One-track mind: Fans of horse racing want sport kept here

The idea of consolidating Montana horse racing to one track - possibly Yellowstone Downs in Billings - has kicked up a cloud of controversy throughout the state.

The idea of consolidating Montana horse racing to one track - possibly Yellowstone Downs in Billings - has kicked up a cloud of controversy throughout the state.

At the opening day of horse racing at the Northwest Montana Fair on Friday, die-hard fans were happy to weigh in on the issue.

"I think it's terrible," Pauline Niehuus of Kalispell declared. "I've been coming here for 55 years. Billings would be too far to go."

Don Wojtala of Cascade, a veteran at the track who travels the state's horse-racing circuit, simply stated: "It'll never happen."

The Montana Board of Horse Racing is currently on a fact-finding mission led by executive director Sam Murfitt, who wants to determine if a one-track program would work.

While Murfitt acknowledged in a memo to racing facility owners and operators that "there are a number of positives and negatives" with the one-track idea, it could spur interest in breeding race horses and build a bigger fan base.

Questionnaires have been sent to those involved in racing statewide to gauge interest in consolidation.

The state board will rely on comments from both representatives of the industry and the communities involved.

"It's not a done deal," said Gary Koepplin, who represents the state horse-racing board at the Kalispell races. "It's an idea Sam Murfitt had to make horse racing get stronger. We've had a lot of feedback [from Murfitt's suggestion]. That's probably the best thing to come out of it."

Kalispell is one of the smaller racing venues, but it's a viable, important part of the fair, said Koepplin, who's also the director of racing at the Missoula track.

"What I'm hearing is that people in Kalispell want horse racing," he said. "It's entertainment and there's been horse racing here forever."

Not forever, but horse racing has been popular at the Kalispell fair since its beginning in 1902.

The 1903 fair premium book outlined five full days of "speed programs and sports," and the stakes were high. A free-for-all with mile heats awarded $250 to the winner, while a half-mile dash event gave $50 to the first-place winner.

Horse racing isn't a huge money-maker for the Northwest Montana Fair, Manager Jay Scott said, but it's a solid part of the entertainment lineup and he would hate to lose it. The fair gets about $15,000 a year (7.5 percent of the total betting handle) and uses that money to pay for salaries and equipment.

Because local fair officials don't track what percentage of people buying gate admission are attending horse racing, it's difficult to determine what impact the sport has on general-admission revenue, Scott said.

Regardless of popularity or longevity, horse racing is a business that has to turn a profit, Koepplin said. The number of tracks and racing days in Montana has declined through the years. Shelby dropped out this year, leaving just five remaining tracks: Miles City, Billings, Great Falls, Missoula and Kalispell.

Statewide there are 38 days of live racing from mid-May through late-September. Twenty years ago, the state had as many as 120 days of racing.

A Dec. 1 meeting of the state board will determine race dates for 2006.

John and Faye Oberlitner of Polson are among the fans who have written to the state board to share their opinions.

"The elimination of horse racing at these fairs would make it more difficult for them to be financially successful," they said. "It is also certain that we will not go to Billings for horse racing. Several of our friends here in the Polson area have the same opinions as we do."

Wojtala, who said he's been coming to the races since he was "knee-high to a grasshopper," said simulcasting - simultaneous broadcasting of horse races - would be the only way to make the sport profitable in Montana. Simulcasting would, of course, destroy an activity that's truly a way of life in this state, he said.

Folks like Niehuus and her friend, Marjorie Clemens of Kalispell, wait all year for the chance to go to the races.

"We like the rodeo, too. We come to all three nights of the rodeo and go to all the races," Clemens said early Friday afternoon. "We won't go home until 10:30 tonight."

The wooden bleachers at the Kalispell fairgrounds, with wooden backrests, are relatively comfortable compared to the metal, backless seats at the Missoula track, Niehuus said. Missoula offers something, though, that the two women would like to see at the Kalispell races - the ability to place bets from your grandstand seat.

"These guys came around with computers, and it was much quicker," Clemens said, who along with Niehuus attended the Missoula races earlier this month. "It saved a lot of time."

Joyce Hahnkamp and her husband, Charlie, have been supplying rodeo calves and coming to the horse races here for 27 years. They like it the way it is.

"I'd hate to see it condense to one city," Joyce Hahnkamp said. "It would be a shame for Kalispell and Missoula, too. They'd lose a lot."

She noted how on the weekend days of racing in Kalispell, there's barely a seat to be found in the grandstand.

"Half the guys who are rodeoing with us are here at the races," she said. "We go to the horse races all day and rodeo all night."

Hahnkamp didn't have long to chat.

"I have to get my bet placed for the next race," she said, walking away. "I won this one [the first race of the day] straight across."

Indian relay races also are a historic part of the Northwest Montana Fair. Those races are separate from the horse-racing program, Koepplin said.

Kalispell horse trainer Marcie Riley said Billings is simply too far for her to travel.

"I'll go to Lethbridge [Canada]," Riley said, "or I'll go out of state."

The public doesn't realize the economic impact that accompanies horse racing, Kalispell horse trainer R.D. Mower said during a cell-phone interview as he was buying hay from a local farmer.

"This would be a bad deal," Mower said of consolidating racing in Billings. "We buy hay and grain. We buy pickups and trailers and groceries. The community benefits from horse racing because it affects every industry."

Asked if he'd take his horses to Billings, Mower thought a moment.

"I'd probably go to Canada," he said. "It's closer and the purses are better."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com