Prairie Meadows will add a classic connection when its thoroughbred meet opens on April 22

Altoona, IA - April 8, 2011 - Trainer Chip Woolley Jr., who won the 2009 Kentucky Derby with Mine That Bird, said he will race a 13-horse stable at the Altoona track.

Woolley, who is at Sunland Park in New Mexico, said he heard good reviews from trainers who came to Prairie Meadows for the first time in 2010.

“They liked the facility, said it was great, and they really enjoyed themselves out there,” Woolley said. “And their horses ran well.

“I’ve been to the facility there, but I’ve never run there. I just think it’s a real nice facility for sure.”

In 2009, Woolley sent out Mine That Bird to post one of the most shocking victories in Kentucky Derby history. At 50-1, Mine That Bird charged from last to first while receiving a dream trip under jockey Calvin Borel. Borel kept Mine That Bird on the rail, and almost magically had an opening develop whenever he needed one.

Mine That Bird went on to finish a closing second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont Stakes.

Woolley said he doesn’t have a Mine That Bird in his stable this year, but is hopeful his horses should fit in well at Prairie Meadows. He plans to van his horses to Iowa next week.

“I’ll bring four or five maidens (horses that haven’t won), a couple allowance types, and three or four claimers,” he said. “I’m really not bringing anything super special, but we’ll see what develops. I hope we have the opportunity to pick some horses up once we get out there.”

Woolley is just one of the new stables that Prairie Meadows hopes to add this season, which will be the second year of its revamped racing format. Last year, Prairie Meadows split its breeds into three separate meets — 67 days for thoroughbreds, 26 days for quarter horses and 10 days for standardbreds.

After fighting horse shortages the past several years — partly because of the glut of racing in the Midwest in the spring, partly because the horse population has shrunk nationwide — Prairie Meadows is hoping to have most of its 1,350 stalls filled.

Last year, it usually had approximately 1,100 horses at a given time. This year, racing secretary Dan Doocy, who oversees the thoroughbred meet, said he may end up with more requests than he has stalls.

“I’m more comfortable now than I’ve ever been that we will have a near-capacity to a capacity barn area,” Doocy said. “I think we upgraded significantly last year, and I think we’ve had more success this year in getting trainers out of the Southwest.”

Chris Hartman, who was one of the 2010 newcomers, is the leading trainer at Sunland Park with 39 wins and is expected back. Expected to come here for the first time are Jon Arnett and Bart Hone, who are fourth and seventh in the Sunland standings. Hone is also the seventh-leading trainer at Turf Paradise in Arizona.

Roger Brueggemann, who trains for the Midwest Thoroughbreds partnership, is expected to have 26 horses at Prairie Meadows.

Doocy noted that nothing is certain until the horses arrive, especially now that many owners are racing fewer horses.

“I’m cautious, just because I was never so wrong as I was last year,” Doocy said. “I really thought last year recruiting we were going to nail it. We gained 23 trainers and 250 head of horses that we hadn’t had, and we were flat (in horse numbers). Our horse population was flat, because the stables were getting smaller.”

read more: Des Moines Register