Not much at Emerald Downs gets past Joe Withee, who has been the director of publicity at the Auburn, Wash., oval since the track opened in 1996. However, he was taken by surprise when prior to the races on Sunday he was led to the winner’s enclosure where he was inducted into the Washington Horse Racing Hall of Fame. “I had no idea,” Withee said. “I am part of the committee that selects nominees for the Hall of Fame, so they really put one past me.” Withee was first exposed to horse racing by his father. “Dad liked to handicap horses and he would take us to Longacres when I was a teenager,” Withee said. “A neighbor of ours also owned horses.” Withee was a good basketball player in high school and recalled a day at Longacres when he and a teammate on the basketball team made a nice hit. :: Join DRF Bets and play the races with a $250 First Deposit Bonus. Click to learn more. “Our coach had a side job selling $2 place tickets there,” he said. “When we went to visit him, he told us to come back later because a jockey was going to give him a tip on a horse. We put $12 across on the horse and got back $120, which was a lot of money for high school kids in 1971.” Withee got a basketball scholarship from Seattle University but after one year he realized he did not have much of a future playing basketball. He eventually graduated with a history degree from Western Washington University in Bellingham. His first exposure to media relations was as a non-paid intern at KVI radio in Seattle. His first position in horse racing was at Longacres, where his main job was calling radio stations with the replay of the day’s races. “It was crazy,” he said. “I made 105 calls a day to different radio stations.” Withee is the face of Emerald. He seems to be everywhere. He hosts a weekly podcast with Vince Bruun, the director of media relations at Emerald, does post-race interviews, a pre-race show with selections, etc. He hosted the Win Place Show on KJR radio for 24 years and did a television replay show for many years. When Emerald founder Ron Crockett made the presentation at the induction ceremony he said “Withee has been a tireless and great advocate for Washington while serving the industry with integrity, distinction, and nobility.” “I just think I’ve been lucky to be able to work for so long at a job I love,” he said. “I have a nice desk in a great work space, and every half-hour on race days something pretty exciting happens.” Withee likes Tothemoonandback to win the feature race at Emerald on Thursday. The nonwinners-of-two allowance race for fillies and mares or nonwinners-of-three for Washington-breds drew seven horses and goes as the seventh race. The six-furlong dash is wide open. Tothemoonandback is coming off a third-place finish at the same level going 5 1/2 furlongs in her first start this year for trainer Kay Cooper. The 3-year-old Washington-bred daughter of Atta Boy Roy won her a maiden special weight race on Oct. 15 in her only other start. “I think Tothemoonandback can improve in her second start back,” Withee said. “She could also move forward running with blinkers for the first time.”