For Immediate Release
August 10, 2008

Red Mile Racing Results

Victory of Raffled Horse Highlights Successful Two-Day AQHA-sanctioned Pari-mutuel Race Meet at The Red Mile in Lexington

Streakin Traffic, a Kentucky-bred racing American Quarter Horse, did his part in a unique promotion during the fifth annual Quarter Horse meet at the Red Mile in Lexington. On July 19, the second night of the meet, the Kentucky Quarter Horse Racing Association (KyQHRA), the horsemen’s group that puts on the races at the Red Mile, offered the gelding as the grand
prize of a fundraising raffle with tickets available for $10 each. The drawing to determine the raffle winner took place immediately before Streakin Traffic ran in the seventh race, with the winner set to receive any money the gelding earned in the race and the option to keep the runner or have him auctioned to a new owner after the races.

The raffle winner was Dave Holzwarth of Georgetown, Kentucky. He was at the Red Mile with his wife, Sandy, who was celebrating her birthday and wanted to attend the races. Holzwarth, who is a webmaster for the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives in Frankfort and also is a partner in Taber Transit, Inc., a trucking company, bought two raffle tickets.

After Holzwarth’s name was drawn, he and Sandy watched Streakin Traffic score an upset victory by winning the 300-yard race by 1 ¼ lengths and earning $3,000. Dale Beaty rode the winner for trainer Steve Holder, a member of the KyQHRA board of directors. The association’s president, Eucklie Henson, bred and owned the son of Streak And Dash.

“I really can’t believe it,” said Dave Holzwarth about his good fortune. Streakin Traffic becomes the first racehorse for the Holzwarth family, who owns reining Quarter Horses and a five-acre farm in Georgetown. The Holzwarths will keep Streakin Traffic and continue to race him.

Streakin Traffic had just one previous race, finishing sixth at the Red Mile as a two-year-old a year ago. Henson then turned Streakin Traffic out at his Twin Creek Farms in Benton, Kentucky, saying the gelding “hadn’t matured and didn’t have his mind on running.” A year off apparently did the trick for Streakin Traffic.

Meanwhile, the meet represented another successful outing for Michigan-based trainer Ron Raper, who won five races, including three of four stakes, over the two nights of racing. Harold Collins rode each of Raper’s winners. On July 18, the team won the $17,888 John Deere Lexington Challenge Sprint Stakes with Jeannette Hoover’s Jessluvchicks and the $17,625 Fort Harrod Stakes with Cynthia Allen’s First Down Beaus. On July 19, Raper and Collins won the $17,175 Enchanted Stakes with Jack Geer’s Chics Love Stones.

“We enjoy it here. It’s a lot of fun,” said Raper, who currently is the seventh-leading trainer by wins in all of Quarter Horse racing in 2008 and raced at the Red Mile for the second consecutive year. “The people are a lot of fun to be around; the races are very good.”

After racing ended on July 19, Raper and Collins began the eight-hour drive back to Michigan and Mt. Pleasant Meadows, where they were competing in the Sunday races.

The winner of the meet’s richest race was Faye Meeks’ homebred Georgia Halo, who captured the $18,925 Los Alamitos Stakes on July 19. Trained by Randy Brown and ridden by Shanley Jackson, the six-year-old stallion by Gran’s Halo (TB) won the 330-yard race by a head at odds of 6-1. Brown said the race marked the career finale for Georgia Halo, who was returned to training this year after completing his first season at stud at AVS Equine Hospital in Tallahassee, Florida.

Jessluvchicks was one of two horses who set track records during the two nights of racing. In the John Deere Lexington Sprint Stakes, Jessluvchicks’ time of :13.056 lowered the 300-yard mark of :13.159 set last year by Hooked On Laveaux. In the first race on July 18, two-year-old Courvilles Buff covered 300 yards in :14.324, bettering Focus On Speed’s previous track mark of :15.536, also set last year.

This year’s meet drew horses from across the Midwest, Southeast and Southwest who competed for $136,376 in total purses. Horses that reached the winner’s circle had last raced in Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan and Oklahoma.

While the Red Mile does not maintain attendance figures, the races drew several thousand fans each night, with the largest crowd on July 19. Only on-track wagering was available, and total handle for the 18-race meet was $132,587.

This year, race sponsors represented prominent members of the Quarter Horse industry nationwide and the Thoroughbred industry in Central Kentucky, as well as local businesses. The national sponsors were Burnett Ranches from Texas; JEH Stallion Station, with divisions in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas; Vessels Stallion Farm and Los Alamitos Race Course in California; Belle Mere Farm and Lazy E Ranch in Oklahoma; and the R.D. and Joan Hale Hubbard Foundation of New Mexico. Race sponsors from Kentucky were Airdrie Stud, Ashford Stud, Kentucky Ale, Paul Miller Ford & Fortune Commercial Properties, and Taylor Made Farm and WinStar Farm. TVG, the interactive horse racing network that includes racing from Los Alamitos and Ruidoso Downs, also sponsored a race.

Other sponsors included Brett Construction, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, Hallway Feed, Kentucky Downs, Keeneland, University of Louisville’s Equine Industry Program, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s Equine Initiative, Jeff Bowling, Ashcraft Farms, and Dr. and Mrs. Talmadge Hays. Additional support was provided by the American Quarter Horse Association of Amarillo, Texas.

Red Mile Stakes Results

$18,925 Los Alamitos Stakes, July 19. Winner: Georgia Halo, a six-year-old stallion by Gran’s Halo (TB)—Georgia Lindy, by Fast Lindy: Breeder: Faye Meeks (GA). Owner: Faye Meeks. Trainer: Randy Brown. Jockey: Shanley Jackson. Time for 330 yards – :16.74.

$17,888 John Deere Lexington Challenge Sprint Stakes, July 18. Winner: Jessluvchicks, a six-year-old gelding by Chicks Beduino—Windy Perry, by Mr Jess Perry. Breeder: Leroy Janacek Jr. (TX). Owner: Jeannette Hoover. Trainer: Ron Raper. Jockey: Harold Collins. Time for 250 yards -- :13.056.

$17,625 Fort Harrod Stakes, July 18. Winner: First Down Beaus, a two-year-old filly by Game Patriot—Beaus First Down, by Burrs First Down. Breeder: Qussie Strickland (LA). Owner: Cynthia Allen. Trainer: Ron Raper. Jockey: Harold Collins. Time for 300 yards -- :15.619.

$17,175 Enchanted Stakes, July 19. Winner: Chics Love Stones, a three-year-old filly by SC Chiseled In Stone—A Campus Chic, by Chicks Beduino. Breeder: Jovetta Meredith (OK). Owner: Jack Geer. Trainer: Ron Raper. Jockey: Harold Collins. Time for 300 yards -- :15.463.