Canada Day Weekend Entries
There is something for everyone this holiday weekend, with 14 extremely competitive races including, on Monday, the $50,000 Lieutenant Governors' H'cap and the $50,000 Monashee H'cap
Friday’s Overnights — June 28
Don’t Forget!
Canada Day Overnights — July 1
All Trainers Win When the Racing Club Thrives
The Hastings Racing Club is the best marketing campaign the sport has at a local level and does more to recruit new owners than any other initiative currently offered
By Nigel Reid
The idea is simple: Introduce racing enthusiasts to the Hastings Racing Club (HRC) as a way of providing fledgling enthusiasts with a vehicle to see the sport at close quarters, but without the blood-curdling costs involved in individual ownership.
In return, members can relax in a comfortable environment, with no pressure above and beyond the very reasonable annual membership fee. Along the way, they meet and make new life-long friends who share the same passion and, over time, become more involved in the sport.
Eventually, the theory goes, as members gain more racing knowledge, they move organically into ownership proper, either on their own, or as a part of smaller syndicates that are often established by a variety of former, or current, members who want to have some fun with their new pals.
In addition, all HRC members, whether they graduate to individual ownership, or simply remain in the club, are ambassadors for racing at Hastings, delivering ‘the word’ to work colleagues, friends and family about their love of the sport and, consequently, helping to attract new enthusiasts along the way.
It’s not just theory. It works. Indeed, from an industry point of view, the HRC is the best marketing campaign the sport has at a local level and does more to recruit new owners than any other initiative currently offered.
As HRC co-manager Matt Elder explained, if potential owners have a positive experience with the club, many will quickly graduate to full, or syndicate, ownership.
Elder says: “There are few greater successes for the Racing Club than seeing members develop the passion and comfort level to start purchasing into smaller syndicated, or even their own horses outright. With the ever-changing demographics of B.C., many newcomers to our industry appreciate the education and safety net provided by the Racing Club and invariably it doesn't take members long to get bitten by the ‘racing bug’, like everyone else on the backstretch."
Elder knows of what he speaks. He also began at Hastings as a Racing Club member before graduating to ownership as a partner; first with Pat Jarvis and, subsequently, as part of the group of former Club members who have enjoyed significant success with the likes of Matsqui and last year’s Champion juvenile filly, Lizzie’s Rayne.
And, it happened again last weekend, when former HRC members Darryl and Kristy Hammond greeted the John Snow-trained Texas Legacy in the winner’s circle for the second time this season, to give them a thrilling start to life as individual racehorse owners.
The Hammonds are just the latest in a long line of owners new to the sport who have graduated to owning either larger shares, or as outright owners, after being introduced to the ways of the game by the Hastings Racing Club. John Snow’s wife, Tammy, for instance, has recently taken charge of Feisty Ella for the Fiery Fillies Stable - a small syndicate of female freinds who met and continue to be involved with the HRC.
And the Snows are just the latest trainers who have welcomed former HRC members to their barns, with the likes of Nancy Betts, Keith Pedersen, Mark Cloutier, Patty Leaney, Mark Freeman, Dino Condilenios and Pat Jarvis, among others, who have either benefited, or continue to benefit, from HRC members looking to parlay their enjoyable Club experience into full ownership.
The Russos: Having Fun and Giving it Their Best Shot
By Nigel Reid
Perhaps the best example so far of Hastings Racing Club (HRC) members graduating to full ownership is the one set by Joe and Gloria Russo.
The Russos’ passion for racing at Hastings pre-dates the HRC by quite some time but, after being recruited into the fold by the Club’s late founder Richard Yates, they gradually became more at ease with the intricacies of the sport before, a few seasons ago, taking the plunge into full ownership.
Since then, as Gloria Russo explained, Their passion for racing they have both shared since first getting together has only strengthened as their involvement has increased.
Gloria Russo said: “We met our trainer Patty Leaney when she trained Warrior’s Promise for the Hastings Racing Club. After that, Patty started a syndicate with her daughter Jaymie and a few other people, and so we got involved with that.”
“From there, we eventually claimed our first horse on our own, who was Little Groot and who won twice for us. After that, we also claimed Fort Langley and it just grew from there, really.”
Oh, it grew, alright. Last summer, Joe and Gloria became the leading buyers of yearlings in B.C. They signed the tickets on six yearling purchases at Thunderbird Park, including the sales topper (now called Revealing Sun and who finished a highly-promising third on her recent debut) and those ‘babies,’ along with a handful of older horses, are under also under the care of Patty Leaney.
This season has begun well for Joe and Gloria, with wins for Deputy’s Dancer and Don’tpassthepepper, as well as third-place finishes for Go Lent Go, Country Cowboy and, last weekend, the juvenile filly, Revealing Sun.
The Russo’s fire for racing was kindled over many years, back when Joe was first introduced to the sport by a friend. Of Italian extraction, but very much a product of Vancouver’s East Side, Joe Russo’s love affair with the sport began back in the Jack Diamond era.
Joe said: I grew up in the East End. So, I go back to the days when Jack Diamond was out here. I worked for Super Value with a guy called Walter Gregory and he was really good buddies with [trainer] Sonny O'Connell, so I was out at the track a lot.”
Gloria, who is from Steveston, came to the horse game a little later, but took to it immediately and both are now so passionate about their horses that they travel hours to the track and back each weekend to see them run.
Gloria said: “We used to live in Mission. And we would come to the races all the time, even though we didn’t have many horses. Now that we've moved to 100-mile, we have 13 horses, so there’s a lot of travelling, but we love it, you know?”
From the Racing Club to 13 horses is quite a journey and, like with all owners, there have been plenty of highs and lows along the way.
Formerly in the natural foods business and now retired, Joe and Gloria’s first two yearling purchases eventually became Star Finality (a filly by Finality who has won three times for them and who they still own and dote on) and the ill-fated Buck in Command, who looked like a horse with a big future after winning two of his three juvenile races, including the CTHS Sales Stakes, but who tragically broke a cannon bone in training.
“That was awful,” Gloria admitted. “They all have such different characters that you get close to them and when something like that happens, it’s difficult.”
“Star” still holds a strong place in the Russos’ hearts and even helped them get over the loss of “Buck”, by winning a year, almost to the day, after his breakdown.
“I had a word with her beforehand,” Gloria remembered fondly, “and it was like she heard me. Patti said to me afterwards, ‘whatever you said to her worked!’”
Leaney has been a guide and confidant to the Russos since they graduated from the Club and is very much a part of the team when it comes to horse recruitment, whether that’s yearlings or at the claims box.
“We’ll discuss which horses we like with Patty and she gives us her input,” Joe explained. “When it come to the yearlings, we go through the book at home together and then we discuss with Patty.”
Gloria has grown in confidence over the years but fully admits that, in the beginning, she left decisions over which horses to buy to Joe and Patty. “I used to just keep my mouth shut,” she said with a smile. “But now we talk about the catalogue together and then Patty has her say.”
Which brings us to last year’s yearling sale and those six purchases.
“Yeah, it was a little bit crazy,” Gloria admitted. “I was just sitting there with Joe and Patty and, all of a sudden, I’m signing papers. I thought, ‘okay, so this is happening’ …I did think, briefly, ‘what have we done’ when we got home.”
Refreshingly, the Russos are happy to enjoy the horses and the racing without any over-arching grand plan. The increase in numbers has happened naturally and, while last year’s Yearling Sale certainly caused a spike in adrenaline, they are both comfortable with their decision to add to their string, as Joe Russo explained.
Joe said: “We got caught up in the moment, and it was exciting. But that’s what racing is about. Plus, I think we are doing something to help the local industry a bit, keeping one or two people employed, and that’s important to us as well. Racing has given us a lot of fun over the years.”
“We’ll see what happens over the next couple of years,” he continued. “Hopefully, we can get some money coming back the other way. It’s called the ‘Sport of Kings’ for a reason. It’s an expensive game, but we’re enjoying it.”
Fun remains the motivation for Joe and Gloria. Well, fun, and the chance to be close to the horses that have given them both so much enjoyment since they began a love affair with racing that continues to bloom.
As Gloria happily admitted: Hopefully, we might get a little prize-money back in return but, if not, well you know what, as long as the horses are okay, we can say we gave it a shot.”
New Stride News
Bloodhorse Daily Headlines — Wednesday, June 26
