By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport

 

SCENE & HEARD:  Without a lot of fanfare, our very own Peter Redekop was back in the limelight earlier this week when his five-year-old Kentucky-bred Anyportinastorm was named 2019 Horse of the Meeting at Emerald Downs.

Trained by Blaine Wright, Anyportinastorm ran season-fastest times at both six and six-and-a-half furlongs, winning the Governor’s Stakes in 1:07.54 and Budweiser Stakes in 1:14.35.  In addition to Horse of the Meeting, he was also voted Top Sprinter and Top Older Horse.  Anyportinastorm suffered his only defeat this year at Emerald Downs when he finished second by a nose to Law Abidin Citizen in the $200,000 Longacres Mile.

Not that you would ever hear the 84-year-old owner dating back five decades at Hastings utter a discouraging word about the performance of his horses, but the Redekop connections have experienced a bit of a roller-coaster ride this season. At least by their standards.

The highs have been five stakes wins at Hastings:  the George Royal, John Longden 6000, Spaghetti Mouse, BC Cup Nursery and CTHS Sales Stakes. At the other end of the scale, Redekop’s purchase of Kentucky-bred Final Jeopardy this summer hasn’t quite produced the anticipated results.

It was widely reported that at a cost of “just south of $450,000”, Final Jeopardy was acquired by Redekop for the express purpose of running (and winning) the Canadian Derby in Edmonton on August 18 and the BC Derby at Hastings on September 7.

Third-place finishes in each of those $250,000 stakes fell short of expectations.  Last time a Redekop horse won the Canadian Derby goes back 14 years when Alabama Rain was crowned 2005 champion for the trainer/jockey combination of Lance Geisbrecht and Pedro Alvarado.

As has been duly chronicled, the B.C. Racing Hall of Fame owner had won the BC Derby four times, including three in a row with Second City (2012), Title Contender (2013) and Alert Bay (2014). Redekop’s first Derby win was with Squire Jones in 1994.

Now, with those Emerald Downs honours under his belt, the Redekop camp returns to its roots with Final Jeopardy running for trainer Phil Hall in Sunday’s 73rd running of the $100,000 BC Premiers.

Win or lose, Peter Redekop is deserving of a robust round of applause for his ongoing support of the local racing industry.