In memory of MELANIE WALTERS.. (shown with her father Dr. Ken Walters)
British Columbia native Melanie Walters passed away suddenly on Feb. 13 after a training accident. She had recently joined her father in the racehorse business after a successful show horse career. The mother of 2 was just 37.
Walters won 15 of 64 races as a trainer. She had her license only since 2012.
She also experienced great success in the equitation ring both in Canada and the United States, winning the 1994 CET Finals and the 1993 CEF and AHSA Medal Finals.
feature on the Walters’ from Tom Wolski
http://www.sportofkingstv.com/column.php?id=344
from Vancouver Sun:
Hastings Racecourse lost a beloved member of the trainers’ colony when 37-year-old Melanie Walters died Thursday following a training accident at her parent’s farm in Langley. Melanie and her father Dr. Ken Walters, a prominent horse owner and former Vancouver Canucks team dentist, were at their happiest embracing each other in the winner’s circle at Hastings. “Everyone in the backstretch is in shock,” trainer Dino Condilenios told Randy Goulding of The Daily Racing Form. “She would show up in the barns every day wearing a big smile.”
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Sport+Braley+asking+pretty+penny+Argos+Lions+everything+negotiable/9510668/story.html#ixzz2tOhZyCrj
FEEL THE LOVE?…from WOODBINE to ASSINIBOIA TO HASTINGS PARK, tracks are battling the government, it really is the same all over. Hastings Park has an agreement in place as of Feb 14, Assiniboia still fighting…
Meanwhile WOODBINE is looking for a Thoroughbred Racing Secretary as Steve Lym moves into a horsemen’s liaison position.
Brereton Jones’ top mare MS CORNSTALK produced a filly by Creative Cause this week. The filly is a half sister to Horse of the Year BIOFUEL and stakes winner TUE ENDIE WEI, both trained by Reade Baker. The filly was born at Airdrie Stud in Kentucky.
BETTERING THE HORSEMEN RELATIONS on horizon at Woodbine
Boosting backstretch morale and relationships between horsepeople and management has been a target for Canada’s leading racetrack, Woodbine in the past year. As racing and breeding struggle to stay afloat since the slots-at-racetracks program was canned by the OLG and the provincial government, tempers have flared and the mood on the front and backside of the track has been a little less than warm and fuzzy.
On Valentine’s Day, Woodbine’s racing secretary Steve Lym announced through a letter that he is moving into a horsemen’s liaison type role, a position that had been held by people such as Cliff Hopmans Jr. and Tom Cosgrove over the years. A list of changes and ‘perks’ that have been reinstated follows. This is great news for Woodbine as it moves forward into the new 5-year-deal that Premier Kathleen Wynne has set in place for the industry, beginning April 1.
Below is the Steve Lym press release issued by Woodbine:
To best meet the needs of our horsepeople following a challenging 2013 season, I have been offered an opportunity to expand my role within the Racing Department.
I will continue as the Director of Racing albeit in a much wider scope than in previous years. I will now assume all operational responsibilities of the Woodbine Backstretch, including stall allocations, all aspects of morning training activities, and ensuring the needs of trainers and Woodbine operational departments are aligned creating the best training environment.
In order to facilitate this new role I will no longer be able to continue on as Racing Secretary. I see this as the best way to achieve the goal of providing the horsepeople at Woodbine with the best environment for training and racing for their horses this year and beyond.
I will continue to oversee the Race Office Operations, and be responsible for the overall objectives of our racing program. In the coming months I will endeavour to hire a new Racing Secretary that will assume the duties of writing the condition book and the day to day management of the Race Office.
One aspect of my new duties that I am particularly looking forward to is working as a liaison between the horsepeople and Senior WEG Management.
As a result of our review by management and suggestions from our horse people we have decided to make the following changes for the upcoming year:
(i) For 2014 WEG will fully subsidize the cost associated with the manure removal of straw and eliminate the environmental charges for trainers using straw as bedding. Stalls bedded with shavings remain subject to a $2.25/day per stall charge.
(ii) We will reinstate the past performance programs for trainers and owners. There will be a limited amount of programs and they will continue to be distributed through the Race Office.
(iii) The practice of providing dinner/lunch to the connections of all stakes race entrants excluding Overnight Stakes at the Woodbine Club will be reinstated.
(iv) Starting in April and running through November we will increase the Stable Area Security management presence for the key day-time hours. Robert Jordan, Manager of Security, will have regular hours, centralized around racing/training schedules. We think this increases the consistency of the horsemen experience, particularly at the East Gate.
(v) For 2014, we are planning regular horsemen relations events for the stable area. Events will include pancake breakfasts, barbecue luncheons and holiday meals. We will have our first breakfast Sunday March 2nd at the kitchen, details to follow. All are welcome and I look forward to seeing everyone there.
PIRIE WINS AT GULFSTREAM
Canadian trainer BARB PIRIE (far right) celebrates her win with IFIMLYINIMDYIN at Gulfstream Park on Valentine’s Day – GULFSTREAM PARK PHOTO
Barbara Pirie claimed IFIMLYINIMDYIN at Woodbine late last year and, in his 3rd race for his new owner and trainer, the son of Yes It’s True won a $6,250 claiming race at 10 to 1 yesterday. Pirie is well known for having success with her horses in Florida during the winter. Ifimlyinimdyin was claimed yesterday by Mike LeCesse.
HASTINGS PARK ALMOST SET TO RACE
Multi-year deal agreed for funding arrangements
The B.C. Horse Racing Industry Management Committee finalized a multi-year funding arrangement among the principal participants in the industry – track operator Great Canadian Gaming Corp., the Thoroughbred sector and the Standardbred sector.
The funding model will be an extension of arrangements that have been in place since 2012 whereby s revenue sources is allocated to industry participants. Income from a portion of slot machine profits at the casinos at Hastings Racecourse and Fraser Downs racetrack will continue to be divided equally between the Thoroughbred sector and Standardbred sector.
The Committee also approved racedays and season lengths for the 2014 racing seasons, subject to ratification by the provincial Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch. These include up to 55 Thoroughbred racing days at Hastings (51 confirmed days plus up to four conditional days depending on income) over a six-month season, and 71 Standardbred racing days at Fraser Downs over an
eight-month season. The season length at Fraser Downs will move to seven months
in 2015 and to six months in 2016.
It is anticipated that racing at Hastings will commence in late April or early May and continue into October.
Racing at Fraser Downs is underway on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, with 34 racedays approved for the January-April timeframe. Thirty-seven additional racedays will be scheduled for the September-December timeframe at
Fraser Downs.
The Committee is pleased that representatives of all industry parties have agreed to these arrangements and I personally thank the members of the Committee for making it happen under very challenging conditions. We feel this model – to be in place for the next three years for the Thoroughbred sector and for the next five years for Standardbreds – will create an atmosphere of stability that will benefit breeders, owners, trainers, bettors and racetrack personnel.
With the funding arrangements stabilized, the Committee will now turn our attention to the longer-term issues of attracting new bettors and growing the business.
Douglas S. Scott Chairman
B.C. Horse Racing Industry Management Committee
February
14, 2014
BUT IN MANTIOBA THE PREMIER IS “trying to kill horse racing”
does this report from a blog by Tom Brodbeck sound familiar at all?
NDP flip flops on horse racing debacle
Tom Brodbeck – February 13th, 2014
The Selinger government continued to scramble Thursday in its bid to save face in the ongoing battle it began with the Manitoba Jockey Club last year.
The province has delayed yet another court date with the MJC in order to keep the 140 VLTs operating at the Downs. And the NDP will now allow the machines to operate well into March under the existing agreement.
The court date — an attempt by the MJC to get an injunction against the province — originally scheduled for Feb. 3 was already delayed once to Feb. 13. Now the NDP has agreed to delay it again until March 21, allowing the MJC to continue operating its VLTs and retain 100% of the net revenues from the machines.
http://blogs.canoe.ca/raisinghell/politics/ndp-flip-flops-on-horse-racing-debacle/
DEAN DEVERELL REMEMBERED
THANK YOU to Jeff B. for posting on Facebook the following information for the funeral for Dean Deverell, a popular jockey and horseman at Woodbine.
RON THE GREEK RACES TODAY IN SAUDI ARABIA
Grade 1 winner RON THE GREEK (Full Mandate) was sold to Saudi Aradian interests last fall and will make his first start there today in a 9 furlong dirt event at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. The horse is now named WATTANI.
- KING ABDULAZIZ RACECOURSE in Saudi Arabia.
