Fonner Park, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND — This weekend will mark the midway point of the Fonner Park live racing season.
The season started with a clunk when the first two days of racing were canceled on Feb. 15-16. You just can’t fight Mother Nature. She always wins.
And it wasn’t the track conditions or the snow. It was the cold weather and wind that made racing impossible that weekend.
“We could handle one, but not both the wind and the cold temperatures,” Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak said. “That just made it a set up for a bad idea. And when Sunday rolled around, the second day of the weekend, and there was no improvement and no sunshine and no let up in the wind, I think we all realized, yeah, that was a good decision.”
Although the weather hasn’t been perfect since then, Fonner has gotten in 11 straight scheduled days of horse racing, and the crowds have been big. Sometimes almost too big with the grandstands filling up to near capacity on Saturdays.
“I think it’s terrific that we have an established fan base, but we have the young population who is coming and embracing a day at the Races,” Kotulak said. “Now, they may not all understand entirely what’s going on, but they’re here for the party, and we’re doing the best job of putting on a party and accommodating everyone, but you’d be hard pressed to find a racetrack that is routinely sold out like Fonner Park is.”
Other events are on the horizon, like German Day featuring Angie Kriz and the Polkatoons at the Skyline Pub on April 12, Rascal Martinez on April 19 and the final day of live racing on Kentucky Derby Day on May 3.
Sunday crowds have been good as well. Kotulak said he and his staff have put an emphasis on making Sundays a family day at the races and that philosophy has served them well.
Those big crowds on Saturday have caused some parking problems.
“We have increased the number of parking lot shuttle buses to best serve our guests on peak days,” Kotulak said. “And the casino bought their own shuttle.”
But, Kotulak said, larger crowds haven’t created larger mutuel handles at Fonner.
“Frankly, our parimutuel numbers are down since we started operating the temporary casino in our concourse,” Kotulak said. “But our casino operator has enabled us to offer record purses here at Fonner Park.”
The Grand Island Casino Resort is set to open in April. Kotulak had hoped it would be open sooner so he’d have most of a live racing season to see how things would work and what improvements might be made.
“I know the ones we should make, and those have been repairs that have been piling up for decades here,” he said. “I’m aware of them. I’ve turned my head to them purposely for the first few years here, because we had no money to make changes or make repairs. But now that the casino money is coming to us, we can, but we can’t do everything all at once.”
When the permanent casino opens, the temporary one in the Fonner Park concourse will still be open while the live racing is going on until Kentucky Derby Day on May 3.
Kotulak said the bad news for Fonner is there still aren’t as many horses there as he would like.
“I’m very grateful for the horsemen that we do have here, but it’s a sad scene to see that we still only have a little bit more than 600 horses that will race here this season,” he said. “I’d rather have 800 or 900 horses. That’s a much more healthy racing environment. And of course, bigger fields. And the horse player loves bigger fields.”
On the track, it’s a battle between Mark Hibdon and Isai Gonzalez at the top of the trainer’s standings. It looked like Hibdon might run away with the title, but Gonzalez had a big weekend last week and is second in wins with 16 behind Hibdon with 23.
Jockey Kevin Roman also had a big weekend and now leads the jockey’s standings with 23 wins, just one ahead of David Cardoso.
Fonner Park Standings
Jockeys
Name;Sts;1st;2nd;3rd;Win%;$%
Kevin Roman;88;23;23;12;26;66
David Cardoso;58;22;8;4;38;59
Jose Medina;82;14;12;12;17;46
Nathan Haar;52;6;7;3;12;31
Ronald Hisby;61;5;10;5;8;33
Victor Bailon;61;5;3;9;8;28
Jayden Ironeyes;61;4;7;5;7;26
Travis Cunningham;48;4;5;7;8;33
Adrian Ramos;61;3;5;7;5;25
Scott Bethke;45;3;2;10;7;33
LeadingTrainers
Name;Sts;1st;2nd;3rd;Win%;$%
Mark Hibdon;64;23;9;4;36;56
Isai Gonzalez;63;16;18;6;25;63
David Anderson;62;12;7;8;19;44
Marvin Johnson;26;6;3;5;23;54
Kelli Martinez;60;5;9;7;8;35
Jason Wise;24;4;3;6;17;54
Stetson Rushton;35;3;5;3;9;31
Schuyler Condon;31;3;5;2;10;32
Eric Ramaekers;23;2;2;4;9;35
Grady Thompson;15;2;2;3;13;47
Owners
Name;Sts;1st;2nd;3rd;Win%;$%
Mark Hibdon;61;22;9;4;36;57
GSH StableLLC;36;11;11;2;31;67
D and L Farms;26;2;6;5;8;50
JL Racing LLC;16;2;3;5;13;63
KBarKEnterprises;9;2;2;0;22;44
Cavello Veloce Stables;7;2;2;0;29;57
Judy Pryor;6;2;1;2;33;83
Garald W. Wollesen;16;2;1;1;13;25
Eric Ramaekers;12;2;1;0;17;25
Troy Bethke;11;2;0;2;18;36
