For Southwest tracks, extreme heat is a regular complication

Silvercents put on a show at Lone Star Park on Sunday when she became yet another winner for the hot freshman sire Goldencents.

Her performance was even more impressive considering the conditions.

The temperature hit an afternoon high of 103 degrees as the 2-year-old cruised by 4 3/4 lengths in the maiden special weight. The win came the same day Belmont Park canceled its card due to extreme heat. Delaware Park and Parx Racing also canceled programs this week due to the heat wave on the East Coast.

In the Southwest, tracks like Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., hold night cards to combat the heat, and Lone Star, near Dallas, races nights on Thursdays and Fridays. Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., does not have lights for night racing, but has a later afternoon post that stretches some of its card into the early evening. The tracks make ice, water, and hoses available to the card’s participants, while some feature misting fans in the paddock.

Trainer Allen Milligan, who on Friday was sending horses to Louisiana Downs from the recently closed Churchill, long has competed in Bossier City.

“Racing there, it’s the hottest place I’ve ever been,” he said. “It’s just so humid and hot, when you open your door in the morning you’ve just got to take a deep breath.”

Richard Eramia, the leading rider at Lone Star who also competes at Louisiana Downs, said he found it particularly warm in Bossier City on Monday.

“I had to take off the last race,” he said. “I was overheated.”

Eramia follows a couple of protocols to battle back against high temperatures in Texas and the humidity in Louisiana.

“You take a lot of vitamins, and water, and potassium,” he said.

Milligan said that for the horses in his care, his first line of defense against the summer heat is electrolytes.

“The main thing is to make sure they get plenty of electrolytes, in the water and in the feed,” he said. “June, July, and August, we double up on electrolytes.”

Milligan said that in the summer months, horses heading out for a race are hosed down for an extended period before leaving his barn – and halfway over to the grandstand are doused in ice water carried in buckets by his staff.

“We just try to get them over to the paddock as cool as we can get them,” he said.

As for Eramia, he ultimately prefers summer racing to winter racing.

“I’d take the heat no matter what,” he said. “I don’t like the cold weather!”

Shotgun Kowboy to Remington

Lone Star Park Handicap winner Shotgun Kowboy had been under consideration for Friday night’s Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows, but is bypassing the race to freshen for the Remington Park meet, according to his trainer, C.R. Trout.

Trout said Shotgun Kowboy is a candidate for Remington’s $175,000 Governor’s Cup on Sept. 30 and the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup on Oct. 19. Shotgun Kowboy is a two-time winner of the Classics Cup, which is restricted to horses bred in Oklahoma.

Shotgun Kowboy won the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap in his most recent start May 27.

Owner-breeder Beard dies

David Beard, who bred and raced the multiple graded stakes winner Mystery Storm, died June 22, according to an obituary from Reeder-Davis Funeral Home in Ore City, Texas. He was 82.

Beard was a prominent breeder and owner who regularly raced in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Mystery Storm won the Southwest and Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn in 1995. Beard also campaigned 1990 Essex Handicap and Hot Springs Stakes winner Forli Light.

Beard founded the Catfish King franchise of restaurants and his survivors include his wife, Margie.

Clenbuterol rules toughened

The New Mexico Racing Commission has announced the bronchodilator clenbuterol will now be regarded as a Class 3 controlled substance in the state in a move that enables criminal prosecution of horsemen found to be illegally in possession of the drug. The agency worked with the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy on the controlled substance designation, according to Izzy Trejo, executive director of the New Mexico Racing Commission.

“There are still a small handful of horsemen out there that did not seem to get the memo that New Mexico has a permitted level of zero when it comes to clenbuterol,” Trejo said in a press release.

Positive tests for clenbuterol in New Mexico numbered 85 in 2015, according to the press release, but dropped to 51 in 2017.

Smith, trials at Ruidoso Downs

Ruidoso Downs will feature trial races for three consecutive cards starting Friday, and on Sunday will close out the weekend by welcoming Triple Crown-winning jockey Mike Smith home to his native New Mexico. Smith will be in from his Southern California base to sign posters to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

The trials Friday and Saturday will be for the Grade 1, $1 million Rainbow Futurity for Quarter Horses, with 14 trials on each program. There were a total of 276 entrants in the trials – led by Ruidoso Futurity winner Blue Corazon – with all gunning for the 10 spots in the finale July 22. The five fastest qualifiers from each card will advance to the Rainbow. There are nine trials Sunday for the $801,564 Rainbow Derby, with the card drawing Ruidoso Derby winner Jess Move You.

◗ The Downs at Albuquerque in New Mexico announced it handled $857,874 on its threeday opening weekend from all sources, a 37 percent increase from the corresponding dates in 2017. Albuquerque averaged 8.9 horses per Thoroughbred race and 9.3 horses per Quarter Horse race from last Friday night through Sunday.

◗ Kelly O’Hara, a former jockey who works as racing development manager for Remington Park, has been named Remington’s main television host and paddock handicapper. O’Hara had been a guest host alongside Chris Kotulak, who has taken a position as chief operating officer of Fonner Park.

◗ Horses nearing retirement can be paraded before prospective new owners Saturday at Lone Star. Owners and trainers can negotiate sales privately in the event, which will start at 10 a.m. in the paddock area. There also will be vendors featuring tack, artwork, and concessions. The event is free and open to the public.