Like life, horse racing has its ups and downs.
Just ask Al Pitchko.
The longtime thoroughbred owner was seriously thinking he wouldn’t attend Friday’s Alberta Thoroughbred Sale in Red Deer where he bought seven yearlings last year and probably close to 100 yearlings through the years.
“I love horse racing; it’s a big part of my life. A very big part,” said Pitchko.
“But I went overboard and got carried away last year.
“And I’ve had a bad year. I’ve only won three races this year from about 14 horses that I own. Last year I won 14 races which is pretty typical for me.
“So, I don’t think I’ll even go to the sale this year,” he said before the nine-race card and the two horses - Queen Astrid and Hiway Fortynine - he had running went into the starting gate.
That was definitely a down.
But the down train made about a 360-degree up turn when Queen Astrid won the two-year-old filly Sturgeon River - one of seven $60,000 stakes races on Saturday’s Alberta Breeders’ Fall Classic card at Century Mile with all seven Alberta-bred winners getting $36,000.
“That will pay some of the bills,” said Pitchko, who has owned Mr. Plywood Building Materials since 1978.
“Alex (jockey Marti) gave her a great ride. A smart ride.
“Queen Astrid broke well but then she started to go backwards and I thought here we go again. But it turns out that Marti was just giving (Queen Astrid) a breather.
“Queen Astrid rebroke and came running hard,” he said of the daughter of Absolutely Stylish out of the mare Blackberry Lisa and consigned by Dr. Steven Douglas Smith.
“The win was a little unexpected but when I looked at the nominations I knew we had a chance.
“I slept well (Saturday) night,” said Pitchko, 81, whose Latshaw finished second in the 1994 Canadian Derby.
“I’m thinking now that I will go to the sale and maybe buy one or two - to support the industry.”
So did Queen Astrid’s six-length eased-up victory change Pitchko’s plans?
“Probably,” said Pitchko, who said his monthly training bill is about $30,000.
“The ups and downs in this sport never change.
“It gets in your blood.”
“He’s good for the game,” said Rod Cone, who trains the bulk of Pitchko’s barn.
“It would be nice if I could find a few more owners like him.
“Twice a year he brings about 75 contractors for dinner and watch the races.
“He talks it up; he just loves it. He’s brought a lot of people into the business.”
The story of how Pitchko got into thoroughbred racing is most interesting.
“My friend Elmer Stawnichy and I went to lunch one day in 1988. Elmer is a lumber supplier for me. He was telling me of an NHL pool he was in and wanted to know if I wanted to go 50-50. One entry cost $100 so I started writing an entry down on a table napkin.”
Sure enough they won $16,000.
Now the question was what were they going to do with the money. Elmer used to go to the thoroughbred races all the time and he said ‘Why don’t we buy a horse?’
“I didn’t know anything about horse racing but I said ‘Sure; it’s found money.’ So we bought one. Who knew one horse would become a hundred?”
After that there was no stopping Pitchko, who is also into the antique store business.
“Horse racing became a hobby. An expensive hobby,” said Pitchko who loves handicapping the races and making a few bets.
Hiway Fortynine, the other horse Pitchko had running on the Alberta Breeders’ Fall Classic card, set the pace in the mile and a sixteenth Alberta Oaks for three-year-old fillies, but tired.
“She doesn’t want to run that far,” said Pitchko of last year’s Champion 2-year-old filly. “She’s a sprinter.”
The Oaks was won by 17-1 longshot (despite being ridden by Rico Walcott) Lutedidit, co-owned by Dan Hurley, who took over from Hiway Fortynine down the backstretch and never looked back, holding off the late charge by favourite Sixty Six.
“I’m really shocked to be honest with you,” said Hurley of the filly trained by Deanna Walper and bred by Mervin Lansing.
The most likely winner on Saturday was Big Hug - two-time reigning Horse of the Year - who won the Alberta Fall Classic for the second year in a row by two lengths.
Sent off at 1-9 Big Hug won by a couple of lengths - closer than most people expected.
“I was nervous before the race but not during it,” said trainer Rick Hedge, who owns Big Hug with Empire Equestrian. “It was close until Raffy (jockey Zenteno) asked her.”
The most impressive winner was easily Midnight Moover in the Alberta Premier’s Futurity.
“I kept waiting for someone to come to me but nobody did,” said Marti, who cradled his month-and-a-half year-old son Ada in the winner’s circle. “I dropped the lines and let him gallop to the wire.”
Profiled last week in this space at thehorses.com, Midnight Moover is now two-for-two in his blossoming career having broken his maiden by 12 and a half lengths.
“This was easier than his first start,” said Marti. “Last time I had to work on him a bit.
“He’s all class already. He knows he’s a race horse.”
Owned by Shawn Vander Heyden and Lyle Adams, bred by KRT Stables and trained by William Leech, Midnight Moover is by Fed Biz out of Alberta champion Anstrum. He has a full brother in Friday’s Yearling Sale.
“That colt will bring more money now,” said Leech.
“We still don’t know how good Midnight Moover is. He improved off his first start. Alex was just sitting on him the last two furlongs.
Despite never being asked, Midnight Moover covered the six furlongs in a healthy 1:12.58.
“From Day 1 he acted like a mature horse,” said Leech. “Nothing bothers him.
“He came back nice. We’ll see what happens. There is the Sales Stakes in three weeks and then we’ll call it a year.”
In the other three Fall Classic races River Seven, last by many, got up in the final strides to win the six-furlong Red Diamond Express over Jeff Fa Fa for his second straight win; Flashfordani came from far back to win the Alberta Breeders’ and Kamal emerged from a stalking position to win the Beaufort.
River Seven, the even-money favourite, was bred by Don Danard and Highfield Investment Group. The four-year-old is owned by Salt River Holdings and trainer Joan Petrowski.
Flashfordani, the 9-5 favourite, is also bred by Highfield, owned by Irving Dewey and trained by Karline Kingston.
Kamal, the even-money favourite also ridden by Walcott, was bred by Red Hawk Ranch, owned by Mohamad Khan and trained by Jim Brown.
STOCK REPORT
Leech also won the Canada Cup $74,236 Futurity quarter horse race - by many - with Great Falls.
Gonzalo Anderson easily topped the trainer standings with 36 wins from 178 starters - 14 more than runner-up Tim Rycroft.
Anderson and Crystal Gates were the leading owners with 11 wins - 3 more than Willow Creek Farms.
Antonio Reyes was the leading jockey with 37 wins from 153 mounts - four more than Jose Asencio.
The Alberta thoroughbred yearling sale is at the AgriCentre East at Red Deer’s Westerner Park. There are 102 yearlings up for auction.
Harness racing returns to Century Mile on September 25.
The thoroughbreds move to Calgary beginning on September 19 at Century Downs.
Quarry, who recently won the Canadian Derby at The Mile and who was an $80,000 claim by owner Henry Witt Jr., won his biggest U.S. victory Saturday when he pulled a mild upset in the $250,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.
“He got into a great spot,” jockey Henry Hernandez told the Paulick Report.
“I didn’t have to rush him once, and he really helped me the whole way. At the five-eighths, he made the lead, it was too early, but I didn’t feel like it was a fast pace. It was comfortable. So I just waited and waited, and the final sixteenth, I didn’t see anybody on my side, but I did see the shadows. I still had horse, I knew I just needed a little more and I knew he could give it to me.
“Those shadows were getting closer and closer, but that wire was getting closer and closer, too.”
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Inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.