Vancouver horse owner Peter Redekop has Anothertwistafate racing in Saturdays $1.5-million Preakness Stakes.
Vancouver horse owner Peter Redekop’s top three-year-old Anothertwistafate has a good chance at winning the $1.5-million Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.
Along with being seen by millions of viewers around the world, it will also be shown live at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse on the big infield screen and simulcast network throughout the facility.
Redekop won’t be watching the race, however.
“I’ll be in Alberta attending a wedding for one of my granddaughters,” he says. “Sure, I would enjoy being there in person but family always comes first and that’s fine with me.”
As for the chances of Anothertwistafate winning, Redekop adds: “In his last two races, he didn’t get the best of rides and was boxed in both times nearing the finish. That’s the reason we’ve made a rider change.”
Jockey Jose Ortiz gets the call as Anothertwistafate starts from the number 12 post in a field of 13 horses. “Our horse has lots of natural speed so we’re either going to be in front or near the lead,” Redekop says. “It’s as simple as that.”
Dixie and Roy Jacobson in the winners circle with their Coulterberry winner of Sunday’s feature race at Hastings Racecourse. South End Photos
Cancer awareness: Owners Dixie and Roy Jacobson were smiling from ear to ear last Sunday after their homebred Coulterberry easily won the feature race. It was an extra special victory because Coulterberry’s full sister Sweet Sixteen ran second in an earlier race and both horses are offsprings to mare Badgetts Star, who several years ago was instrumental in helping raise awareness for breast cancer.
In 2005, Dixie and friends such as Tracy Bell, Brenda Kinsella, Mary Martin and Sasha Keeling pooled $16,000 to purchase a racehorse. They formed the Pink Ribbon Stable and bought Badgetts Star, who had been racing in California.
During her career, Badgetts Star won $122,000 to help breast cancer research.
Tough job: Cindy and Darcy Barroby are track outriders at Hastings. Their job is to protect horses and jockeys from injury if a horse gets loose before or after a race. They consider themselves troubleshooters.
Long considered among the most dangerous jobs in horse racing, outrider Cindy Barroby catches a loose horse prior to a race at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver.
“When things go wrong with a horse’s equipment or something out of the ordinary happens, our job is to try to prevent an accident on the track,” says Darcy.
The past few weeks, Cindy made impressive saves when horses got loose in separate incidents. One happened on opening weekend when owner George Gilbert’s Flight Data bolted in the post parade from a pony person and the jockey, taking off in full flight down the stretch.
“When I saw her running away, I immediately took off after her and was able to catch her before anything serious happened,” Cindy said.
Flight Data was returned safely to her barn and returned to the races last Saturday, and this time made it the winner’s circle for Gilbert.
Strong competition: While the season is still young, it could become one of the closest jockey races seen at Hastings in years. Enrique Gonzalez already has seven wins, Amadeo Perez has six, and newcomer Denny Velazquez and veteran Richard Hamel follow with four. Trainers Phil Hall and Glen Todd are off to fast starts with five wins each.
Worth noting: A celebration of life will be held for longtime horseman Arnie Turner at The Derby Bar and Grill in Surrey on Tuesday, May 21, at 3 p.m.
Notes on the program: Live racing resumes Saturday and holiday Monday at Hastings with the regular 1:50 p.m. starts. There will no races on Sunday.
Former jockey Tom Wolski is a renowned horse racing journalist who has been covering the sport for more than three decades.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
