Holthus Continues Training Comeback
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Returning from an absence of nearly two decades, trainer Paul Holthus parlayed a small group of claimers into one of the most successful years of his career in 2014. He saddled 23 winners from just 108 starters - despite essentially putting a wrap on his year after Indiana Grand closed Nov. 1.
Holthus launched his comeback at Oaklawn, and his horses earned $433,319 overall, the third-highest total since the trainer struck out on his own in 1980.
“I thought I’d do well” said Holthus, 53, the son of the late Bob Holthus, Oaklawn's all-time leading trainer. “I never anticipated not doing well. You can’t go into it thinking you’re going to do bad, can you?”
Holthus saddled 379 winners before he quit training during the 1995 Oaklawn meeting to become the agent for Garrett Gomez, then among the most promising young jockeys in the country. He left the track some five years later to work for H.E. “Tex” Sutton Forwarding Company, the famed Lexington, Ky.-based equine air transporter, eventually rising to vice president and general manager. He spent eight years with Tex Sutton before returning to Hot Springs, Ark., when he went to work for Wheeler Printing Co.
The Hot Springs native returned to the track at the 2012 Oaklawn meet as the agent for jockeys Jose Medina and Carlos Gonzalez and assisted trainer Randy Morse following the 2012 and 2013 Oaklawn meetings.
The building blocks for Holthus’ training comeback began in the fall of 2013 when he privately purchased Lasting Impact from trainer Mark Hennig, and Morse, on behalf of Holthus’ future wife, Nancy Ury, claimed Signature Event for $5,000 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
Lasting Impact finished second in a Jan. 11 claiming race at Oaklawn, which marked Holthus’ first starter since March 9, 1995. Signature Event’s Jan. 12 victory represented the first for Holthus since Feb. 24, 1995. He finished the meeting with a sparkling 31 percent strike rate (9 for 29) and purse earnings of $163,051.
The star of Holthus’ stable, which hovered around a half-dozen, was Franks Officer Gal, who bankrolled nearly $100,000 in 2014 after being claimed for $7,500 in February. Franks Officer Gal subsequently won three races for Holthus at Oaklawn, including one in starter-allowance company.
“Hopefully, we’ll win a few starter races here,” Holthus said. “She’s still eligible for $7,500 starters. They wouldn’t go all summer. She never got to run in any.”
Franks Officer Gal is owned by the N P H Stable (Holthus and wife Nancy) and Bob and Bridget Summers of Maumelle, Ark. The four are partners in all eight horses he has at Oaklawn.
“That’s a good number for me,” Holthus said. “Obviously, we want to increase the quality of the eight. That’s our goal. I don’t have any desire to have any more.”
Holthus won with 13 of 72 starters at Indiana Grand.
Finish Lines:
Ride On Curlin, runner-up in the 2014 Arkansas Derby and Preakness, is scheduled to arrive Saturday. … Multiple stakes-winning sprinter Brewing posted a 5-furlong bullet work (1:01) over a good surface Friday morning for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Brewing won the $100,000 Gazebo and $100,000 Bachelor Stakes at the 2014 Oaklawn meeting. … Gentlemen’s Bet, unraced since finishing third in the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) in November 2013, worked a half-mile in :52.20 Friday morning for trainer Ron Moquett. Gentlemen’s Bet recorded the first timed workout of the 2015 Oaklawn season (a half-mile in :54) on Dec. 8. … Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron is the keynote speaker at the annual Oaklawn Kickoff Banquet Wednesday, Jan. 7, at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in North Little Rock. A reception and silent auction begins at 5:15 p.m., with dinner at 6:45 p.m. Individual tickets are $50; sponsorship tables of 10 are $500. Deadline for ordering individual or table tickets is Jan. 2. For additional information, contact the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce at (501) 372-5959.
Source: Oaklawn Park Communications
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