This past weekend was full of excitement as the ABSS Alberta Princess Three Year Old Fillies Elimination Stakes race was the 6th race on Saturday, May 27th. Big contenders were battling for the win, such as Mike Hennessy, Jim Marino and William Tainsh JR just to name a few.
The eyes were on driver Keith Clark, as he was driving TAHUYA GAMEDAY for Erik Neyhart, a top trainer from Fraser Downs in Surrey, BC. His current standings at Fraser Downs from January 1st to April 22, 2017 is 97-16-11-7, and has a UTRS of .252.
This was Neyhart’s first time at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino.
Neyhart was here for the weekend specifically for this stakes race. “I’ve brought four horses, and we’re here today to race in one of the elimination sire stakes,” said Neyhart.
The one horse that Neyhart was gushing about was his three-year-old filly, TAHUYA GAMEDAY. She is the one Neyhart brought specifically for the stakes race.
“[She’s] a nice three-year-old filly that we bred and raised, and she turned out pretty good so we’re here to compete in the sire stakes with her,” said Neyhart.
The other horses that Neyhart brought were TAHUYA RICO, TAHUYA ROADSTER and TAHUYA KNOW. While Neyhart admits that he likes his three-year-old filly, TAHUYA GAMEDAY, he said he likes all horses equally.
“I don’t have favourites, I like them all,” said Neyhart. “We like the three-year-old filly, but the other ones have been good to us, so we like them too.”
The name TAHUYA is named after his parents’ farm, which resided in Tahuya, Washington.
Currently living in Washington State, where the Standardbred industry isn’t huge, Neyhart’s start in the
industry began with his father buying some Standardbred horses.
“Years ago my dad bought some Standardbred horses, that’s sort of what got me into it,” said Neyhart. “We’re [now] in the horse business. We’ve been breeding and raising horses for a long time.”
To get his horses ready, Neyhart follows the same routine every time, and doesn’t believe in pre-race rituals or lucky charms.
“From the start, you break them, get them going, got to train them down,” said Neyhart. “But when we’re getting ready for a race like this, we trained her before we got here. We made sure she was ready to come. We raced her one start before, and she seemed to do good, so she’s prepped and ready to race.”
When asked if we’ll see him again this summer, Neyhart is going to see how it goes. “I hope [we’ll be racing at Century Downs again]. [We’ll see how it goes] for the next couple of weeks, and [we hope] it’ll make us come back and race some more here,” said Neyhart.
TAHUYA GAMEDAY, with Keith Clark, finished fourth in the 6th race on Saturday, TAHUYA KNOW, with Rene Goulet, finished fourth in the 2nd race, and TAHUYA RICO, with Mike Hennessy, finished last in the 6th race on Sunday. Neyhart didn’t take home a win this weekend, but we’re hoping to see him and the TAHUYA group again this summer.
If you’re planning to join us at the track this weekend, be sure to stop by Sunday, June 4th. The Alberta Standardbred Horse Association (ASHA) will be here with the Olds & District Hospice Society for Let the Sun Shine.
To catch up on all that’s happening at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino, be sure to check out our website at www.centurydowns.com, and follow our social media channels @CenturyDowns.