Page 15 - July 2005 The Game

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, July 2005 15
Michael Mackey - Racing Consultant to Hastings Racecourse
By Jim Reynolds
Mike Mackey was literally born into horseracing, arriving in this world in Miami Florida where his father trained horses at Hialeah Racetrack and the pull-strings of the track have never left him. He refers to it as being a ‘lifer’. His first jobs around the racetrack as a kid were walking ‘hots’ and rubbing horses for his dad.
Mr. Mackey Sr. was also a ‘lifer’ who alternated between training horses and working on the starting gate on the East Coast racing circuit. He was the official starter at Finger Lakes and later Florida Downs (now Tampa Bay Downs) where he retired to train horses until his death at age 91 years.
"At that time he trained a horse called Maudlin’s Secret and when that horse died, he went about a month later," he says. "That was his life at that point, him and the old horse."
Mike himself at 65 has seen a lot of horses during his career and considers Secretariat not only the best horse he ever saw but also his personal favourite. "I spent a lot time with Lucien [Lauren] and his crew during Secretariat’s three year old year," he says.
He spent much of his career at East Coast tracks and in the mid-west. He had a partnership in a horseshoe company called Gift Wing Racing Plates, was a tattoo technician for the TRPB, an assistant starter, racing secretary, and has held every official job except steward (although he did fill in work in that capacity).
Before coming to British Columbia he was in Chicago for five years where he was
President of Inter-Track Partners, an OTB consortium for four Chicago area tracks operating sixteen off-track Betting parlours.
"I left Inter-Track Partners about a year and a half ago and was into semi-retire- ment as a consultant when this opportunity came up," says Mike.
"I got a call from out here, came out to interview for it and got lucky. I’m thrilled for the adventure really. It’s an opportunity to be involved in the renovation and expansion."
As someone with his experience looking at our operation without the prejudice of long involvement it’s interesting to hear his views.
"Number one we need more horses, therefore we need more stabling. There’s not enough here to get into a full-time schedule.
"I think we need the fresh blood additional horses will bring and with that comes the improvement of the racing program. There aren’t enough numbers here to fill the racing program out and sort them competitively. For us, with the size of the barn area we have, there are too many classes of races.
When you’ve got [claiming classes of] five, eight, eleven, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five there’s not enough horses in each of those categories without somebody either running over their head or dropping them and losing them.
"But change can only come with time. I see improvement already with the third race day added. There’s a little more hope, a little more ability for people to make money. With that claiming is up with
Michael Mackey at Hastings
people in the box stronger than in the past. "The auction [the recent horses in training auction saw horses purchased elsewhere and brought to Hastings] has done wonders to fill out the middle claiming ranks and fill out some of those
classes that really needed the help."
Mike was somewhat involved in the acquisition of those horses while still in
Chicago.
"I was involved by telephone and acted
as a bit of a middle-man with the bloodstock agent."
"I wouldn’t want to see it as an annual
deal. I’d rather see people going out and buying on their own. We have to get involved in a program with new owner- ship. There are some good programs out there right now. The NTRA has done a good job advertising for new owners, as are some racetracks. It could be done right here.
"We have a great location except for the limitations. I think we’d all like to see a mile racetrack but there's no way to put it here. If we’re working with this location we’ve got to work towards extending the chute to 7/8ths of a mile or if it could be negotiated, a backstretch chute to 4 1/2 furlongs for baby races. But I’m not involved in those negations."
Mike’s history and experience in the racing industry is interesting. His godfather was none other the great Eddie Arcaro.
"I spent every week-end at his house," he says. "He was a hellofa guy, a fun guy. My parents were his daughter’s godparents and Eddie and Ruth were mine."
Mike has glimpsed a lot of the recent history of horseracing (he even saw the great Earle Sande ride while attempting a comeback in 1949) and is optimistic about racing in general and Hastings in particular.
"I love this track. He says. "There’s no prettier setting in racing and I’ve seen most of them and with the slots coming it’s got the potential to be any kind of racetrack."
Stressed Out?
Did You Know....
That the 5-year-old mare, Classic Stamp, owned and bred by Bill Sorokolit, has moved to the barn of Darwin Banach, who is training privately for Bill and his son, Bill Sorokolit Jr. in 2005.
Classic Stamp made her first 18 career starts for trainer Cliff Hopmans, and was the winner of two stakes and five races with purse earnings of $658,771.
Classic Stamp finished fourth in the Nassau prep and a disappointing seventh in the Gr.2 Nassau, so far this season.
Did You Know...
That multiple stakes winner, Forever Grand, is Woodbine newest millionaire, after surpassing the 1 million dollar mark in earnings by winning a second-level allowance/optional claimer while running for a $62,500 tag at Woodbine on June 9 with jockey Jerry Baird in the irons.
Forever Grand was claimed for $32,000 by trainer Noel Randall for owner Winston Penny in August 2004 and came back to win the Kenora Stakes the next month. Forever Grand is expected to return to stakes company at Fort Erie in July.
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