Horse racing returns to Kalispell
Janis Schoepf was explaining how horse racing returned to Kalispell for the first time in five years when someone politely interrupted with a plate full of barbecue.
"Here Janis, sorry to interupt but I knew if I didn't bring you a plate, you'd just keep working and never eat dinner," the woman said.
After nine weeks of planning, preparation, you name it, Schoepf finally took a moment to relax.
Horse racing is back at the Northwest Montana Fair in Kalispell. Today and tomorrow, 16 total races are scheduled to run at the track at Flathead County Fairgrounds.
Today's first race is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. with gates opening at 11 a.m. Each of the eight races will have between five and eight horses running distances as short as 350 yards to as long as seven furlongs (.87/mile). Two races of note are the John Deere Bonus Challenge today and the Pretty In Pink race on Sunday, which is sponsored by the Save A Sister foundation and aims at spreading breast cancer awareness and helping Montana women with medical costs associated with cancer treatment.
These last few years, horse racing hit rock bottom in Montana. The sport was dropped by Flathead County in 2006 after the Fair Board said $10,000 a day was being lost. A similar decision followed in Missoula a year later and there remained only three events sanctioned by the Montana Board of Horse Racing statewide.
But now, thanks to the work of enthusiasts like Schoepf, the sport appears to be rejuvenated. Last week, Missoula hosted its first horse race in four years at the Western Montana Fair, and this week the action has landed back in the Flathead.
"Somebody happened to mention one day that we needed to have it back, so a couple of us said, ‘Well then let's have it,'" said
Schoepf, who grew up around the sport in Kalispell and now works with a local group named the Kalispell Race Meet that organized the return.
"It's been an obstacle course," she said. "I had no idea that there were so many minute details but you learn as you go."
The Kalispell races were privately funded thanks to a group of steadfast volunteers and helpers who did all the fundraising and sponsor searching, she said.
"Horse racing has had it's issues everywhere, but there are places where it's coming back and it helps the local economies," she said. "It has hurt our hay growers, the hotels, the stores. I think it provides financially the support that each community needs."
The horse races in Missoula brought in a record amount of wagering, roughly $243,000, according to Ryan Sherman, the Executive Director of the Montana Board of Horse Racing.
"(Missoula's races) went way beyond our expectations," he said. "Hopefully Kalispell falls right in line and is way above our expectations.
"(Horse racing) goes hand-in-hand, I think, with fairs because it provides one more event for those fairgoers and the community."
Like Schoepf, Sue Austin grew up in Kalispell attending horse races at the fair. Austin, who is a commissioner on the state's racing board, believes the sport needed to return for a reason beyond just profits.
"It was a big loss when they decided not to have it here anymore," she said. "I think people are excited to see it come back. Everybody I talked to is just thrilled. Horse racing is part of Montana's history and heritage, and to lose it was a big deal."
On the eve of the big return, a group including Austin, Sherman and the chairman of the Board of Horse Racing, Charles Carruthers, gathered together for a relaxing barbecue. There wasn't so much celebration going on as there was anticipation for the two days of excitement.
The wait is over.
But after a few moments' time, Schoepf finished her dinner plate and was gone.
There was still some last-minute work that had to be done.