TRADITION OF SUCCESS

Since 1973, Race Track Industry Program graduates have been united by passion–for the horse, for racing, for making their own mark. This passion and drive connects them long after the degree has been earned and careers have been launched. From winning Triple Crowns to running racetracks, managing bloodstock enterprises to calling races, RTIP alumni are leading the industry. Become a part of this legacy.

Alabama Hbpa

Alabama-Bred Races Set for 2023

What an impact the instant horse racing machines are having on our industry. Even though there is no live racing at Birmingham Race Course, the facility offers the machines, which are legal under pari-mutuel law. Funds are being distributed as required by law. So, again thanks to the Louisiana HBPA and the tracks throughout Louisiana, we have a slate of Alabama-bred races set up for the remainder of 2023 sponsored by the Birmingham Racing Commission.

The $50,000 Alabama Stakes, which includes $15,000 from slot revenue, was to be run Saturday, June 24, at Louisiana Downs. Open to registered Alabama-breds that are 3 years old and up and have never won a stakes, the Alabama features no nomination, entry or start fees. Nominations closed June 12.

Races also are being scheduled for August at Louisiana Downs and October at Delta Downs. We do not have confirmed dates or conditions at this time. The Kudzu Juvenile, with an increased purse of $35,000 guaranteed, and the Magic City Classic, with a $55,000 guaranteed purse, are scheduled for early December at Fair Grounds.

The $30,000 Ken Cotton allowance, sponsored by the Alabama HBPA, was run May 13 at Evangeline Downs. Jason Grudzien’s Liken It won the Alabamabred event for 3-year-olds and up at 6 furlongs. Rylee Magnon trains the 6-yearold gelding by Doc N Bubba G. Diane Harrington’s Fired Up Tiger finished second for trainer Patrick Devereux, and Winalot Racing’s Foolish Steve finished third for David Terre.

The Alabama HBPA continues to pay hauling expenses, up to $500, for horses running in the Ken Cotton and finishing fourth through last. A copy of the hauling bill or gas expenses is required.

Please continue to let us know when you have an Alabama-bred running in open company races and finishing on the board. Supplemental purse distribution funds are available. Notify Nancy Delony by phone at (205) 612-1999 (text or call) or email nancy.m.delony@ms.com.

Nancy Delony

Executive Director, Alabama HBPA

ARIZONA HBPA 2023 Turf Paradise Award Winners

After a trying season of ups and downs, Turf Paradise’s 2023 race meeting concluded on a positive note May 6. This day was filled with action, a large crowd and many fun activities, all while enjoying the Kentucky Derby.

The festivities included a Kentucky Derby party hosted by James Watson, managing partner of CT Realty. Watson announced at the party his intentions to continue the racing operations, including a meet next fall and racing into the future.

The Arizona HBPA would like to congratulate and highlight award winners from the season:

2022–23 Turf Paradise Awards

Quarter Horse Leading Trainer: Eloy Navarro

Quarter Horse Leading Owner: Jose Anguilar Mendoza

Quarter Horse Leading Jockey: Martin Osuna

Quarter Horse of the Meet: Wildroses101

(owner: Ferrari Stables; trainer: Richardo Saldana)

Thoroughbred of the Meet: Truth Seeker

(owner: Carlos Reyes; trainer: Rafael Barraza)

Leading Jockey: Harry Hernandez

Leading Apprentice Jockey: Daylor Berrios-Lopez

Leading Trainer: Justin Evans

Leading Owner: Stable H.M.A.

Officer and Board Member Elections

The Arizona HBPA held its election for new board members and officers this spring. The following is the list of the new board members:

President: Lloyd Yother

Vice President: Mike Pierce

Owners: Freddie Alvarez, Bill Guess, Debi Ferguson, Carrie Fales, Bob Budhoff

Trainers: Kevin Eikleberry, Curt Ferguson, Mike Pierce, Ed Kerlick, Valorie Lund

A special thanks to these individuals for donating their time and energy working to protect and help the horsemen. Please feel free to contact any of your board members with questions or concerns.

Status of Turf Paradise

Turf Paradise’s 2023 race meeting came to an end May 6. Is this the end of Turf Paradise?

Jerry Simms said it is the end for him personally as he will not run another race season. James “Watty” Watson, the track’s new owner, said there will be another meet in 2023–24.

The major concern at this point is the extensive work needing to be done to the facilities to satisfy the HISA safety requirements. The big question is “Who is paying for almost $500,000 in summer projects?” Simms is not. Watson does not want to pay for anything until he closes on the property, which is now projected to be in January 2024. Another concern is whether Watson can get a permit from the state until he is the owner. So, where does this leave Turf Paradise racing?

The Arizona HBPA is working with Turf Paradise and Watson to help resolve these concerns and instill a positive future in Arizona racing.

Arizona Downs Update

As most of you know, Arizona Downs is under contract with The Stronach Group. However, The Stronach Group has made it clear it will not be closing on the deal until things are resolved with Turf Paradise. The Stronach Group’s goal is to be the sole owner of the Arizona off-track betting system, and until the time comes when they control the OTB system, they will not be closing on the deal.

The Arizona HBPA board had a major decision to make May 8 when it decided to rescind its approval for signals to be able to come into Arizona Downs’ OTBs. The board took the stance that if you do not run a live race meet, you do not receive the signals.

The future of Arizona Downs is really up in the air. The track could be closed for some time, or it and Rillito Park may be the only tracks left running in Arizona.

Interest in New Arizona Track

How do we continue our racing tradition here in Arizona? As you look at all the successful racetracks in America, they are all subsidizing their purses with alternative gambling. The only exception is Texas, which has purses subsidized by the state sharing some of its revenue from the sales tax on horse products. To offer decent purse levels, tracks need to be subsidized.

Arizona has a couple of parties interested in coming to Maricopa County and building a new racetrack. Although all of this is in the very early stages, there is interest in creating a thriving racing community in the state.

The Arizona HBPA board will continue working toward finding a solution and feels strongly there will be a future for racing in Arizona.

Arkansas Hbpa

Trainer Don Von Hemel Retires

In Don Von Hemel’s case, “V” stood for victory. Oaklawn Park and the Arkansas HBPA honored the trainer with a ceremony following the seventh race April 29, the Don Von Hemel Classic. Von Hemel served on the Arkansas HBPA board for more than 40 years.

“He is very dear to the HBPA,” Arkansas HBPA Executive Director Jeanette Milligan said. “He wanted to help horsemen. He believed in our benevolence program a lot, and he was very proud of our medical clinic and our helping horsemen and the people that worked for him pay their medical bills and dental bills. He thought that was very important. Just a very caring person about his fellow horsemen and the people that work on the backside.”

Von Hemel’s retirement was brewing for several months. He had continued to scale back his operation in recent years because of advancing age and to care for his wife of 63 years, Roylynn, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Von Hemel was down to five horses at Oaklawn, all homebreds for country music star Toby Keith’s Dream Walkin’ Farms. Keith is a longtime Von Hemel client.

“This year I thought was a strong tell, when he wouldn’t come out and watch them train and do all that stuff,” said Von Hemel’s youngest son, trainer Kelly Von Hemel. “I thought that kind of said that he was ready.”

Don Von Hemel’s numerous career highlights include:

• Ranking 57th in career victories in North America with 2,568, through April 28, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization

• Winning a record seven consecutive training titles (1970–76) at Fonner Park in Nebraska

• Setting single-season records for victories at Fonner Park in 1972 (32) and 1975 (38)

• Winning at least one race at 44 consecutive Oaklawn meetings (1975–2018), among the longest streaks in track history— starting with Bold Trap on February 15, 1975

• Capturing 10 training titles (1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1994) at Ak-Sar-Ben in Nebraska

• Winning the 1981 Oaklawn training title

• Winning a March 7, 1984, allowance race at Oaklawn with Win Stat, who set a world record for 1 mile and 70 yards in 1:38.40

• Winning the $100,000, Grade 3 Ak-Sar-Ben Oaks in 1994 at Ak-Sar-Ben and the $200,000, Grade 3 Falls City Handicap in 1995 at Churchill Downs with Mariah’s Storm for longtime client Thunderhead Farms

(Iowans Bill and Margie Peters). Mariah’s Storm overcame a leg fracture as a 2-year-old in 1993—her comeback story inspired the 2005 film Dreamer—to win 10 of 16 career starts and earn $724,895 before making an even bigger mark in the breeding shed as the dam of 2000 European Horse of the Year Giant’s Causeway, later a champion sire in the U.S.

• Winning three Oaklawn stakes races, including the $75,000, Grade 3 Essex Handicap and the $150,000, Grade 3 Razorback Handicap in 1997 with No Spend No Glow

• Winning eight stakes races and almost $1 million with Smack Smack, a Grade 3 winner and Dream Walkin’ homebred

• Being inducted into the Nebraska Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1991

“He’s a horseman,” said Von Hemel’s oldest son, trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel. “Just grew up around it and could do anything with the horse, ride them, anything. There were several times when I was growing up, we couldn’t get a horse to do something. He would just walk over there, and they would do whatever it was. There’s just a manner around people that develops over time. His mind is just sharp. He doesn’t forget horses, doesn’t forget when he sees one. Patience and just truly a horseman.”

A native of tiny Manter, Kansas, Don Von Hemel cut his teeth under L.O. “Speck” Lane, a well-known local rancher and horseman, before he began training. Von Hemel saddled his first winner in 1956, according to Equibase, and, along with future Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg, eventually became a force on the Nebraska circuit.

“They were very dominant for years and years,” Donnie K. Von Hemel said. “Van Berg was leading trainer for a bunch of years in a row [at Ak-Sar-Ben]. Dad was the first guy that knocked him off there, and then he was leading trainer for several years in a row.”

Don Von Hemel won his first race at Oaklawn on February 15, 1972, and continued to shift his winter focus to Arkansas throughout the decade. His 444 career victories at Oaklawn include 12 stakes, the last coming in 2012 with Now I Know in the $50,000 Dixie Belle for 3-year-old fillies. Von Hemel, in partnership, also bred and co-owned Now I Know, a Grade 3 winner who captured six of seven starts.

In addition to his racing achievements, Von Hemel was instrumental in helping launch the highly successful training careers of sons Donnie K. and Kelly.

“Here in the Midwest, we have the Don Von Hemel training tree,” Oaklawn Senior Vice President Eric Jackson said. “When you look back at all the people he has helped and who are in racing today because of him, including his two sons, we clearly have the Don Von Hemel training tree.”

Donnie K. Von Hemel is the 14th leading trainer by wins in Oaklawn history and a member of the Remington Park Hall of Fame. He has 2,246 career victories overall (No. 87 in North American history), the first coming in 1984, according to Equibase. Kelly Von Hemel has 74 career Oaklawn victories, but he targets Prairie Meadows because of its lucrative Iowa-bred program. A member of the Prairie Meadows Hall of Fame, Von Hemel has 1,572 career victories overall, the first coming in 1985.

Don Von Hemel and his sons would often tag-team horses because of locale. Donnie K., for example, also trained Mariah’s Storm. Sure Shot Biscuit earned the bulk of his $1,025,480 in career earnings for Kelly Von Hemel, but the Iowabred star was a 2000 allowance winner at Oaklawn for Don Von Hemel.

“He’s a legend, especially for us,” said Kelly Von Hemel, who shares Oaklawn’s Elocutionist barn with his father. “When I decided to quit college and do this, he immediately sent me out on my own, gave me horses, put them in my name. He pushed us and helped us out as much as he possibly could.”

Don Von Hemel and his wife purchased a condominium in Hot Springs in the early 1980s and would live half the year in Arkansas and the other half in Omaha, Nebraska, home to Ak-Sar-Ben, at the time among the country’s most successful racing venues. After Ak-Sar-Ben closed in 1995, Von Hemel and his wife moved to Hot Springs permanently.

“He’s always liked to play cards,” Kelly Von Hemel said. “He’s been a member of the [Hot Springs] Elks Club for 30, 40 years. He’ll stay in Hot Springs. He’s not going anywhere as long as mom’s here.”

Don Von Hemel won two races at the 2022–23 Oaklawn meeting. His Oaklawn stable was overseen by longtime assistant Wade Hinzman. Donnie K. Von Hemel said he will inherit his father’s handful of remaining runners, expecting them to go to Churchill Downs or Prairie Meadows for the summer.

— Jennifer Hoyt

Charles Town Hbpa

Successful Spring Eye Clinic

The Charles Town Horsemen’s Assistance Fund sponsored an eye clinic April 27-28. Presented by the Appalachian Vision Outreach Project at West Virginia University, the clinic provided free eye exams and low-cost glasses to horsemen and members of the community.

More than 100 people participated in the event, with the Horsemen’s Assistance Fund and the Charles Town Welfare Benefit Trust paying for nearly 60 pairs of glasses for the horsemen.

The event also included shelters in the area, as well as the state’s Department of Health and Human Resources, which saw an additional 30 people receive glasses they couldn’t otherwise afford.

The program also diagnosed nearly a dozen people with cataracts and put them in touch with programs that would help pay for their surgery.

Charles Town Classic Set for August

The 15th running of the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic Stakes and its supporting program is scheduled for Friday, August 25, at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.

One of West Virginia’s biggest nights of racing, the card features the $1 million Classic as well as the Grade 3, $750,000 Charles Town Oaks, $350,000 Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes, $250,000 Russell Road Stakes and the $250,000 Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon Stakes.

West Virginia Breeders Classics

The brainchild of National Football League Hall of Famer and West Virginia native Sam Huff, the West Virginia Breeders Classics is a one-night event with a year-round impact. The West Virginia Breeders Classics includes a gala and golf tournament, with charitable donations made to important local and statewide organizations. The 2023 West Virginia Breeders Classics will take place Saturday, October 14, at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.

For more info, email wvbcmbn@frontier.com.

Iowa Hbpa

2022 Race Meet Award Winners

The annual Iowa HBPA category awards for the 2022 Prairie Meadows race meeting were presented May 13.

Allen Poindexter’s Poindexter Thoroughbreds LLC ran away with the leading owner title at Prairie Meadows. Poindexter won 39 races, 23 more than the next owner on the list, and had an in-the-money rate of almost 50 percent and earnings of nearly $1.3 million.

The Iowa HBPA Claimer of the Year, Fleetridge, was haltered out of his first race in Iowa on June 13 of last year. He won his debut for NBS Stable and leading trainer Jon Arnett two weeks later. But it was his effort in the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap that caught the railbirds’ attention, with a second under Wilmer Garcia at 32-1. Fleetridge ended the Prairie Meadows season with two wins and two seconds from four starts.

The well-traveled Arnett, a winning trainer at Prairie Meadows for more than a decade, emerged as the meet’s leading trainer and earned recognition as the Iowa HPBA Trainer of the Year. Arnett saddled 61 winners last season, garnering more than $1,303,332 in earnings off an amazing 30 percent win rate and a 61 percent in-the-money rate. While his top horses in 2022 were seasonal champions Angel’s Melody and Fleetridge, Arnett sent out multiple winners Oil Money and Uptown Queen during the early part of the meet.

Iowa HBPA News

To keep up to date on news and issues occurring in Iowa, you can find us on our Facebook page, Iowa Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association Inc., or follow us on Twitter @IowaHBPA. You also can sign up to receive our emails at info@iowahbpa.org and visit our website at iowahbpa.org.

KENTUCKY HBPA President’s Message

Spring is the season of rejuvenation, and the Kentucky racing circuit is certainly seeing its fair share of facility upgrades and additions as historical horse racing fuels record purses that continue to attract more horses and trainers to the commonwealth.

For 2023, Churchill Downs debuted its new First Turn, which boasts 5,100 permanent stadium seats with two concourses and an additional climatecontrolled hospitality venue with premium seating for up to 2,000 guests and a ground-level viewing area with rail access.

Churchill Downs has also begun construction on the new saddling paddock with plans to complete it prior to the 150th Kentucky Derby in 2024.

Kentucky Downs cut the ribbon on its new conference center in May with a ceremony that attracted a large crowd of local business leaders and elected officials, including a few legislators who had once voted against codifying historical horse racing machines. This new facility, coupled with the addition of a new 118-room hotel scheduled to open in July, provides an important economic development tool that will benefit the broader community as it attracts conventions, conferences and entertainment events to the area.

Ain’t Life Grand, bred and owned by RPM Thoroughbreds (Prairie Meadows Hall of Famers Peggy and Ray Shattuck), was named the 2022 Iowa HBPA Horse of the Year.

The gelding, stabled in the barn of Prairie Meadows Hall of Fame trainer Kelly Von Hemel, won three consecutive stakes in Iowa last season, earning $360,553. His gallant score in the listed $300,000 Iowa Derby was truly the highlight of the 2022 Iowa Festival of Racing. Ain’t Life Grand followed up that win with an easy tally in the Iowa Stallion Stakes July 23. After running in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, Ain’t Life Grand closed out his season with a win in the Iowa Breeders’ Derby.

HART Silent Auction Set for Festival of Racing

Hope After Racing Thoroughbreds (HART), the local horse rehabilitation/ retraining program, will hold a silent auction on the fourth floor of the clubhouse during Prairie Meadows’ Fireworks Day on July 3. All proceeds will benefit HART by aiding in the placement and retraining of Thoroughbreds when their racing careers are finished at Prairie Meadows.

If you would like to donate items to the silent auction or want to make a monetary donation to HART, please contact the Iowa HBPA office at (515) 967-4804.

Turfway Park is now open for summer stabling to get maximum benefit for the significant improvements made to the track since Churchill Downs Inc. purchased the track. Not only have additional barns been constructed but backside workers have access to one of the finest dorm facilities in North America. These investments, along with a consistent, all-weather Tapeta surface, central location with proximity to numerous tracks in the region and the nearby Cincinnati airport, make Turfway an ideal year-around economic engine for the Northern Kentucky area.

Ellis Park will renew its annual summer meeting with record purses, as Churchill Downs Inc. works to complete much needed facility upgrades at the Henderson track and ultimately open a satellite historical horse racing venue in the neighboring city of Owensboro, spurring more economic development and jobs for Western Kentucky.

When Kentucky’s racing industry and its supporters, including tracks, horsemen, local officials and business leaders, joined together to present a unified front in urging state legislators and the governor to protect historical horse racing, these revitalizations and expansions were the intended and promised results.

Along with our position as the dominant breeding state, we are now seeing Kentucky at the forefront of racing nationally. We can only hope that HISA doesn’t present too much of an obstacle to continued success and a potentially brighter future for Kentucky horsemen. We applaud the support of our state legislators and Governor Andy Beshear and the investments made by our racetrack partners.

The Kentucky HBPA will strive to ensure that their support and investments pay dividends for the state and improve the economics of racing for our horsemen and the quality of life for those who call the backside home.

Good luck in your racing endeavors,

Rick Hiles, KHBPA President