Portland Meadows Season Recap

Portland Meadows wrapped up its 67^th live horse racing season this past weekend, concluding a 2013-14 meet that saw a number of racing and wagering firsts for Oregon racing fans. Racing opened on July 21, with Picture Me Rolln and jockey Ruben Camacho winning the first race of opening day, and ended on January 26 with a win in the final by Hock and Jorge Rosales. Along with the success at the track, there was success in the business office at Portland Meadows as well, as all wagering at the track was up 15 per cent over last year.

Maddie's Gold emerges as a star

Among the more notable racing performances, Maddie’s Gold and Jet Set Kitten set themselves up as Oregon-breds to watch as they claimed the top two stakes events for juveniles in the Bill Wineberg Stakes and the Janet Wineberg Stakes. Maddie’s Gold came back two weeks ago to win the Portland Meadows Derby in his first three-year-old start, giving him two wins in three starts at Portland. Another big performance was turned in by Crew Leader, when he won the Portland Mile with a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

Kubinova captures first riding title

After a second place finish in the standings last year, Eliska Kubinova returned to Portland to capture the thoroughbred riding title, guiding her mounts to 55 wins despite the fact she spent most of the summer splitting her time between Portland and Emerald Downs (winning another 55 races at the Seattle track).  Trainer Jim Ferguson took that thoroughbred title with 34 horses reaching the winner’s circle, including three stakes winners.  The Leading Owner award ended in a tie this season, with Art McFadden and Howard Belvoir each having nine winners.