Avid fans pursue their passions, lacking the lifeline that wagering provides in other states
By Steve Luhm
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
SOUTH JORDAN - Attend a horse race in Utah, and it feels like a high school soccer game.
Everybody there seems to be connected to one of the participants.
Of course, that makes sense.
Pari-mutuel wagering is outlawed in Utah, preventing the industry from tapping into the economic lifeline that sustains it in other states.
As a result, horse racing is relegated to afterthought status in Utah - something that involves only a nomadic subculture whose members must overcome such obstacles as financial hardship, lack of facilities and limited awareness among the general public.
On opening day at most tracks around the country, thousands of fans show up to watch the races and wager on them.
In Utah, it's much different.
When county-owned Laurel Brown Racetrack at the Salt Lake Equestrian Park opened its five-day spring meet on Saturday, about 500 fans showed up to soak up the sun, adore the breathtaking scenery provided by the snowcapped Wasatch Mountains, spend time with family and friends and not bet a dime.
There were no cigar-smoking handicappers trying to sell tip sheets, fuzzy-faced high-school kids working at valet parking or anyone hawking the Daily Racing Form.
There was not a tote board on the infield, a five-star restaurant atop the grandstand or TV monitors positioned around the track to provide betting information and race replays.
Instead, Laurel Brown provided horse owners, trainers and jockeys races to indulge their passion on a cloudless, spring afternoon in a state where horse racing isn't given the chance to prosper.
Quality race horses: Two hours before post-time for the first race, two women are setting up a pair of concession trailers, one of which features a large Coors Light logo.
Blaring from the radio inside one the trailers is Toby Keith's country hit, "I Love This Bar," which is followed by Blake Shelton's "Some Beach Somewhere."
The concession area is located at the south end of a covered 2,000-seat grandstand, though the wooden benches are only half-covered by peeling brown paint and a furlong-sized splinter in your saddlebag seems entirely too possible.
Clearly, the horses at Laurel Brown - not the race-goers - are the pampered ones.
Rightly so, according to presiding steward Susan Barrett.
"Horses from here go everywhere," said Barrett, a former jockey. "You are not looking at little backyard ponies. . . . There will be some real race horses running here today."
Barrett estimates the value of the 56 horses scheduled to run in the eight races is between $2,000 and $250,000, depending on their future success.
"No way are these horses inferior," she said. "They'll hold their own against almost any you'll find at other tracks around the country."
The money won in Utah, at races such as the Beehive Futurity, essentially is fronted by the horse owners. For the futurity races, there is a series of sustaining nomination fees to keep horses eligible.
For example, only the offspring of certain sires are eligible in futurity races. When a horse is a month old, an owner might pay a $50 eligibility fee, which can grow yearly - up to about $800 depending on the futurity.
For the much lesser-paying allowance races, owners pony up the purse, with funds kicked in from the Utah Quarter Horse Racing Association.
What a rush: Every race has a winner, and behind every winner is a story.
Linda Hall of Slaterville owns HMB Aggressive Kitty, a 4-year-old filly who won Saturday's second race, a time trial for the South Valley Poor Boy Allowance.
"This horse is very special," Hall said, after a brief picture-taking ceremony in the nicely landscaped winner's circle. "I bought her mother - my first horse - when she was in foal to this one."
The mare died two years ago of colic.
"That's why this horse has been like my baby," Hall said.
The win at Laurel Brown was was the first of HMB Aggressive Kitty's career. She was 0-for-3 first at Los Alamitos in California before trainer Justin Clark "brought her home and started all over with her," Hall said.
Asked why winning a $400 race meant so much to her, Hall's eyes glistened.
"It's a very special, a very great day," she said. " . . . It's one thing to see horses run. But when you have one of your own, your heart is beating out of your chest. It's just an indescribable feeling."
Art Lovato of Bountiful is the program director at the Salt Lake Equestrian Park.
In partnership with his father-in-law and wife, Lovato owns Barrio Bully, a 2-year-old quarter horse who won a Beehive Futurity time trial and qualified for the finals on May 20.
"You wait and you wait for this day," Lovato said. "They say, 'He's looking good, he's working good.' And you just wait. But when this day comes, boy, it's worth the wait."
While Hall and Lovato experienced the exhilaration of victory, most of the other owners did not because - for every winner at the race track - there are many more horses that lose.
Roger Wynn of Ogden is the co-owner of a 2-year-old named Melitas Girl, who broke slowly and finished last in a Beehive Futurity trial.
From the No. 1 post - always a difficult draw for a young horse - Melitas Girl finished last in a Beehive Futurity time trial.
Wynn has owned race horses for eight years. In that time, two of his horses - Taking Cash Back and Available Credit - have won stakes races at Los Alamitos and totaled about $250,000 in career earnings.
Almost all of that money was earned out of state.
Wynn was disappointed by Melitas Girl's last-place finish in the Beehive trials, but he won't give up on the filly.
"With these babies - the 2-year-olds - you have a lot of hope," Wynn said. "You don't know how good they can be. . . . She didn't break very good today. But it was a good experience for her. So there's still hope next time. We'll give her a couple of more outs and see if she improves."
Why does Wynn own race horses?
"The competition, the love of the animals," he said. "It's like having a pro sports franchise - a poor man's pro sports franchise."
luhm@sltrib.com
By Steve Luhm
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
SOUTH JORDAN - Attend a horse race in Utah, and it feels like a high school soccer game.
Everybody there seems to be connected to one of the participants.
Of course, that makes sense.
Pari-mutuel wagering is outlawed in Utah, preventing the industry from tapping into the economic lifeline that sustains it in other states.
As a result, horse racing is relegated to afterthought status in Utah - something that involves only a nomadic subculture whose members must overcome such obstacles as financial hardship, lack of facilities and limited awareness among the general public.
On opening day at most tracks around the country, thousands of fans show up to watch the races and wager on them.
In Utah, it's much different.
When county-owned Laurel Brown Racetrack at the Salt Lake Equestrian Park opened its five-day spring meet on Saturday, about 500 fans showed up to soak up the sun, adore the breathtaking scenery provided by the snowcapped Wasatch Mountains, spend time with family and friends and not bet a dime.
There were no cigar-smoking handicappers trying to sell tip sheets, fuzzy-faced high-school kids working at valet parking or anyone hawking the Daily Racing Form.
There was not a tote board on the infield, a five-star restaurant atop the grandstand or TV monitors positioned around the track to provide betting information and race replays.
Instead, Laurel Brown provided horse owners, trainers and jockeys races to indulge their passion on a cloudless, spring afternoon in a state where horse racing isn't given the chance to prosper.
Quality race horses: Two hours before post-time for the first race, two women are setting up a pair of concession trailers, one of which features a large Coors Light logo.
Blaring from the radio inside one the trailers is Toby Keith's country hit, "I Love This Bar," which is followed by Blake Shelton's "Some Beach Somewhere."
The concession area is located at the south end of a covered 2,000-seat grandstand, though the wooden benches are only half-covered by peeling brown paint and a furlong-sized splinter in your saddlebag seems entirely too possible.
Clearly, the horses at Laurel Brown - not the race-goers - are the pampered ones.
Rightly so, according to presiding steward Susan Barrett.
"Horses from here go everywhere," said Barrett, a former jockey. "You are not looking at little backyard ponies. . . . There will be some real race horses running here today."
Barrett estimates the value of the 56 horses scheduled to run in the eight races is between $2,000 and $250,000, depending on their future success.
"No way are these horses inferior," she said. "They'll hold their own against almost any you'll find at other tracks around the country."
The money won in Utah, at races such as the Beehive Futurity, essentially is fronted by the horse owners. For the futurity races, there is a series of sustaining nomination fees to keep horses eligible.
For example, only the offspring of certain sires are eligible in futurity races. When a horse is a month old, an owner might pay a $50 eligibility fee, which can grow yearly - up to about $800 depending on the futurity.
For the much lesser-paying allowance races, owners pony up the purse, with funds kicked in from the Utah Quarter Horse Racing Association.
What a rush: Every race has a winner, and behind every winner is a story.
Linda Hall of Slaterville owns HMB Aggressive Kitty, a 4-year-old filly who won Saturday's second race, a time trial for the South Valley Poor Boy Allowance.
"This horse is very special," Hall said, after a brief picture-taking ceremony in the nicely landscaped winner's circle. "I bought her mother - my first horse - when she was in foal to this one."
The mare died two years ago of colic.
"That's why this horse has been like my baby," Hall said.
The win at Laurel Brown was was the first of HMB Aggressive Kitty's career. She was 0-for-3 first at Los Alamitos in California before trainer Justin Clark "brought her home and started all over with her," Hall said.
Asked why winning a $400 race meant so much to her, Hall's eyes glistened.
"It's a very special, a very great day," she said. " . . . It's one thing to see horses run. But when you have one of your own, your heart is beating out of your chest. It's just an indescribable feeling."
Art Lovato of Bountiful is the program director at the Salt Lake Equestrian Park.
In partnership with his father-in-law and wife, Lovato owns Barrio Bully, a 2-year-old quarter horse who won a Beehive Futurity time trial and qualified for the finals on May 20.
"You wait and you wait for this day," Lovato said. "They say, 'He's looking good, he's working good.' And you just wait. But when this day comes, boy, it's worth the wait."
While Hall and Lovato experienced the exhilaration of victory, most of the other owners did not because - for every winner at the race track - there are many more horses that lose.
Roger Wynn of Ogden is the co-owner of a 2-year-old named Melitas Girl, who broke slowly and finished last in a Beehive Futurity trial.
From the No. 1 post - always a difficult draw for a young horse - Melitas Girl finished last in a Beehive Futurity time trial.
Wynn has owned race horses for eight years. In that time, two of his horses - Taking Cash Back and Available Credit - have won stakes races at Los Alamitos and totaled about $250,000 in career earnings.
Almost all of that money was earned out of state.
Wynn was disappointed by Melitas Girl's last-place finish in the Beehive trials, but he won't give up on the filly.
"With these babies - the 2-year-olds - you have a lot of hope," Wynn said. "You don't know how good they can be. . . . She didn't break very good today. But it was a good experience for her. So there's still hope next time. We'll give her a couple of more outs and see if she improves."
Why does Wynn own race horses?
"The competition, the love of the animals," he said. "It's like having a pro sports franchise - a poor man's pro sports franchise."
luhm@sltrib.com
