Mario Gutierrezs sudden fame is the model North American free trade success story.
A teenaged quarter-horse jockey from rural Mexico came north to hone his craft at a small Canadian track in 2006. Just six years later, he rode the Canadian-owned, Kentucky-bred Ill Have Another to win the most famous race in the United States on Cinco de Mayo.
Two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby, they had another May 19 at the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. Yet another win on June 9 in New Yorks Belmont Stakes would make Gutierrez and Ill Have Another the first Triple Crown duo since Steve Cauthen and Affirmed in 1978.
Last year Vancouver had Stanley Cup fever. This year its four-footed fever. Perhaps the most-picturesque track in horseracing will become a live site with a 40-foot-screen to view the Belmonts 3:30 p.m. post time.
Trainer Terry Jordan discovered the Veracruz native at the Mexico City hippodrome in 2006. His first Hastings win was aboard Cherokee Freedom on June 10, 2006. That was, coincidentally, the same day as the Belmont.
[Gutierrez] doesn't get excited in the saddle, he's got an unbelievable sense of timing, he's got real soft hands, said Cherokee Freedom co-owner Rob Fiorvento. He understands a race, he understands positioning.
Gutierrez won 90 more as a rookie to be the top Hastings apprentice and he also took consecutive jockey titles in 2007 and 2008 with 134 and 103 wins, respectively. Gutierrez returned May 13 and signed autographs for more than two hours. Not since 1965, when Johnny Longden won his record 6,000th race at Hastings, has the track boasted such a celebrity rider. And just in time.
The future of 1889-founded Hastings is in doubt. Great Canadian Gaming Corporations lease with City of Vancouver ends in November. The company wrote-off $51.2 million in track investments over the last two years. GCG stated publicly last year that it wouldnt renew the lease if its required to pay for a parkade or new barns.
GCGs racino bet hasnt paid off like it hoped. Despite vociferous neighbourhood opposition, city council approved 600 slot machines in 2004 and optimistically forecast $6.5 million in annual royalties. Last year, it received only $1.27 million. GCG CEO Rod Baker insisted in March that his company is working as diligently as possible to salvage whatever value we can, but the sport is sunsetting across the continent. GCGs racetrack revenue peaked at $31.2 million in 2008. Last year it fell to $19.2 million. GCG vice-president Howard Blank declined comment.
Proposals for new, mile-long suburban tracks failed in the 1990s and Hastings became increasingly reliant on satellite racing and off-track betting parlours. Torontos Woodbine bought the lease in 2002 but, after failing to expand off-track betting and get slots, handed the reins to GCG and Peter Wall two years later.
David Milburn, the president-elect of the Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Association of B.C., said the intimate five-furlong track is uniquely within the city limits.
Weve got all we need right here, why cant it work? Milburn said. This year it is working. This year weve enjoyed some excellent numbers.
Betting was up before Gutierrez became a household name. The Vancouver Canucks early playoff exit is one theory. On Kentucky Derby day, total handle was $685,579 ($226,351 live and $459,228 simulcast). The weekend handle was 47 percent better than the previous one and 75 percent higher than a year earlier. The first of 11 Friday Night Live cards is June 1 at 7 p.m. But everyones counting down to the race of Gutierrezs life, 5,000 kilometres away, on June 9.
Giddyup.
Twitter: @bobmackin
