Longshots Forest Lake, Waha Wild close out Evangeline Downs
meet
Forest Lake and Waha Wild
recorded upsets in the
Evangeline
Downs Starlet and
Evangeline
Downs Star, respectively, for
two-year-olds at Evangeline Downs on Saturday evening,
the closing night of the 2014 spring/summer Thoroughbred season. Each event was
contested at the distance of six furlongs on the main track that was labeled
sloppy after persistent rainfall over the past 48 hours.
Owned by former NFL Quarterback Jake Delhomme, Forest Lake
kicked clear from her nine rivals after dueling for the lead in the early
stages of the $78,750 Starlet, eventually hitting the finish line two lengths clear while covering the distance in a time of 1:12
2/5. Ridden by Hector
Santiago and trained by Delhomme’s father, Jerry Delhomme, Forest Lake paid $66
as a 32-1 longshot.
The bay daughter of Forestry improved her record to 5-2-1-0 while taking her
first stakes win and has now banked $69,020 lifetime.
Waha Wild, ridden by Coby Bourque, swept by the early
leaders in the final 100 yards of Saturday’s $75,250 Star to score by three
parts of a length over 6-5 favorite Gotta Get Paid. The Offlee Wild Oklahoma-bred gelding covered the
distance in 1:12 3/5 to earn his initial lifetime victory and pay $17.80 at odds
of nearly 8-1. Trained by Harlan Boutte for owner/breeder Dream Walkin Farms, Waha
Wild finished a head second in his career debut on August 1 and now boasts
$49,400 in earnings.
Colby Hernandez and Karl Broberg
topped the jockey and trainer standings for the 84-night
spring/summer Thoroughbred season at Evangeline.
Both Hernandez and Broberg led the standings in total wins and purse money
earned.
From a race-riding family that includes older brother B.
J., younger sister Courtney, and father, Brian, 2014 has been a breakout year for
Hernandez. The 25-year-old native of Lafayette, Louisiana, not only earned his second
leading rider title (having led the standings in 2008) at Evangeline Downs, but
also recorded his 1,000th career victory back in March at Delta Downs. Hernandez
won at a rate of 23 percent while visiting the winner’s circle a total of 120 times
from 530 mounts during the season en route to amassing more than $1.81
million in purse earnings.
Veteran reinsman Joe Patin Jr. was a distant second
behind Hernandez with 95 victories and purse earnings of $1.61 million. Diego
Saenz, the leading rider the past three seasons at the Opelousas, Louisiana,
venue, was atop the leaderboard when
he suffered a knee injury in July, and ended up in the third spot with totals of
72 wins and $1.53 million in purse earnings from only 300 mounts.
In the trainer’s race, it was once again no race at all as Broberg and his stable scored at a 29
percent clip and easily notched his fourth consecutive training title in Cajun Country. The 43-year-old Arlington, Texas,
resident recorded 66 wins including the meet’s biggest race, the $300,000 Evangeline
Downs
Turf Sprint with Heitai, en route to purse earnings of more than $1.2 million.
Keith Bourqeois, a multiple former leading trainer here at Evangeline, has a
strong season with 51 wins and $723,000 in purses earned. Despite hitting at
just 1 percent below Broberg, Bourgeois could not keep pace in the final stages of the
season and settled for the runner-up position, a spot he has held for three of the
past four seasons. Scotty Gelner, a second generation horseman, was third in the
final standings with totals of 31 wins and $419,000 in purse earnings.
Heitai, the Frank and Barbara Rowell homebred son of
Fusaichi Pegasus, won all three of his starts at the meet, including the
Turf Sprint, Need for Speed and Louisiana Legends Night Sprint
en route to being named Horse of the Meet.
Racing will resume at Evangeline Downs with the 2014 fall Quarter Horse season on October 1. The
season will consist of 46 exciting nights of racing, primarily on a
four-evening-a-week schedule, Wednesday thru Saturday, with a first post of 5:45
p.m. (CT).
Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com