Canadian Horse of the Year, One Kool Wave will return to action on July 4 at Fort Erie in the Bank of America Fort Erie Challenge Championship. Photo credit: Clive Cohen / New Image Media

July Friendship Festival of Racing debuts at Fort Erie Race Track
$430,000 in purses attract horses from all regions for July 2,3,4 program

Fort Erie Race Track is hosting a stakes-filled weekend of Quarter Horse racing July 2-4. The Friendship Festival of Racing is a newly created event that will offer more than $430,000 in Quarter Horse purses, including six stakes. The highlight of the three-day festival is the $100,000 Bank of America Fort Erie Championship Challenge (Grade 3), which will be contested on Monday, July 4.

In addition, five more Quarter Horse stakes will be offered: the $35,000 Peace Bridge Stakes; the $40,000 Merial Fort Erie Distaff Challenge; the $50,000 Can-Am Nations’ Cup and two $35,000 Battle of the Breed Stakes pitting Quarter Horses against Thoroughbreds. One will feature sprinters at 440 yards. A 870-yard distance event will also be run.

Quarter Horses will also compete in 12 maiden, claiming and allowance races with an average purse of $11,300. While seven of the races are 350-yard events, three races are scheduled at 400 yards, one at 440 yards, and one 110-yard event worth $20,000.

Fort Erie enthusiastic about Quarter Horse race

Fort Erie is filled with racing traditions. Since 1897, noted Canadian champions have raced at the “Fort,” providing race enthusiasts with thrills and lifelong memories. The picturesque racetrack, located just minutes from The Peace Bridge and United States border, has a highly regarded racing history. Since 1959, Fort Erie has hosted the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of Canada’s Triple Crown.

The Ontario racetrack has made a three-year commitment to Quarter Horse racing, which began last October and will continue with five weekends of live racing on Oct. 6. The three-year Quarter Horse Racing Pilot Project at Fort Erie Race Track is an initiative of the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium’s plan to rejuvenate live horse racing at the historic border oval. The pilot project will also serve to test the expansion of the Ontario Racing Commission’s Quarter Horse Racing Industry Development Program.

Rick Cowan, Fort Erie’s chief operating officer, is solidly behind the Friendship Festival of Racing and the Quarter Horse racing program in Southern Ontario.

“Our first Quarter Horse meeting at Fort Erie was received extremely well by both the racing public and the Quarter Horse owners and trainers,” Cowan said. “We expect to provide a very unique combination of both breeds on the Sunday and Monday of the July holiday weekend and a quality offering on Saturday with the Quarter Horses featuring a full program. The relationship developed between the two breeds has been strong since the beginning with the great training and stabling facilities Fort Erie has to offer, and we hope to build on that momentum during July and October of this year.”

One Kool Wave, Canadian Horse of the Year, will compete

One Kool Wave, has been nominated for the $100,000 Bank of America Fort Erie Challenge. He was undefeated in each of his eight starts as a 2-year-old and was named Horse of the Year by the Quarter Horse Racing Owners of Ontario. Bred by Robert Bailey and owned by Bailey and Don Ito, the gelded son of Wave Carver was the first 2-year-old to win the honor. Trained by Don Reid and ridden by Kim Ito, One Kool Wave won the Maple Leaf Futurity, Legacy Futurity, All Canadian Futurity and Alex Picov Memorial Futurity.

“His talent is amazing,” Reid said. “He’s the best horse I’ve ever trained.”

One Kool Wave underwent knee surgery and has made two starts in 2011 at Ajax Downs, finishing second on May 29 and winning a 330-yard allowance on June 14.

“If he comes back and runs like he did last year, he will win the Challenge,” Reid said.

The winner of the 440-yard Bank of America Fort Erie Challenge will receive a berth to the $350,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship (Grade 1) at Los Alamitos Race Course on Oct. 29.

In addition to One Kool Wave, several other prominent Canadian Quarter Horses will compete in the Friendship Festival of Racing. Silver Grill, winner of the Peace Bridge Stakes on Oct. 2, 2010, returns to action for trainer Barry Wood. Joe Tavares, who was honored as 2010 Champion Quarter Racing Owners of Ontario Trainer, has nominated several top horses for the weekend's features. Tom Foley, Clint Crawford, John McCormick and Randy McMullin are other conditioners with multiple horses running in the Festival.

Trainers Shipping in from Afar

Judd Kearl will ship in four horses from Texas for the Friendship Festival of Racing, most notably, Comin Thru, a 5-year-old son of Separatist, owned by Mickey Tiner of Angleton, Texas. He has won seven of his 23 starts and was named 2010 Sam Houston Horse of the Meet with four stakes wins and a victory over all-time Quarter Horse money earner Stolis Winner in the 2010 Sam Houston Classic.

Comin Thru has made three starts in 2011 and will compete in the $100,000 Bank of America Fort Erie Championship Challenge (Grade 3).

“It’s a long ways to travel, but for that kind of money, how could I say no?,” said Kearl, 36, who began training in 1996 and currently is the seventh-leading trainer by wins in the AQHA standings.

Comin Thru, a Texas-bred gelding is looking for his first win of the year, but Kearl is optimistic about his chances.

“This horse has always done his best running in the second half of the year,” Kearl said. “I think he will run well in the Challenge.”

In addition to Comin Thru, Kearl has nominated Feature Showtime to the Peace Bridge Stakes and the Battle of the Breed Distance Stakes and  JA Call Collect to the CanAm Cup.

His assistant, Brad Mason, will load up the van on June 20 to give the Kearl horses plenty of time to settle in and get acclimated to the cooler weather, as Texas has topped the 100-degree mark throughout the month of June.

Another horseman making a long trek to Canada is Alvin Turner, who will van of six to eight horses for a 30-hour trip from Ruidoso, N.M., to Fort Erie this week.

“We'll do it in two days to give our horses a rest along the way,” said Turner. “Our goal is to arrive by June 27 to get settled in and ready for the weekend.”

Turner was one of the many horsemen who shipped horses in for the return of Quarter Horse racing to Fort Erie last October. One of his trainees, Slick Little Beduino, ran second in the 350-yard Fort Erie Bank of America Bonus Challenge Stakes on Oct. 2 and followed that up with a win two weeks later in a 110-yard dash.

“He set a track record at Lone Star Park and ran well at Fort Erie,” Turner said of the 6-year-old Kansas-bred.

Turner will saddle Howdy O Toole in the $40,000-added Merial Fort Erie Distaff Challenge. The Texas-bred daughter of Jody O Toole won last October at Fort Erie and will make her Challenge debut in the Merial, which will be run on Saturday, July 2.

“She broke her maiden at Fort Erie,” Turner said. “She got a little sore earlier this year, but has been training well for the Distaff. I think she fits.”

One reason Turner is returning to Fort Erie is his respect for the track surface at the Ontario racetrack. The 1-mile oval boasts a deep, sandy loam dirt composite.

“I really like the surface,” Turner said. “It has a nice cushion feel to it and is very forgiving. Overall, I had an excellent experience last year at Fort Erie. Both the racing officials and general public were very enthusiastic about Quarter Horse racing. I am planning on sending 20 horses in for the October 2011 meet.”

“We are all very excited about the quality of horses in the Friendship Festival of Racing,” said Eric Johnston, who is serving as racing secretary for the three-day event. “The horsemen who ran here last October were very impressed with the racing program, purses and overall experience at Fort Erie. Many had no idea what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised by the reception from the fans and professionalism by the entire Fort Erie team.”
 

Three days of live racing and special events

On Saturday, July 2, the entire card will feature Quarter Horses, with the first race set for 12:45 p.m. Sunday afternoon will feature a mixed Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing program, and Monday, July 4, is “twilight racing” beginning at 4 p.m. with both breeds in action. Free handicapping seminars and giveaways will take place each of the three days, and the nationally acclaimed Canadian Cowgirls will perform between races on Sunday and Monday. There will also be a Quarter Horse Jockey Autograph Session after Race 4 on Sunday, July 3, as well as Monday, July 4

In addition to live racing, visitors to Fort Erie can enjoy 75, 000 square feet of gaming space featuring all of the latest slot machines, and a drink in the newly launched Tiki Bar, located trackside with food and beverage specials and free concerts on Tuesday evenings.

For a complete schedule of the races, stakes and special events for the Friendship Festival of Racing, visit www.forterieracing.com.

Martha Claussen has been prominent in the Texas racing industry since 1997 as a publicist, writer and handicapper