Kirk Breed Pace matches
pacing distaffers
By Mark Ratzky, publicity – Cal Expo Harness
Friday’s main event is the
$10,000 Kirk Breed Pace for pacing fillies and mares with Hare To Eternity,
Shark Festival and Mikeleh among the major players.
First post for the 12-race
Watch and Wager LLC card is 6:15 p.m. and there is a carryover in the 50-cent Pick
6 of $12,279, with the sequence covering races six through nine on the card.
The supporting card includes
an Open Handicap Pace that goes as the first race and a California Sire Stakes
for the 3-year-old trotters.
The Kirk Breed Pace is named
for the man who was the Executive Director of the California Horse Racing Board
and previously served as a board member and general manager of the State Fair
here at Cal Expo.
Kirk Breed passed away in
2013 at the age of 73 after a battle with cancer.
During Gov. Jerry Brown’s
first term in 1979, Mr. Breed was appointed general manager at Cal Expo and was
credited with turning around the event’s financial fortunes during lean times.
He later became a lobbyist on behalf of the racing industry and also served
eight years on the Cal Expo board of directors.
Mr. Breed served as executive
director of the California Horse Racing Board from 2008 until his death. During
those five-plus years, he oversaw the regulatory agency’s day-to-day business.
He was involved in such
high-profile issues as the restriction of the use of steroids; the reduction of
permissible levels of bute; the transformation of the Santa Anita main track
from a troubled synthetic to a dirt surface.
“In his years as executive director,
Kirk Breed provided invaluable guidance and counsel to everyone who served on
the board,” said former racing board chairman David Israel. “No one was more
dedicated to assuring the welfare of the horse, the well-being of the
participants and the integrity of the sport than Kirk.”
The Oklahoma native attended
Oklahoma State on a football scholarship in the 1950s, while as the same time
helping his father, who trained a stable of quarter horses. After graduating
with a degree in zoology, Mr. Breed volunteered for the Peace Corps, spending
time in Chile and Columbia and working at the State Department in Washington,
D.C.
Looking at the Breed field,
Hare To Eternity is a 6-year-old daughter of Mister Big out of the Jenna’s
Beach Boy mare Hare Trigger who races for the partnership of Arnstine, Chambers
and Wiseman with Kathleen Plested training.
She went over the $100,000
mark in earnings when she sat a pocket trip and prevailed in a conditioned
event on March 31, then stopped up to the Distaff Open two weeks ago and
prevailed by a length over favored Mikeleh after being up close and personal
during the mile.
Mikeleh is a George Reider
trainee who carries the banner of Little Bapa LLC. The Western Ideal mare made
a big move to the lead in that aforementioned gathering at this level, showed
the way to deep stretch and was unable to contain Hare To Eternity when push
came to shove.
The Plested barn will also be
represented by Shark Festival, a Shadow Play mare owned by Medinah Racing and
Scott Ehrlich. She will be looking for her fourth win on the year from 10 trips
to the post.
Rounding out the cast for the
Kirk Breed are the Gerry Longo-conditioned pair of Sparkin Your Fire and Kiss
On The Lips; Blue Note from the Rick Cisco barn; and the Lino Pacheco-trained
Delightfully Wild.
The field for the Sire
Stakes, from the rail out: Gravel Girl with Mooney Svendsen; Bo Plenty,
George Luster; Indio Azteca, who will be guided by Steve Wiseman; Never Onebadchange,
Pierre Girard; Lodi Puppycat with Luke Plano; and Lodi Jazz Player, who will
have the services of Chip Lackey.
