Page 12 - February 2007 The Game

12 The Game, February 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper Horse Racing Alberta Sponsors Conference
HRA prize winner Lorrance Aplin (right) Presented by Theresa Sealy
Horse Racing Alberta was a proud sponsor at the 2007 Horse Breeders and Owners conference held in Red Deer, Alberta.
All facets of the conference seemed to encompass issues concerning the racehorse. The most anticipated speak- er at the conference was Dr. David Reid. Not only is he a professor of Orthopedic surgery at the University of Alberta, but is also the chairman of Horse Racing Alberta. Dr. Reid shared with us how far horse racing in Alberta
has come and where it is surely going. New programs in human resources, such as the Certified Groom Training and Exercise Rider courses, are being offered in partnership with Olds College. Animal welfare is also being addressed with the development of an equine emergency facility at Northlands Park in Edmonton and a mandatory fire safety certificate pro- gram.
Dr. Reid also emphasized how the new racetrack,being built in Balzac Alberta, would continue the
upward momentum.
Horse Racing Alberta was
the proud sponsor of the Distinguished Service Award. This award is presented to the individual who has significant- ly contributed to the develop- ment of the horse industry. Dr. Reid was the recipient of the 2006 award. This year, John Scott was honored.
HRA prize winner Diane Smathers (right) presented by Jack Johnson
EXCEPTIONAL BLOODLINES Easy on the Pocketbook!
RECREATION
Storm Cat - Devil’s Orchid, by Devil’s Bag
2007 Fee: $1000 l.f.
Booking Fee $200
RECREATION’s First Foals are Yearlings of ‘07. His foals are good looking and
well put together
They are a Must See! RECREATION is the Son of the Mighty STORM CAT ($500,000 Stud Fee)
The Leading Sire of 150 Stakes Winners,
93 Graded Stakes Winners and $103 Million in Earnings. $1.25 million Yearling Average. Sire of popular sires STORMY ATLANTIC ($30,000 stud fee) and STORM BOOT ($12,500 stud fee).
Both Orchid’s Devil & Recreation are out of the Classy Mare DEVIL’S ORCHID who is from a Strong Female Family with plenty of Black Type throughout
DEVIL’S ORCHID is a Multiple Graded Stakes Winner of $604,521.
Dam of 5 winners including
Graded Stakes Winner, UNIFICATION & Stakes Winner MOUNTAIN ORCHID.
Inquiries to Jack Bennett
ROAD’S END FARM
28590 Gray Avenue, Abbotsford, BC
604-856-7559 • Fax: 604-856-7520 • email: roads_endfarm@telus.net
ORCHID’S DEVIL
Forty Niner - Devil’s Orchid, by Devil’s Bag
2007 Fee: $2500 l.f.
Booking Fee $200
ORCHID’S DEVIL is a Proven Sire of Multiple Stakes Winner, BACKSEAT BECKA; Stakes Winners COLUMBIA MOON,
and MARK OF DIABLO; and Stakes Placed winner from 2 to 4, Singin Devil. ORCHID’S DEVIL IS A DIRECT SON of Sire of Sires, FORTY NINER, whose progeny include Sires: ECTON PARK ($12,500 stud fee) Sire of 10 Stakes Horses in his first two crops; and Leading Sire, DISTORTED HUMOR ($225,000 stud fee)
Oldest Jockey Fails to Win at Aqueduct
That was a most unusual father-son team connected with the $15,000 gelding in the 9th race at Aqueduct on Jan. 20. Eightyninecentsday was trained by Frank Amonte Jr., and he elected to put his father, Frank Sr. in the saddle for the 6 furlong claiming race. At the somewhat experienced age of 71, the older Amonte was hoping to become the first jockey in his 8th decade to win a race.
Unfortunately, Amonte and Eightyninecentsday didn’t come close, tiring badly to fin- ish tenth, beaten almost 20 lengths at odds of 18.60 to one.
Amonte last entered the winner’s circle in the summer of 2005 at the Northhampton Fair in Massachusetts. He was one day shy of his 70th birthday. Since then he has rid- den 62 horses in pari-mutuel races. Each one has lost.
Still, Amonte, now in his 55th year as a jockey, is fit and willing and ready to jump on a live one as long as someone wants him to ride. And the thought of being the first man in his 70s to ride a thorough- bred winner beckons to him like a holy grail.
“We all want to be a somebody,” he said. “And that will be the only thing I’ll ever be famous for.”