8 (55:34):
The one the one he had this last year was
a Moonlight and wine where he got on a roll
and he really started getting on a roll with some
of those horses.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (55:43):
Yeah, he just he just gets on a roll with
with those older horses like and whatever it is whatever,
like those old horses, really enjoy the way he trains horses,
like really really enjoys.

Speaker 5 (55:57):
He's kept Papa's golden Boy. Yeah at age nine.

Speaker 8 (55:59):
Now, Yeah, and that's what you know. Sometimes it takes
a little bit longer for for them to go, but
or just you know, he just takes care of him
or he does the best job he can.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
So so you probably have a couple more trips down
to Phoenix.

Speaker 5 (56:13):
Of course. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (56:14):
Well some of the other some of the horses I got,
like they're kind of those allowance horses that down there
you get to run. You get to run them a lot,
like you know, they run those non two allowances and
it seems like they run every week and stuff. So
I'll probably leave those ones there a little bit longer
and then uh, but I'm I'm excited to come up here.
I got a lot of young.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Horses this year, so that is great.

Speaker 8 (56:36):
It'll be it'll be an interesting year.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
You know the track pattern there at Turf Paradise in
last year's meet, Uh, the riders off the rail way
off the rail. Now the rail looks pretty normal this year,
doesn't it.

Speaker 8 (56:49):
Yeah, but they still they still pack them out to
the outside like that's like Vince. He told me I
had delta delta win from the twelve and we were talking.
He's like, I haven't seen a horse win from twelve
hole going five eighths in twenty years. And then that
horse won, But it seems like the week before that,
like there was like five four or five horses that

(57:10):
won from the twelve hole. So it's it's weird because
turf Turf's outside is way more live than the outside here,
because the inside here is like, uh, the one two
hole is the most dominant position here and then the
outside holes inter paradise. It's it's kind of weird, like
it's a different like they're different racetracks, and for whatever reason,

(57:31):
it seems like, uh, that's why I think jockey's like
when they come here or you know, when they switch tracks,
it it seems like, uh, the ones that like to
go on the outside run second all.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (57:42):
It's a little different.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
No that the stats prove that.

Speaker 4 (57:45):
And you've had it's turf paradise because they do have
a turf course too. You've had a little success on
the turf down, No, not yet.

Speaker 5 (57:51):
Yeah, fig have you tried a couple?

Speaker 8 (57:53):
Yeah, Yeah, I've I've ran uh the one that uh
Company's Dream ran pretty good the other day on it.
He was thirteen to wenty. He hadn't he hadn't been
on the turf before, and but there was so much
speed in that race. We had to really take him back.
And he really had never ran i know, seven and
a half so sprint on the turf, but that's a

(58:14):
you know, that's a pretty long race for him. He
never really went longer than six and a half. And
then he loves to be on the lead. But there,
I mean Lloyd's Logic and there's like three or four
other Lucky Code and there was another horse in there
that they just had a ton of speed. So we
had to take him back and he ended up running
a pretty big race for changing everything on that horse.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
Like yeah, I mean that wasn't.

Speaker 8 (58:34):
Like you know, he usually goes to the front and sees,
we'll see how long he lasts. But we took him
back and he still ran a big race, So we
were fortunate about that.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Yeah, he hasn't won yet down there, but he's run
a number of really solid races.

Speaker 8 (58:48):
Yeah, he's on the he's like on the verge of
he really like he's really ready to ready to win,
and like he hasn't ran a bad race down there.
I mean he got he ran into Colstal Kid where
Culsive Kid ran a huge is going five eighths.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
I mean, we're gonna be talking more about Coastal Kid
on today's podcast here towards the end. Yeah, I mean
Coastal Jazz. Okay, so you.

Speaker 5 (59:09):
Got any two year olds this year?

Speaker 8 (59:11):
I got seven right now?

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Oh boy?

Speaker 8 (59:13):
Yeah. A lot of them are Barkleys, but some of
them are are horses at Chadbread that he went and
spent some you know, he had a couple of those horses.
I think one of them's a Impequinius is uh not
in Piquinias. That's the mayor but pain chr Leader's brother
and he's by Stanford and so we're excited about that one.
And then we got Nightlines little Sister who's by Barkley,

(59:34):
and like I got you know, the hopefully it all
works out well. We're still in the early stages of it, but.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Are making a lot of good decisions so far.

Speaker 4 (59:42):
Are you finding the Barkleys, even the young ones like
to train.

Speaker 8 (59:45):
Yeah, they like it. Yeah, uh, you know, the g
dog when he when we were working him, I didn't
think he had any speed. But the last time he ran,
he really shot out out of there and he like
he really never ran a bad race. But when we
were working him earlier on in the year, I was like, man,
this thing, he doesn't have any speed at all. But
now as he's maturing a little bit more, it's definitely

(01:00:09):
coming into him a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
So Yeah, one of your winners down there and number
nine in the standings. That is fantastic for Howard. Howie
Gibson down at Phoenix and a good sized stable at
Emerald Downs this year. Just another reason we're looking forward
to the start of the meet on April twenty seventh. Howie,
thanks so much for coming in and good luck there

(01:00:32):
and here.

Speaker 8 (01:00:33):
Yeah, no, thank you. I really appreciate I really appreciate
you guys having aving me on.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
No, you have done some great work, Howie Gibson joining
us on horse Racing Northwest. A couple of obituaries to
pass on. Greg McComb passed away. We did mention that previously,
but just spoke with his wife Carrie, and Greg passed

(01:00:59):
away at age sixty eight. Part of our track maintenance
crew all of our first twenty nine seasons at Emerald Downs.
He did develop prostate cancer. He really loved his job.
Goes way back into the seventies working in the stable area,
starting out as just hot walking and grooming, and just

(01:01:22):
grew from there. And I went to Green River and
got a degree in automotive maintenance and just fit in
great with our maintenance crew and working on the vehicles
as well as driving a tractor all those many years.
Really loved his job. We did lose Greg last November,

(01:01:43):
and certainly our condolences to carry and the entire family
as one of our family members left us here the
entire Emerald Downs run. Vince.

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
Yeah, gentlemen, this guy goes way back in ownership. Lamar
Efa had horses with Craig Roberts at Long Acres. He
owned a company, Lamart Interiors in Seattle. He had been
in the racing club.

Speaker 5 (01:02:07):
The last several years.

Speaker 4 (01:02:08):
Real nice gentlemen always came out and was always complimentary
and it was a lot of fun and enjoy to
be around hearing his old stories about the racetrack. Unfortunately,
he passed earlier this week.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Okay, yeah, sounds like he was in the game. A
long time, long time. Yeah, okay, well we do have
our final short areas here on horse racing Northwest. Let's
start with sports shorts. And Vince had a great answer
Just a few months ago. I came up with something

(01:02:42):
on major league managers that had a team had won
the World Series with three straight managers, and the Yankees
of course did it way back when, but there was
another team, and Vince rattled off the three Baltimore Oriole
managers consecutively that won the World Series. So this one
isn't probably too tough. Which college basketball team has the

(01:03:08):
most consecutive coaches winning the NCAA title? If you think
about that for a little bit, you'd get it, I know.
So not UCLA.

Speaker 4 (01:03:23):
Gene Bartow didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
He took over from Gary Cunningham and Garry Brown and
Larry Farmer and Walt Hazzard all coached the Bruins. They
didn't win it until the nineties. Jim Herrick, Jim Herrick, Yeah, anyway,
the answer is Connecticut. You know, Danny Hurley has won
too straight. But it was Jim Calhoun who grew that

(01:03:48):
program to prominence in the eighties and nineties and into
the two thousands. He won three titles. Kevin Ally replaced him,
who used to play for Calhoun at Yukon. He won
the NCAA Championship in his second year, and then Hurley
replaced Kevin Ollie. So the most recent three coaches for
Yukon have all won the NCAA Championship.

Speaker 4 (01:04:09):
I like that one.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
I got.

Speaker 4 (01:04:12):
A baseball question as we're closing in on opening day
here in a couple of weeks to the Major league season, Joe,
can you name the last switch hitter to win the
MVP in the American League?

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Uh? Shoot, no, give me a slight hint. Well, oh,
Mickey Mantle, No, he won, he was. He was MVP
in the fifties. One.

Speaker 5 (01:04:43):
Okay, it's a trick question.

Speaker 4 (01:04:46):
Pete Ruynolds the last switch last switch hitter to win
MVP in the American League. Otani No, he also won
the cy Young in nineteen seventy one. Vita Blue, Oh wow,
o Toanni's not a switch hitter?

Speaker 5 (01:05:00):
Was a switch hitter?

Speaker 4 (01:05:01):
Now that year he only batted one to eighteen, was
twelve for one oh two with sixty three strikeouts. But
he did bat right against That's a good one. Did
bat left against righties? And remember Vida Blue I believe,
was twenty five and seven that year and won the
MVP and the cy Young for the Oakland A's.

Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
That's a good one. Okay, that's some sports shorts, some selections. Boy,
Turf Paradise is racing on Saturday. In case you didn't
gather that from some of our previous conversations on this show. Yeah,
they have got a Steake squadruple header. They've got the
Turf Paradise Derby Raise six. Body Zafa is in there.

(01:05:39):
That is on the grass. Wait a minute, No, it's
not on the grass. Is it's on the dirt. The
Turf Paradise Derby's on the dirt. Bodhi Zafa has won
three straight down there on the grass for Wade Rerick,
a George Tadaro horse who of course started his career
did Bodhi Zafa at Emerald Downs last summer. Then there's

(01:05:59):
the Arizona Oaks at a flat mile. Then there's the
Queen of the Green Handicap one mile in the grass
for Phillies and Mayores. Then the Phoenix Gold Cup and
Coastal Jazz is in there. I'm going with him to
win it. Vince I'm gonna be a little bit of
a homer. Seven to two is a little rough in

(01:06:21):
a nine horse field with tons and tons of speed.
But you know, Coastal Jazz is not on the inside.
He draws the five hole. He's got a lot of
speed inside him, including the favored Red Line Coastal Jazz
beaten by Red Line in November. But Coastal Jazz is
just running great there. He's got a couple of ninety

(01:06:42):
Buyer speed figures consecutively and Glenn Corbett has ridden him twice,
won both times for Justin Evans. Evan says, he's doing great.
I think he can win that race. There's you know,
speed all over. There's not two not all that much
speed to his outside the one directly to his outside.
Topascio Leo has very fast but Coastal Jazz loves Phoenix.

(01:07:08):
His last six sprints, he has four wins in two seconds.
Looking to break through as a stakes winner, I'm going
to take him to win the Phoenix Gold Cup on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (01:07:20):
You know, I really haven't done any homework for Saturday yet,
so I probably shouldn't throw out a pick. I did
notice peririge of Bez. You know, you talk about all
the speed in the race. It did draw outside and
you know the horse was pure speed when it was
here at Emerald Downs. But you know in its last
four races it sat fourth, almost run the exact same
race every time. It's in pretty good form. So that

(01:07:42):
horse might rate a little bit of a look for
a pretty good trip in that race.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
Tons and tons of speed in the race in that
Phoenix Gold Cup, so you know, we know several closers
of one. Val Lund has won the race three times
twice with absolutely cool all the Washington Bread who ran
in the Phoenix Gold Cup five straight years, two wins,
two seconds and a third.

Speaker 4 (01:08:06):
She's got a bridle up to the bar, who's four
for nine at Turf Paradise and kind of a wake
up race last time, you know, definitely, Yeah, seems to
be on the improve. I notice val also has Bodenheimer
running four and a half furlongs on that Saturday card
earlier on at Turf Paradise in a sixteen claimer, another
Washington Bread.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Former Washington Horse of the Year, and val also won
the Gold Cup with mister Jaegermeister from a little bit
off the pace, that's right.

Speaker 4 (01:08:33):
Yeah, So she knows, she knows what it takes to
win the race, and they get the red hot Manny
Americano Up. He got his first win at sant Anita
last week. I saw and doing great work. He's riding
seven days a week Monday through Thursday at Phoenix, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday at Santa Ya Course. This Saturday he'll be at
Phoenix where he has several live mounts.

Speaker 5 (01:08:55):
Hey, why not?

Speaker 4 (01:08:55):
You know you got the You know people want a
good hot apprentice up take advantage of definitely.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
Yeah, his last two three weeks at Emerald Down's last
late last summer, We're fantastic. Could get him on a
rule that just hasn't slowed down much. Okay, last show's trivia.
Why was not Trooper seven five for five in nineteen
eighty one Long Acres Mile, first time, first back to

(01:09:24):
back Winter of the mile? Why was he not Washington
Horse of the Year in nineteen eighty.

Speaker 4 (01:09:30):
One because the owners made the voters made a mistake.

Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
Well, unfortunately for Trooper, Snowplow became the first Washington Bread
Grade one winner in nineteen eighty one, and not only
did she win two grade or one Grade one, she
won two the first time Washington Bread did that. They
were two year old races. She was a juvenile. You

(01:09:54):
know Trooper, whoa that is tough him not being horse
of the year.

Speaker 4 (01:09:59):
Well yeah, and you know, again there's like we said earlier,
there's no wrong answer really there. I probably would have
gone with Trooper just because what he meant to the
state and anyone who was there that day when he
won the mile. It just didn't get any bigger than that,
right twenty till you know me start talking about two
grade ones.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
Yeah, not just one, not just the first, but she
won two grade ones that year, so she.

Speaker 4 (01:10:23):
So I jest when I say the voters did something
wrong there because you know, two grade ones, I mean,
I'll give it.

Speaker 5 (01:10:30):
Up for that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
Both are currently in of course, the Washington Thoroughbred Hall
of Fame. Okay, our new trivia question said your answers
to trivia at Emeraldowns dot com. Bridle excuse me. Blazing
Bella Blue was a state champion for the fourth consecutive year.
In twenty twenty four, she was top older Philly or mayor. Again.

(01:10:53):
This year she only raced one time, or last year
she raced just once. She won the Hastings. That's correct, yep,
and that was her only start and she became champion.
So in the Emerald Downs era in nineteen ninety six
to twenty twenty four, what is the second least amount
of starts for a horse of the year A Washington

(01:11:14):
horse of the year, Blazing Bella Blue wasn't horse of
the year. She was a champion with just one start.
But we're switching over to a horse of the year
category who has the least amount of starts and was
still horse of the year for Washington nineteen ninety six
to twenty twenty four. Send your answers to Trivia at
Emeraldowns dot com. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our guests

(01:11:35):
Phil Ziggler and Howard Gibson here on horse Racing Northwest