Prominent Spokane Trainer Gallops Out Of Town, For Now

A leading trainer in the horsemen’s group that is appealing for additional racing dates in Spokane is temporarily moving away from the fight.

Trainer Mike Odom leaves today for Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a string of thoroughbreds.

An officer in the Spokane-based Organization to Preserve Horse Racing in the Northwest (OPHRN), Odom said he’ll spend the remainder of the spring and most of the summer racing horses at Assiniboia Downs.

Odom’s move is significant in that nearly every track in North America has been confronted with a shortage of horses. Odom’s stable of 19 includes stakes winner Mackee Deluxe.

“We flew back there to look it over and were treated like part of a family,” he said. “It’s nice to feel wanted.”

Craig Macdonald, director of racing at the Winnipeg track, a 6 1/2-furlong facility, said Spokane horsemen who come in “aren’t chained to their stalls.

“We realize they have a race meet that start in September,” Macdonald said. “They’re free to go back home even though our meeting runs through Oct. 9.”

Bottom purse at Assiniboia is $3,100 (Canadian).

Odom said he continues to hope that OPHRN will win August racing dates at the Spokane track.

“If that happens, we’ll probably be back in August,” Odom said.

Trailering horses from Spokane to Yakima for the ongoing Emerald Racing Association summer meet is untenable, he said.

“Heat is a factor when you’re traveling in the summer,” he said. “I had some stalls over there but not enough. You’ve got receiving stalls, but it doesn’t make sense to haul horses down there in a van in 100-degree heat and come back the next day.

“I feel sorry for the people who have to go through that.”

Besides Mackee Deluxe, Odom said he and a partner, John Koch of Spokane, have Too True Slew and Water Booty, three-time winners last year.

Odom said he will take some horses with him today, with another group to be shipped out next week.

“Hopefully we’ll come out ahead financially because moving, even temporarily, isn’t easy,” he said. “I’ve taken my son out of school early. Leaving town is not my idea of a good time, but it’s what I’ve got to do.”

He said he plans to return for the Sept. 6 opener here.

Odom has criticized the Washington Horse Racing commission for failure to add August days to Playfair’s 50-day, Sept. 6-Nov. 27 season.

“I think there’s a 90 percent chance we’ll have enough horses at Playfair to run a competitive meet in September and October,” he said. “I’m just not that sure we’ll have enough in November, when the weather hits.”

Odom said most horse people prominent in OPHRN understand his decision.

“You’ve got to go somewhere to make a living,” he said. “Jay Healy is sending horses to Canterbury Downs (Minn.). Sam Tilden leaves for Great Falls (Mont.) on the 17th. I’m sure others are gearing up as their horses get fit.”

Macdonald says Tilden has shown interest in the meet in Winnipeg.

Like Odom, Healy and Tilden are active in the Spokane group that has broken away from the Washington Division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association to form its own Eastern Washington division of the HBPA.

, DataTimes