NEWS
Grand Forks to remain in training after scratch
Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 4:52 PM
by Ed DeRosa
Owner-trainer Kathleen Costello will not let the paddock scratch of her 12-year-old Quiet American mare Grand Forks deter her from running the mare this year even though the mare’s next start would be her first in more than nine years.
Stewards scratched Grand Forks from the fifth race on Wednesday at Churchill Downs out of concern for the bettors and the mare. Grand Forks was listed as 50-to-1 on the morning line in the 6 1/2-furlong race for $5,000 claimers but was bet down to around 20-to-1 with 14 minutes to post.
“Because she hasn’t run in a long time, they were skeptical,” Costello said after the scratch. “She passed a vet’s inspection twice, the identifier looked at her twice, and the stewards gave me the ‘okay’ three times before changing their minds in the paddock.
“It’s fine and that’s their decision; I just wish they would have told me they weren’t going to let her run before I shipped her,” added Costello, who has yet to start a horse as an owner or trainer.
“We decided to err on the side of caution to protect the animal and the betting public,” said retired Racing Hall of Fame trainer and Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Chief Steward John Veitch. “While Grand Forks passed veterinarian inspections twice prior to the race, we felt it was in the best interest of both the betting public and the horse that we get more information before she is allowed to run again.
“We told Costello that we’d like to inspect the horse before and after a workout before allowing Grand Forks to return to the races. It was a tough call, but we made our decision with the betting public and the horse in mind.”
Going into Wednesday’s race, Grand Forks had three published workouts at the Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, including a gate workout in :50 for four furlongs on November 7 and another gate workout five days later going five furlongs in 1:06.
Costello acquired the mare from Rick Trontz’s Hopewell Farm this spring after Grand Forks went five consecutive years without producing a foal. She delivered a Skip Away filly in 2004, but the foal died a month later.
“[Hopewell] basically gave up on her because she couldn’t carry a foal to term,” Costello said. “They were looking to give her away this spring, and I got the bug to start riding again.”
“She loved to gallop and had so much spirit, so I decided to give her a shot and took her to the track.”
Ian P. D. Jory claimed Grand Forks for Trontz for $32,000 on August 7, 2000, at Del Mar. Trontz retired her soon thereafter. She won three of 11 starts, including a pair of stakes races at Turf Paradise, and earned $80,900.
“[Costello] was working for me, and we let her go, and she wanted to keep [Grand Forks], and I said that was fine because we couldn’t get her into foal,” Trontz said. “She came back to the office because she wanted the papers. I had made her sign something saying she wouldn’t breed her, but I never thought she’d tried to race her. I don’t think [Grand Forks] should be racing. I think it’s kind of cruel to do it, but that’s up to [Costello]. It’s definitely her horse.”
Costello said that a phone call from Michael Blowen of Old Friends, a Thoroughbred retirement farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, was the only one she received regarding retiring the horse. She turned him down, saying that Grand Forks is not only her racehorse but also her pet, and the mare will always have a home with her.
Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times
