PubDate: 04-28-2013 Section: C Zone: Main Page: 8 Co- lor: C: Booked M: Booked Y: Booked K: Used Time: 04-26-2013 13:20

1983 1981 1978 1973 1970 1969 Black Mackee’s Auto dealer Jack Playfair’s first Jerry Taketa, Playfair became Turbulator, which began April 6, 1984 daughter, Miss Mackee, Pring’s Appleway 2-year-old Horse of once Playfair's the first western the season as a maiden, Sept. 16, 1967 Oct. 17, 1965 The city’s longest won the first of her Leasing Corp. the Meeting, Black top apprentice, track to o!er finished it as Horse of the Trainer Bill Cummings Hall of Famer Johnny Longden recorded Aug. 30, 1986 racing season, unprecedented 11 bought the track Mackee, went on to took his third regular night Meeting after winning a saddled five horses and, career victory No. 6,020 aboard Mr. Mose. An anniversary crowd of incorporating 104 Playfair stakes races. and operated it become the area’s title in a row. thoroughbred record seven straight races. astonishingly, all five won. 10,466, largest in more than days, opened. for eight years. dominant sire. racing. 1964 1986 40 years, marked Playfair’s Smogy Dew followed her Longacres Derby win with a . Gray Satan won the 50th season Spokane Derby victory that helped her become one of $62,800 Spokane the state’s best and most-loved race mares. Futurity, richest race in Black Mackee Turbulator Smogy Dew track history as one of a Miss Mackee 1963 record 190 wins for New general manager George C. Manos champion Jose Corrales. began upgrading the physical plant and touched o! two decades of Aug. 28, 1987 Jockey Gray Satan unprecedented success. superstar rallied Glamour Betty to win the feature race at the track’s Oct. 5, 1958 51st birthday party. Collaborator, fresh from an easy victory in the Spokane Derby, trounced older rivals December 1988 in the Playfair Mile under a Weeks after general manager Collaborator daunting 137 pounds. Mark Arnold resigned and claimed the Washington Commission was Sept. 7, 1947 unresponsive to the demands Lighted Way won the of a changing industry, first of his eight Playfair Jack Pring announced he stakes races, including would not continue to run three renewals of the the track. Harvest Handicap. Smogy Dew strides toward the finish. 1989 Eastern Washington Oct. 3, 1946 Racing, Inc., led by Lighted Way Eddie Plesa, on the pizza products BlackBlack MackeeMackee relaxesrelaxes inin hishis stall.stall. way to the riding supplier Joe Rizzuto, title, won with six of a longtime horse his seven mounts. owner and part-time JerryJerry TaketaTaketa waswas aa toptop NorthwestNorthwest jockey.jockey. trainer, leased Playfair Turbulator, Horse of the Meeting, 1969 for a 98-day season. 1937 Johnny Adams won the riding title on his way to the National Sept. 19, 1993 Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Scott Bergsrud, who won three consecutive riding titles, rode six winners in F Cyclonic one day for the second I Aug. 30, 1935 time in 10 weeks. N Playfair Race Course came into I being with 16 consecutive days of S racing at the refurbished 1995 H fairgrounds. There was satellite wagering on every race for the first time. BillBill ShoemakerShoemaker signssigns autographsautographs forfor PlayfairPlayfair crowd.crowd. 1933 After a two-decade 2000 ban, the state Ruth Parton was the first woman legislature legalized After a three-year Winner of the 1910 Derby poses for the camera. licensedlicensed asas aa trainertrainer inin thethe U.S.U.S. hiatus, Lilac City Winner of the 1910 Derby poses for the camera. pari-mutuel betting. Racing Association, a TheThe overgrownovergrown tracktrack andand infieldinfield afterafter demolition.demolition. horsemen’s group, Sept. 4, 1930 operated a cold, Cyclonic, owned by Ruth Parton, the snowy fall season that 2001 ended on Dec. 17, region’s first top Nevada-based which turned out to 1916 horsewoman, cantered casino developer , be the city’s final day May 27, 2003 Albert Johnson to his third straight and race-track a native of rural of horse racing. After failing to March 2004 2005 2009 Oct. 11, 1887 Sept. 10, 1901 1909 1910 Spokane Derby win. operator Eric reach contract Following an auction The City of Larry Stone’s SCAFCO, Spokane The Washington and The Spokane The state After Thomas Milan, Wash., leased Nelson terms with of Playfair’s Spokane paid which manufactures Idaho Fair opened Interstate Fair banished Calhoun, named for began a Hall of Playfair for both live horsemen’s groups, equipment and Appleway steel studs and track’s on grounds now made its debut formal the Chicago Tribune Fame riding racing and o!-track artifacts, the ancient Leasing $6.3 grain-storage structures, occupied by Corbin on 63 acres near wagering on sports editor, won career that betting. Nelson vacated his history lease and grandstand and million for the bought 45 acres for $2.1 Park, launching Altamont and horse races, the 1910 Spokane included two surrendered his adjoining barns property with million and began to Spokane’s first race Main with a although Derby, he posed with operating license. were demolished. plans to build a develop the barren site meet that attracted half-mile track racing Derby queen victories. new sewage into Playfair Commerce reputable regional and a wooden continued at Genevieve Paterson treatment plant. Park. competition. grandstand. county fairs. and his owner. A look back at Playfair More than century of horse racing in Spokane

Research by Jim Price Graphic by Molly Quinn

Because horse racing entertained as many as 15 million Inland Northwest spectators at one facility for There they go in 1937: Starting-gate pioneer Clay Puett designed and built this more than a century, it once would have been unimaginable to think that its rich history could come open-stall gate for his use as the starter during Playfair’s first few seasons. to an end. The oak grandstand, built for the Spokane Interstate Fair, became the home of Playfair Race Course. Thoroughbred, harness and quarter horses raced in front of it. So did automobiles, motorcycles and boats. Famous jockeys rode there. Fans cheered their regionally prominent equine favorites. Trainers, grooms, hay and harness dealers made their living there. But in 2004, a wrecking ball had the last word.

ABOVE: Here is a Playfair crowd in 1937. Many thousands of fans crowded into the stands on major stakes-race days before the Turf Club enclosed the south end.

RIGHT: Shown here in 1915 with its distinctive original cupolas, the Spokane track’s grandstand, designed by Kirtland Cutter, the city’s best-known architect, gained a new roof after a surviving a major fire and became America’s fourth-oldest horse-racing facility.

SOURCES: The Spokesman-Review file photos; Washington Horse Breeders Association

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