Remember the harness racing-themed movie earlier this year called "Amazing Racer"? The equine star of the movie was Western Hurricane who spent most of his career racing at The Meadows and Pompano Park before heading out to Cal Expo where his career finally stalled at the age of nine. Western Hurricane's last start was made back on January 17; a second place finish in a low-level conditioned claiming event, his third start this year.
Last Year, at the age of eight, Western Hurricane had only one victory out of seven starts. Clearly, his best days had passed so his connections decided to retire him. For his lifetime, Western Hurricane's career statistics are 172-26-19-30 with earnings of $84,572 with a lifetime mark of 1:53.3 set at Pompano Park at the age of four. Starting mid-May, he will be at his new home enjoying retirement with his partner, another retired standardbred named "Archie". He may not have been a champion, but his connections did the right thing; something all race horses deserve. Here's wishing Western Hurricane a long happy retirement.
We all pretty much know how post positions are drawn, but do you know the specifics? Leighton Worthy at Cal-Expo goes into detail on how the process goes, from the gathering of entries to the assignment of post positions. For the most part, each track regardless of breed follows the same process.
History buffs may be interested in this page from the Herald Statesman out of Yonkers, New York back on October 26, 1967. You can see the entries for Thursday night at Yonkers, the results from Wednesday night as well as a couple articles. The NYSS finals went back then for $60,000. On that Thursday night, the cheapest overnight race was the first race with a purse of $1,500. It's interesting to see the drivers who competed back then, Read how the Hudson Filly Trot was competed the night before in 2:06.1 and won by Flamboyant who was driven by who else but William Haughton. This comes courtesy of 'Roosevelt Raceway' on Facebook.
2 comments:
Thank you Allan for letting us know that Western Hurricane got the deserved retirement , and that he will have a great life , and be protected ,as the Harness Racing Horse , movie star , that he is. I now wish the next step is the finale for him, where he will have his picture and a story about him in a Hall Of Fame setting . Thank you. Monica Thors
From Shane Gosselin To the owners of Western Hurricane and the movie Amazing Racer. My uncle passed away last year of a stroke. His passion was sulky racing in Alberta, Canada. His favorite horse that he trained and drove looked exactly like Western Hurricane. My mom Sandy and I watched Amazing Racer and cried with joy and memories of my Uncle Bob through the whole show. Thank you for bringing back wonderful memories of my uncle Bob
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