Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak shares slices of life from the Grand Island, Neb., racetrack throughout the 2021 meet in the Fonner Files.
This Saturday, we have a pair of stakes races due to the cancellation of the final two races last Saturday.
The first is the Orphan Kist named after a beast of a Nebraska-bred. In the late 1980s and early '90s, she won 28 of 100 races and finished second another 28 times, with 16 thirds.
The striking dark bay with a blaze earned over $630,000 with a remarkable 17 wins at Ak-Sar-Ben. She won four times at Fon and also won at: Arlington Park, Arapahoe Park, Canterbury Park, Louisiana Downs and Remington Park. The homebred of Jane and Michael Moreland was trained by Linda Davidson and she was typically ridden by Tim Brown or Bobby Cordova.
The Tondi is the other Saturday stakes named after a mighty Thoroughbred. Tondi won 25 of 79 races and earned just over $100,000 in the late '50s. He once held three track records at Fonner Park and was a multiple stakes winner at Fon, Ak-Sar-Ben, Centennial Park, throughout the New Mexico circuit and in Chicago.
Speaking of Saturday, seven of our ten races drew full fields. On the brink of Spring, we're finally getting our legs underneath us. Plus, the daffodils have begun to punch up.
Tondi was a multiple stakes winner at Fonner Park during the 1960s.
The post Fonner Files: How The Orphan Kist And Tondi Stakes Got Their Names appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
