Columbus opens with more horses, jockeys

The final meet of the Nebraska racing season starts Friday night, when Columbus Exposition & Racing puts on its 16-date meet at Agricultural Park. The season will run through Sept. 7. Following the stand, there will be just one yet-to-be-determined date of racing this year, at Lincoln.

Columbus is poised for a strong meet. The stable area that can hold 650 horses was at capacity on Wednesday, and the riding colony is expanding. There are large fields for the nine-race opener Friday.

“We’ve got more riders than we’ve had and probably at least 100 to 150 more horses than we had last year,” said Wayne Anderson, racing secretary for Columbus. “We’re looking for a good meet with plenty of entries. For opening night, we’ve got nine races with 74 horses entered, so it’s a good start.”

Columbus, which features a five-furlong track, has drawn a handful of new stables, including trainer Ardell Sayler, who invades from Arapahoe Park with a 20-horse division. Other trainers settled in for the new meet include David C. Anderson, Salvador Arceo, Dan Coughlin, and Ron Westermann. The riding colony includes Chris Fackler and Jake Olesiak, who tied for the title at Fonner Park, as well as Luis Ranilla, Ken Shino, and a new face in Michael Iammarino,

Purses are projected to average $45,000 a program at this meet, Anderson said, noting that the level is about the same as 2014. There are five stakes scheduled, with four of them restricted to horses bred in Nebraska. The opening-night feature is a first-level allowance at six furlongs. It is led by Morning Shadow, who won his maiden in the Skunktail at Horsemen’s Park.

Anderson said Columbus is on a new entry schedule this year, with entries being drawn at least 72 hours in advance. In the past, the track had been on a 48-hour entry schedule.