Area Horsemen Still Unsure Of Future

Inland Northwest horsemen have organized and become politicized in the three months since their 1995 racing season in Spokane was restricted to 50 days.

They are, however, probably no closer to improving their race dates than they were in December.

That was the message from a Saturday morning meeting of Spokane-based horsemen at Playfair Race Course.

Jay Healy, co-chairman of the group known as the Organization for the Preservation of Horse Racing in the Northwest (OPHRN), pledged to continue the fight for more warm-weather racing in Spokane with statewide wagering.

But he mixed optimism with caution and frustration.

“I have a strong feeling that this is going to be a dismal season for Playfair,” Healy said.

The Washington Horse Racing Commission meets Tuesday in Yakima to review 1995 seasons.

Spokane horsemen, through informal channels, have asked the commission for three racing days a week in August, two with statewide wagering.

Technically, requests come from track management. But Dan Hillyard, Playfair general manager, said the horsemen’s group is authorized to pursue a deal subject to Playfair management approval.

“This group (OPHRN) provides the horses and people necessary to run a race meet at Playfair,” Hillyard said. “We have allowed them to represent our interests in pursuing their objectives.”

Western Washington racing interests don’t want to share West Side betting sites with Inland Northwest horse people.

Last December, the Spokane track was granted a 50-day 1995 season from Sept. 6 through Nov. 27, all days to include statewide off-track betting.

Local horsemen balked, citing adverse weather from mid-November on.

The racing commission countered with 61 days - 11 additional warm-weather dates for Spokane, but with only 45 days of statewide wagering.

Neither local horsemen nor Spokane race course management was willing to accept five fewer days of statewide wagering.

Although Healy advised the Spokane group not to get its hopes up over the group’s request for August, he did urge local horsemen to attend Tuesday’s commission meeting in Yakima.

“We’d like to have you there to demonstrate our displeasure at the disrespect you are held in,” he said.

The Spokane group hired a legislative lobbyist and carried the interests of East Side horse people to Olympia over the past three months, where Healy said the group ran into an unexpected hurdle.

State Sen. Jim West, R-Spokane, a nonvoting member of the racing commission who has in the past spoken up for eastern Washington thoroughbred interests, was criticized by Healy as “the biggest disappointment I’ve encountered through all of this.”

West is “blatant in his disregard” for Spokane horsemen, Healy said. “He is not a friend of this side of the state.”

Attempts to reach West were not successful Saturday.

The 863-member OPHRN also announced that it is considering bolting from the Washington Division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, their bargaining unit.

It was also announced that Playfair will open for training April 15, in part to stem what the Spokane group called the exodus of horses to out-of-state racing facilities.

The exodus may be hard to stop if Playfair is held to 50 days.

Fred Hepton, one of the top trainers at the Spokane track, said he is considering running horses at the Emerald meet in Yakima in the summer, and possibly shipping to Turf Paradise in Phoenix or to the winter meet in Yakima.

“It doesn’t sound good to me right now,” Hepton said. “I’d rather race here but from the way it looks what I’ll have to do is race here and plan on going some place else when this is over.

“You can’t expect people to run horses two or three months and turn them out again.”