BC Racebook Newsletter - February 14, 2023

Bailey on the Backstretch

By Bailey Williams

With spring training underway at Hastings Racecourse, the 2023 live harness racing season at Fraser Downs is well underway Thursday and Friday evenings.

Not only do thoroughbreds and standardbreds have a very different gait while racing, it is interesting to note their paddocks are also set up very differently.

On race days both paddocks have a paddock judge and at Fraser Downs that role has belonged to Natalie Woodrow for the past 15 years. Standardbreds must enter the paddock one hour or three races prior to their race. That’s much different than the 10 minutes thoroughbreds are required to spend in the paddock.

Watch for it at Fraser Downs: once warmed up and brought to the paddock, the horses are cross-tied in their designated post position until the call to the post parade. While standing tied, Natalie scans each horse to make sure the correct horse has been brought to race.

During this identification process she must check the equipment they are wearing matches the official program and she notes any changes of equipment. Whether something is added or taken away, the public is notified.

Natalie is also responsible to ensure the horses for each race come out of the paddock and to the post parade in a timely fashion and, of course, that the horses are sent out in the correct order of post.

After each race, the judges will call Natalie with the corresponding horses that must report to the test barn and she then notifies the grooms and the barn area personnel. Drivers reporting any altercations during a race report to Natalie with a request for her to speak with the judges one-on-one in the paddock office.

Obviously, she is one busy person who has honed her craft over the past 15 years as she continues to ensure the safety of all concerned while in the paddock.

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Racing Loses a Cherished Friend &
Loyal Supporter

By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport

British Columbia’s thoroughbred racing industry said a heartfelt “arrivederci” to one of its most beloved personalities with the passing of Dominic Felicella, 91, on January 21, 2023.

Nick and his wife Pauline became part of Hastings Racecourse history in September 2003 when they purchased Hip #18 at the CTHS-BC Yearling & Mixed Sale in Langley for $21,000.

Nick’s intention was to name the spirited yearling Spaghetti House in reference to the popular Italian restaurant he introduced to Vancouver’s east side in 1955.

The Jockey Club rejected the application because of the commercial significance but allowed the name Spaghetti Mouse in honour of the horse’s dam, Desert Mouse.

During a spectacular career that stretched over nine racing seasons – exclusively at Hastings – Spaghetti Mouse retired in 2012 with earnings of $929,850, a record that still stands for a British Columbia-bred.

Between 2005 and the end of the 2009 season, Spaghetti Mouse started 33 times with 30 in stakes races. In those 30 stakes, he won 10 times and placed in 14 others. ‘The Mouse’, as he was referred to by a battalion of adoring fans over the years, was named BC Champion five times, captured the 2005 BC Derby with jockey Dave Wilson, won four consecutive stakes in 2008 under Pedro Alvarado and was inducted into the BC Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2014.

The late Gary Demorest had the pleasant assignment of being the original trainer of Spaghetti Mouse. Subsequent to Demorest’s passing, those chores were inherited by Ned Sams and Lenore Dubois in 2007.

Nick’s Spaghetti House on Commercial Drive became a natural haunt for the racing crowd. “After the races, the jockeys, trainers and grooms would come down for dinner and drink a little wine,” Nick would say. “They were good people, always telling Pauline and me about their horses.”

The Felicellas couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement and became horse owners in 1979. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect to one day have a bona fide superstar like Spaghetti Mouse in their barn.

Fittingly, Nick and Pauline made their final appearance together in the winner’s circle on closing day of last season at Hastings: Saturday, October 22, 2022.

Always hand-in-hand, Mr. & Mrs. Felicella happily celebrated their 2-year-old gelding Sunbird winning the $50,000 Ascot Graduation. Trained by Terry Jordan and ridden by Amadeo Perez, Sunbird fought off favoured Legacy Square to win by a neck in a heart-stopping photo finish.

It was the last time racing fans would see the Felicella husband and wife team of 65 years together in the winner’s circle at Hastings.

Pauline was surrounded by loving relatives and friends at Nick’s funeral Mass February 3, 2023 at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish.

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Meet Tesla Looking For A New Home!

Tesla never raced, she was used as a broodmare for awhile then passed hands and didn’t do much for the past few years.

Tesla is a sweetheart once you’ve earned her trust. For whatever reason she’s a guarded horse and for the first little while upon her arrival we couldn’t catch her.

We’ve made progress & she will come to the people she knows now! She is even starting to let herself enjoy being scratched and loved on. She has learned to stand patiently in the cross ties and picks up all her feet without issue. Tesla is excellent in a herd. She’s good with dogs, pigs, a goat and a cow. She wants to please and is coming along nicely.

Tesla would do best with someone experienced who uses a gentle approach with their training. Someone who is not in a rush and will give her the time and space she needs.

Tesla is up to date with her teeth/feet/ vaccines and deworming.

See more horses available for adoption here

Greener Pastures – BC Standardbred Horse Adoption Society is a non-profit organization founded in 2003. Here at Greener Pastures our goal is to find long term forever homes for retired race horses. We wish to accomplish this by giving these horses a solid foundation in their new careers and placing them into homes that are suitable for them as they begin their new life with their new families.

The Standardbred is an ideal recreational horse with a calm disposition,sensible mind and a friendly outlook! These are the attributes that have enabled Greener Pastures to adopt out over 50 horses per year. These numbers alone are testament to the suitability of the Standardbred as a riding horse.