Playfair Finally At The Gate Seven Races, Emerald Downs Simulcast To Highlight Opening Of First Winter Meet

They’re really going to do it this time.

Playfair Race Course will launch its first winter season in history today with wagering on 16 races - seven local events plus the nine-race simulcast from Emerald Downs in Auburn.

It’s the state’s first experiment with dual-card simulcasting.

Horses go postward here, for the first time since Nov. 27, 1995, at 1:15 p.m., 15 minutes after the first race at Emerald.

Parking and admission are free.

The long-anticipated and twice-delayed opening day at Playfair can’t come soon enough for riders, including 32-year-old Gary Gavica, who’s exercised horses in the mornings here for a month.

“The meet was supposed to start Dec. 6,” said Gavica, a veteran of winter racing in the Northwest who brought his wife and baby daughter here Dec. 2 from Portland. “We’ve been waiting and waiting to get going. I’m glad it’s finally here. I have some savings, but savings only goes so far. Christmas just about killed me.”

Everyone connected to the 62-year-old track is breathing a little easier today. Horsemen and track officials are up for any kind of a season after the debut of Emerald Downs pushed Playfair off the racing calendar.

“Earlier in ‘96 we had no idea if and when we’d ever run again,” said Director of Racing Ted Martin. “We’re not only going to put on a meet and have some fun, we’re going to present some dang good racing.”

Martin wrote six thoroughbred races and an Arabian race today, with quinella and exacta wagering on each. Trifecta betting is offered on the third and seventh races and twin trifecta betting covers the fourth and fifth.

Among Playfair’s off-track sites is the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, 8 miles from Emerald Downs, publicist Tom Harris said.

Gavica has a full card today, riding Whirl With Me for trainer Val Garza in the first, Our Dave for Sam Tilden in the third, Just Macho for Paul Wise in the fourth, Royal Amewsment again for Wise in the fifth, Mister Alien for Dan McCanna in the sixth and Mountain Merit for Tracy Lebret in the seventh.

The second race is the Arabian event. Gavica has been named to ride Rc Arbela.

“It’s a different pace,” he says of the Arabians that run regularly on the California fair circuit. “They’re fit, they’re usually not as nervous as a quarterhorse or thoroughbred and they can run for miles.

“They just do it slower.”

The Gavicas maintain a home in Portland.

“We’re still paying rent there,” said Gavica, who was raised in Tijuana, Mexico. “We left the apartment, the furniture. It’s been kind of tough, but we had a good Christmas and I’m fit and ready.”

Gavica, who’s ridden through the winters at Yakima Meadows, rebounded from a slow start here in the fall of ‘95 to post some upsets late in the year.

He says he’s impressed with the new safety rail and improvements to the track surface.

“We don’t have to worry about the tiny rail we used to have here - the real low one,” he said. “This is safer for the riders and horses.”

The difference in winter here and winter in Yakima?

Neither is ideal. “I don’t care about the cold as long as it doesn’t rain too much,” he said.

, DataTimes