Page 32 - August_2023

TRACK CHATTER
THE MONTH IN REVIEWby Jennifer K. Hancock
YOUTH RACING EXPERIENCE SLATED FOR OCTOBER
Applications for the 2023 Youth Racing Experiences are being accepted until Sept. 1. This unique opportunity allows AQHYA members to participate in the fast-paced world of American Quarter Horse racing from behind the starting gate to the finish line.
The AQHYA National Racing Experience is held in conjunction with the AQHA Bank
of America Challenge Championship, which will be held at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, Oct. 19-22. This national event allows participants to build on the knowledge gained during a regional racing experience by working one-on-one with an experienced trainer at the three-day Challenge Championship event.
Youth must be 16 years old at the time of the national event to apply. Racing affiliates may recommend one youth from their regional racing experience by submitting the participant’s name and application to AQHA. Youth may also apply directly by submitting their application to AQHA by the deadline. Applicants must also complete the online Racing Skillathon Contest, and their results will count toward their cumulative total
in the program. Five participants will be chosen to receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bank of America Challenge Championships. All applicants must be members of AQHYA. For details, see the application at www.aqha.com/ youth-racing-experience.
CANTERBURY PARK INDUCTS NEWEST HALL OF FAME CLASS
The Canterbury Park Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 includes retired jockey Ry Eikleberry and Thoroughbred owner and breeder Bob Lothenbach of Wayzata, Minnesota, and retired Minnesota-bred Thoroughbred
Mr. Jagermeister. These inductees join a group of more than 50 individuals and horses that comprise the best of Minnesota horse racing.
Eikleberry first rode at Canterbury Park in 2006 after beginning his career at the age of 16 the year before at Arapahoe Park in Denver. He quickly matured as a rider, winning multiple Canterbury titles, first with Quarter Horses then Thoroughbreds. He was Champion
Quarter Horse Jockey in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and won the Thoroughbred riding title in 2014, 2018 and 2020. Eikleberry retired at the end
of the 2022 Canterbury meet, winning the final race of the season. He is third in all-time Thoroughbred earnings at Canterbury with $13,163,965 in purses and fourth all-time in wins with 723. Eikleberry is second all-time in wins and earnings with Quarter Horses.
The Canterbury Park Hall of Fame was founded in 1995 to recognize people and horses that have made important and lasting contributions to the racing industry within the state. The selection committee consists of representatives of local horse organizations, media, and Canterbury Park. The new members were inducted in a July 14 ceremony and recognized during the races on Hall of Fame Night on July 15.
JOCKEYS AND JEANS PRESIDENT RETIRES
Barry Pearl, the 76-year-old president of Jockeys and Jeans, has officially retired again. In its nine-year history, the Jockeys and Jeans annual event has raised $3.1 million for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.
A former jockey, Pearl rode mostly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida. After retiring from the irons, Pearl became the track photographer at Penn National Racetrack and then a top salesperson for West Publishing, a leading publisher of books on law. He retired from his sales job in 2009 and moved to Juno Beach, Florida, with his wife Dee.
Hall of Fame Jockey Sandy Hawley,
who along with his wife Karou, oversaw relationships with Hall of Fame Jockeys has also resigned. Each year they arranged for some 12 to 16 Hall of Fame Jockeys to attend and honor their wheelchair bound “brothers and sisters.”
Under Pearl’s leadership, the group’s annual fundraiser became the most successful charity event in racing. “As I ride off into the sunset, I would like to thank the great folks that make up our committee, Eddie Donnally, Maureen and Darrell Brown, Sandy and Karou Hawley, Jayme LaRocca, Roger Blanco, Michele Pearl,
Len Eckhaus, Randy Sampson, Suzie Picou Oldham, Kenny Katz, Harvey Kacer, Allan Monet, G.R. Carter Jr. and PDJF Director Nancy LaSala,” Pearl said.
“Barry has organizational and sales skills far beyond my gifting,” said Vice President Eddie Donnally. “We would never have had this level of success without him at the helm. He embraced the cause for aiding disabled former jockeys and for him Jockeys and Jeans was a full-time job for at least six months
out of the last nine years.” Donnally, who holds a Doctorate of Minister and still works part time as a hospital chaplain in New Orleans, Louisiana, said he will stay on for the immediate future.
In December 2014, he called Pearl, a friend from their days of racing, asking him to join three other fellow jockeys at Tampa Bay Downs for an old timer’s reunion. Three weeks before the January 2015 event, it became a PDJF fundraiser they named Jockey and Jeans. It raised $23,000. Pearl was unanimously elected president the following year.
At the first event, Pearl met Brian Elmore, who then headed Indiana Grand Racetrack (now Horseshoe Indianapolis) which became the site of the second event that raised $220,000. “Elmore was my mentor and showed me how to put on a successful event. I will be forever indebted to Brian for his friendship and support,” Pearl said.
Pearl also thanked event hosts Tampa Bay Downs, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Gulfstream Park, Parx Racing, Canterbury Park, Santa Anita, Monmouth Park, Churchill Downs, and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where the June 24 event set a record while raising more than $400,000.
Pearl said he informed PDJF Director Nancy LaSala that he would remain as an advisor and help with any transition. “I hope the PDJF will embrace Jockeys and Jeans and keep it going. In the last nine years I have met so many great people, fallen riders, Hall of Fame members and folks that truly care about jockeys who are now riding wheelchairs. It’s been a good run, but it’s time for me to hang up my tack.”
G G o o t t G G o o o o d d N N e e w w s s t t o o S S h h a a r r e e? ?
Do you have a positive story that you’d like to share?
Send photos and news items to jennifer_k_hancock@hotmail.com
30 SPEEDHORSE August 2023