THAT'S A WRAP ON 2024 RACING SEASON!
The Horses at Evergreen Park 2024 is in the books and it was another great summer of racing at J.D.A. Raceway.
Fourteen of the 16 scheduled race days were completed. Two had to be cancelled because of a shortage of horses.
There was only one day (August 24) when weather might have been a problem, but the very forgiving J.D.A. track allowed all five races to be completed even though the wet stuff, which started the day before, kept coming down all day.
The Horses this year came very close to matching or beating the handle record of $1,520,283 set in 2023.
This year, according to stats man Jay Backwell, betters spent $1,496,417 over 97 races for an average of $106,866 per day – about $24,000 short of the record.
There were two stakes races on the final day – the Mr. Mike’s Paint The Park Purple – Race For The Cure and the J.D.A. Raceway Stakes.
Causin Micheif - owned by Garry Marks, trained by Darcy Peterson and Murray Reynolds and ridden by Garfield Gordon – was the easy winner over Loud Fusaichi and Landy Kyle in the four-horse race over six furlongs.
Marks pocketed the majority of the $15,750 in purse money.
The day, sponsored by Mr. Mike’s, was a an event to raise awareness about pancreatic cancer.
Garfield was back in the saddle for the J.D.A. Race pushing Saburo’s Grace (photo left in white) to a neck victory over Father O’Flaherty, with Orlando Foster on board, in a race that went over six furlongs with a purse of $16,050.
Foster had the last laugh, though, winning Top Jockey award for the Evergreen Park meet.
Lyle Magnuson, who was the Top Trainer of 2024, is Saburo’s Grace’s trainer while Barbara Norlander is the owner.
Lanny Mac finished third in that race while the Evergreen Park Racing Club horse Real Justice ended up sixth, but had a great season with two wins.
Many of the horses that spent the summer at Evergreen Park finished up the season at the Rocky Mountain Turf Club in Lethbridge over September and October.
Racing fans who want to continue to get their bet on off track can do so year-round at the Wild Horse Casino & Lounge, which is open until 1 a.m. daily.