2018 Rillito Park Race Meet.
 

Hi Everyone!

This Saturday sees the 75th anniversary meet get underway at Rillito Park, in Tucson, AZ. Considered by some to be the spiritual home of Quarter Horse Racing, opening day has an eight race card kicking off at 1pm MST.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to call the races and I am looking forward very much to calling at a track with as much history as Rillito. It has somewhat of a county fair atmosphere and is a very well attended track by local people in Tucson and large crowds are expected for opening weekend.

Yesterday I traveled down from Phoenix to get licensed and was lucky enough to meet some of the horsemen. I love my dog but it always amazes me the love and passion people have their horses and it will be a privilege to call the animals they care so much about in the coming weeks.

Of course the track is also heavily involved in giving opportunities to the students of the RTIP at the University of Arizona and we will be having paddock analysts break down the races on TV and for the second year our signal is on all the major ADW's.

I will also use this thread to post my picks the night before.

And while I understand Rillito may not be on everyone's radar, I would be happy to supply a complimentary PP for any day of live racing. Just PM me, please the night before with your email address and I shall send it out.

To close on a personal note, just three years ago, my dog, Tanner, and I were nearly freezing to death living on the streets of Cleveland, OH. having been the victim of a crime that even now words can barely describe. Thank you to everyone in the industry and to fellow racing fans for your support as that chapter finally closes in my life. It is just amazing to think where I am now!

Now, let's call some races!!!!

PS: If you are coming out to Rillito please let me know when and I will be happy to meet you!

Hey Craig, congrats on your announcing job.I bet Rillito a few times last year, even won a race or two. :) Looking forward to playing it again.

Hi Barahona!

Thanks very much for your support of Rillito! Please feel free to reach out at any time I shall endeavor to help in any way I can.

Kind Regards,

Craig.

Wow Craig, that is a great story. Maybe the wife and I will make a day trip out of it and get down there before the meet ends.

Those smaller meets can be a lot of fun.

I used to go to the Coconino County fair at Fort Tuthill Downs in Flagstaff on 4th of July weekend when I was a kid, was a total blast!!!

Hi GMB@BP:

I was so sorry to have missed the chance of calling at Coconino County Fair when Yavapai closed in 2011!

Please let me know if you are coming out to the track. Would love to see you.

Regards,

Craig.

I will miss it this year. “The great race space”

Good luck over there

Thanks, Monmouth Park Joe!

Here are my picks for opening day:

R1. 1-6-7.
R2. 4-1-6.
R3. 6-1-3.
R4. 5-3-2.
R5. 5-1-4.
R6. 5-7-4.
R7. 3-7-5.
R8. 3-6-1.

Post Time 1pm MST!

What a wonderful opening day it was at Rillito Park. Never in my US racing experience have I come across such a vocal crowd. If every track had the passion and the excitement little Rillito Park generates we would have a whole different outlook on racing in America. Great to team up with the RTIP students. Their enthusiasm and passion make them great coworkers!

Yesterday if you followed my picks I gave you a $28.60 winner and a straight trifecta that paid $419!

So with 7 races on tap today here are my picks:

R1: 2-1-5
R2: 8-3-6
R3: 1-5-2
R4: 1-3-8
R5: 7-4-3
R6: 3-2-7
R7: 5-7-1

Rillito has the most vocal race fans I have ever heard in my life. I am an Indians fan and there is a legendary guy at Progressive Field with a huge drum and everyone joins in with the banging of their feet, chairs etc before the start of an inning. It was like that when the horses would load up for a race. You would hear people chant horses names before hand like a soccer crowd.

During the race I could literally feel the grandstand shake with noise and excitement. But you could tell they LOVE racing. If a horse made a move down the backstretch, the crowd noise would intensify. It was the kind of fan cheering big time professional sports love to have.

If my calls do the enthusiasm and passion of these people justice, I will consider it a job well done.

Please come out to Rillito if you can. It is a fantastic atmosphere, truly unique and I would be happy to meet in person anyone from the PA forum who wants to come out.

Regards,

Craig.

Looks like they did pretty good this weekend up about 10% despite 1 fewer race.

Nice to see my man Donny Lee French win the stakes yesterday. His winner circle theatrics are worth the price of admission. Hard to believe he has been riding for like 40 years now.

Unfortunately njbets didn't pick up, would have played a race or two.

That's unfortunate. I could have sworn I had a contract with them to take Rillito on their ADW last year. Host fee could have increased, they might have just dropped the signal.

What's weird was that PPs were offered in the tvg handicapping store but it was not available in the track kist.

I'm in NJ and it was on my track list

OK, just checked the race replays and Riolito is there, maybe I missed it.

hope everyone was able to catch a few of our reacted last weekend. Even managed to give out some winning picks. Please check out my twitter feed @callstheraces for todays picks. Also, for a bit of fun, tweet me a word and I shall try to use it in a race call today. Thanks for your support.