OPEN STAKE RACES
PLANNED
There could be a new set of stakes
races at Fraser Downs, which could lead to challenges being
mounted from outside the province.
The Downs (Orangeville Raceway Limited)
and the B.C. Standardbred Association have agreed to some
alterations of the stake schedule for the 2004-2005 meet.
A new $100,000 Spring Pacing Series
will be staged early in 2005. Funded by the purse pool, the
series will be open and feature several qualifying legs. The
detailed conditions will be worked out in the next few
weeks.
Another change will be the opening up
of conditions for the Langley and Miss Valentine stakes late
in the meet. The races are for four-year-old colts and
geldings and four-year-old fillies respectively. Those races
had previously been for B.C. bred, sired or owned horses but
those conditions will be removed.
Strategic purse increases will also be
made during the traditional standardbred season, from Oct.
18 of this year to April 11 of 2005. In the conditioned
ranks, maidens will receive a $500 increase, NW2 (non
winners of two races) $400 and NW3/4 $300. In the $6,000
non-winner classes, NW1 to NW3 will go up $200 and NW4/5
$100. All classes of $4,000 claimers will receive an
increase of $150. The estimated cost of these increases for
the course of the meet is $160,000.
Meanwhile, qualifiers are planned for
Sept. 4 and 11 with opening day at the Downs on Friday,
Sept. 17.
STARRBUCK STARTER FOR NOW: Lil
Dude Starrbuck remains a potential starter for the big
$200,000 Nat Christie Memorial Stake race in Calgary on
Aug.29.
The three-year-old colt, a son of
Threefold out of Almahurst Irish, is considered a top
contender after a star-studded meet in Edmonton where he
captured the Western Canada Pacing Derby by six lengths in
1:52.4. While at Northlands, Starrbuck won six straight
races and more than $125,000.
Owned by Lil Dude Ranch and trained by
Larry Micallef, Starrbuck has not raced since the June 20
WCPD. However, he recently qualified at Stampede Park.
“Yeah, we got him qualified,” Micallef
said earlier this week in a phone conversation from Calgary.
But he sounded somewhat reserved as rumors persist the colt
will not compete in the Christie.
“We still have to do some changes,”
Micallef admitted, “and get him used to the track.”
Top eastern driver Luc Ouellette
handled Starrbuck in the Pacing Derby and owners Sharon and
Gerry Renkers are hoping that he will come to Calgary for
the Christie.
LOVING IT IN LADNER: A good time
was had by all last Sunday when several regular Fraser Downs
competitors staged three races at old Paterson Park
racetrack in Ladner. The races were part of the Ladner
Centennial celebrations.
Downs’ director of racing Keith Quinlan
guessed than somewhere between 900 and 1,000 people (500
watching from the stands that still remain at the track)
took in the races which each had a field of four. Reports
are that the races were highly competitive.
Chuck Keeling, Downs’ general manager,
apparently received several suggestions that Paterson could
again field a few days of racing on a regular basis.
ARSENAULT WILL BE BACK: Fraser
Downs’ driver/trainer Andy Arsenault is not wild about
getting around on crutches – and rightly so.
Downs’ patrons will remember that
Arsenault was badly injured in a spill during a race in 2003
at Sandown Park. Among the injuries were leg and hip
fractures.
Andy was out of action for months
(several of which he spent getting around with the aid of
crutches). He did return to driving earlier this year.
It’s less than a month until the start
of the 2004-5 meet at the Downs and Arsenault is back on
crutches.
“I just had surgery,” he explained,
“for the second time in a couple of months.”
The surgery was first done in late June
to remove a pin put in immediately after the accident.
Infection was a concern.
Unfortunately it was more of a concern
in August when it was deemed that the entire pin was not
found in the June surgery.
“I had it done in Vancouver this time
and they say it looks good,” he said.
So is he going to be back in the sulky
again? If Andy were a betting man he would say yes.
He doesn’t think he will be ready for
opening day but added with a wry smile, “I think it could be
the second or third week.”
AGREEMENT NOT STALLED: Fraser
Downs and the B.C. Standardbred Association have reached an
agreement on the contentious issue of stall rent at the
track’s backstretch barns.
They recently arrived at a policy to
cover the coming meet. Under the policy the rent for a stall
occupied by a qualified race horse will be paid from the
purse pool and the trainer to whom the stall is assigned
will pay the rent for any stall either vacant or occupied by
an unqualified horse.
The rent for qualified horses will be
paid from the purse pool at a rate of $20,000 per month. The
individual rent for unqualified horses will be $90 and will
be collected from trainers commencing on Oct. 1. All rent
money collected will be deposited into the purse pool,
thereby reducing the impact on it.
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