Miles City, MT.. Anybody?
 

Has anyone been? Know of? New to me. Quarters.. Paints.. TB's.. Noted in the PP's from last week was owner-trainer-breeder Gale Three Irons (!!). Pretty wild...

http://www.drf.com/drfDownloadPastPe...ATE=17&RACE=99

Photos of Miles City action...

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/p...orse-race.html

Never been and doubt I want to go if they only run races between 5 - 6 furlongs. Check out the track records. MAIN TRACKDISTANCEHORSEAGEWGT.TIME DATE5 Furs. Baron's Ruler60:591 May 30, 19795 1/4 Furs. Crafty Lamont31241:091 May 17, 20085 1/2 Furs. Desert Hostage41321:081 May 20, 2006Abt. 6 Furs. Boo Roo81271:10 May 22, 20056 Furs. Concert Master61241:284 May 18, 2008
It is wierd that the 5 1/2 is faster than the 5 1/4 and check out the difference between the "About" 6 furlongs and the actual 6 furlongs. That is a pretty big miss for an about distance. Much cloer to 5 1/2 than 6.

Steve, I live in Great Falls but here's what I know. The 'circuit' here starts in Miles City with the Annual Bucking Horse Sale (3rd weekend in May) and a couple of days of racing goes along with it. The Bucking Horse Sale is one of the best rodeo stock sales in the country (no joke). They have the pari-mutual racing on Saturday and Sunday of the 4 day extravaganza. The racing is a combo of Quarters and Thouroughbreds. Pools are very small, a $20 win bet can cut your horses odds in half. The 'about' 5F distance is common in Miles City. They usually have a bit of a tough time finding jockeys and many of them will be +8lbs over the program listing. Most of the trainers are locals and many are Native Americans. In Great Falls we will have 5 days of racing this year comprising the last two weekends of July. It is the same mix of QH's and TB's. The TB's race at the 'about' 5F distance or 7F. (Our '5F' races are actually 5F and 70 yds.) Most of the fields are 6-7 horses and the trainers will come down from Lethbridge, Canada to help supply stock for the Great Falls meet. Again, the pools are extremely small but it still can be fun to see them run 'live'. The Montana circuit finishes in Billings with about a 20 day meet that wraps up around Labor Day. In Billings, you have better crowds and a slightly larger handle. It is amazing we still have the opportunity to see live racing here as every year the discussion comes up about shutting it down. There are 8 OTB locations in Montana and ours here in Great Falls is pretty nice. We get most major tracks and have a good variety.

Growing up in Omaha and following the Nebraska cirucit, the end of the racing season would finish up at Atokad Park in South Sioux City and I would see a few horses and trainers that would come down from Montana after the Billings meet would end. They usually brought some pretty live horses. In it's day the meets at both Great Falls and Billings would have some pretty nice crowds and handles. It is barely hanging on at this point..........

Our real claim to fame here is that Great Falls is the home of Al & Joyce Bell who bred and briefly owned Medalia D'Oro before selling him to Edmund Gann. The dam of Medalia D'Oro (Cappuchino Bay) is due to drop a foal any day now after being bred to Street Sense. Kinda cool.........

Do they race Paints and/or Appys as well? The brown and white horse in that photo isn't a QH or TB, very likely an Appy.

Appaloosa's have different color patters (and are also of their own registry):

http://www.appaloosaproject.info/

Paint, you think, then?

gotta love a place that runs allowance Purse: $1,900

Stake race is Purse: $3,000 - $6,200

Without knowing a horses actual breeding it's correct to say Pinto. Paint horses trace to TB & QH breeding, while a Pinto can be of any breed. This particular horse has piebald markings.

Interesting trivia - In National Velvet "The Pie" was called so because of his piebald marking in the book, but when they did the movie they used a horse of no marking. Thus, in the movie they should have called him "The Chestnut" or "The Nut" :D

I would have cost you money on this one. Haven't made it to any of the Montana tracks yet, but like Gate Dancer said, I'm sure it's great fun for the locals to see some live racing.

While these venues don't hold much appeal for most racing aficionados, it's important that we still have these tracks. This year I'm planning to visit Kin Park (British Columbia) and Eureka Downs (Kansas).

total mutuel for 12 races last sunday was $35,000, biggest longshot to win paid $12

In Great Falls it is only TB's and QH's................Miles City has some 'Mixed' breed races. I'm sure the brown/white in the photo must be one of them.

Nebraska racing was killed when Iowa approved riverboat gambling with Omaha and South Sioux City feeling the brunt of the effect. Canterbury and Prairie Meadows also helped siphon away horses from the Atokad meet. Ak-Sar-Ben's demise involved other factors in addition to the Iowa competition. (too numerous to mention)

Atokad has a weekend meet usually in Septemeber now to make sure they qualify for simulcasting. Nebraska law requires each venue to have at least 3 days of 'live' racing to continue their simulcast license. Horseman's Park in Omaha conducts the meet there, usually 4-6 races per day on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I checked with the editor of a "Major Horsie Magazine" :p and she confirmed it is a Paint.

Since it is racing one can assume it's a TB or a QH, but did she actually look at the horses registry papers? :p

You can't be wrong to say Pinto since a pinto can be a Paint, but a Paint is not always a Pinto.

Here in Pocatello, in our 4 weekend season I have seen all breeds race...QH, T-breds as well as appaloosas and paints. I'm not sure if the appaloosas are mixed but they race against the QHs. Could be a this part of the country type of thing.

LOLOLOL- she said the same thing!!!

She said that if it's racing, it has to be 100% QH blood. :p

GD,

Thanks so much for the info... Pretty interesting.