Sunday, March 28, 1999
A wonderful day at the races
Inaugural Gallery Stakes a hit
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE - Beautiful thoroughbreds, thousands of people and a lot of sunshine. All of the elements for a great horse race.
A record crowd of 21,028 spun the turnstiles at Turfway Park on Saturday for the track's biggest day of the year — the Gallery Furniture.com Stakes, one of only four horse races in the country to pay its winner $750,000. A colt named Stephen Got Even finished first to take the handmade blanket of mums.
The attendance quickly allayed any concerns that the new race name, after 16 years as the Jim Beam Stakes, would discourage fans.
“It's a wonderful, wonderful day,” said Judy Taylor, lobbyist for Keeneland. The Lexington track became one of Turfway's new owners last week. The partnership of
Keeneland, casino giant Harrah's and gaming company Dreamport bought the track for $37 million.
“The weather, the field, no UK, no UC (in the Final Four), free sweat shirts,” said Robert Forbeck, track spokesman, listing the positives of the day. “It's awesome.”
The new drink, the Raspberry Recliner, was a big hit, too. Lots of people, like Jim Keesling of West Chester, bought it just for the commem orative glass. But many commented to bartenders that Recliners tasted a whole lot better than the bourbon-based Golden Beamers of years past.
In the VIP tent, some 2,000 people dined on prime rib, chicken and Caesar salad as they mingled with some of Northern Kentucky's movers and shakers. The length of two football fields, the tent was full of well-known people, includ ing Corporex Cos. president Bill Butler, local lawyers, TV anchors and lawmakers.
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Southgate, was on hand to present a trophy after the second race. He hoped it would go to his daughter, one of the owners of a horse, but her Bourbon Belle didn't win.
Jockey Shane Sellers, a lo cal favorite, was humble after his win atop Stephen Got Even: “I was just sitting in the right spot on the right horse.” The colt got its name from a song that owner Stephen Hilbert's uncle sang to him when he was a child.
Fans such as Katie Riesenbeck and Amy Stiens, both of Western Hills, were thrilled to see the No.8 horse cross the finish line first. Though they insisted they were amateur bettors, they turned $6 into more than $300 by picking the top three finishers.
“I come for social time, really,” Ms. Riesenbeck said as she put her new bills in order, folded them and put them in her purse.
They sprung for beers for their less-lucky friends.
The track's new owners started the day on the backside, where they ate breakfast with the people who work with the horses. They later presented trophies to winners after two races.
Bill New of Newcastle, Ind., knew Saturday's crowd was big. He knew because he had been to more than a dozen Jim Beam Stakes races “and never once had to park in a cow pasture before.”
In spite of the dozens of signs and free Gallery sweat shirts on literally thousands of fans' backs, he didn't think the track seemed much different than on any Beam day.
“That part doesn't matter,” he said. “We just like it. We'd come no matter what.”
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