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Director Bios:
Joe Lucas, President
Public trainer, owner and owner/manager of Red Earth Training Center located in Goldsby – I-35 south of Oklahoma City. Born and raised in the immediate vicinity, Joe scored his first win as a trainer at Turfway Park in Kentucky. Besides being a regular at Remington Park and Will Rogers Downs, Joe also races in states such as Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky and others. First elected president in 2003 and re-elected in 2006, he believes that while the passage of SQ 712 (electronic gaming machines at racetracks) saved thoroughbred racing in the state, “now is not the time to become complacent… Allocation of revenue from interstate simulcasts and contributions (or lack of) from simulcasting at tribal facilities must be formalized. It is important to develop a successful and profitable racing circuit for thoroughbreds in Oklahoma.”
L. Keith Farris, Vice-President
Prior to limiting his involvement in thoroughbred racing as an owner, Keith was an exercise rider and pony-boy at Cahokia Downs and Fairmount Park in southern Illinois during the early 1960’s. He lives on a modest horse farm near Ada, from where he commutes to Oklahoma City for his job with a state agency. Keith is the third generation of his (Battles-Farris) family to be active in the thoroughbred racing industry.
Zachary Armstrong
Zack is a fourth generation horseman from the Elk City area of western Oklahoma. He received his first trainer’s license in 1990 at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia; and also raced in Pennsylvania and Ohio before returning to Oklahoma in 1993. Zack is married to jockey Nena Matz. With two young daughters in grade school, he wants horsemen to have the opportunity to make a living year-round without leaving the state.
Ron Blalock
Residing not far from Remington Park in Jones, Ron has been a self-employed small business owner for more than 40 years. He has been an owner of thoroughbreds for over 15 years – with a few broodmares and a small racing stable. Besides serving on the OHBPA /TRAO board, Ron is vice-president of the Independent Finance Institute.
Marion Davidson
A life-long resident of western Oklahoma, Marion lives in Weatherford where he was a business owner from 1958 (including a Ford dealership) until his recent semi-retirement. Marion has been a thoroughbred owner since 1987 and, besides Oklahoma, his horses have raced in Texas, Minnesota, Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisiana. If you are interested in classic T-birds, Marion is the one to contact.
Michael A. Gass, II
The son of a trainer, Michael was raised on the Nebraska racing circuit, traveling from track to track in the 1970’s. In 1987 he graduated high school in Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma. After discharge from the US Army in 1990, Michael attended the University of Central Oklahoma while training horses as well as teaching hunter/jumper riding lessons.
Bob Listen
Bob lives in Jones where he maintains a small band of broodmares. He usually has about two dozen horses in training for himself and other owners. Bob has been an OKHBPA member since Remington Park opened in 1988 and is especially interested in helping the Association address: improvements to the Oklahoma-Bred program; development of a hospitalization assistance program; and, creation of an advisory board.
Joe Offolter
Although Blanchard is home, Joe does not get to spend as much time there as he would like because most of the year he will have horses that he trains stabled at more than one race track. Joe has been a regular at Remington Park from its inaugural season and races at Fair Meadows and Will Rogers Downs, as well as at tracks in other states such as Texas, Arkansas, etc.
Duane Salisbury
A former trainer, Duane now leaves the conditioning of his thoroughbreds in the hands of his daughter Joyce. He now farms in northwest Oklahoma and southeast Colorado.
Steve Schooley
Steve is in the banking business in Broken Arrow where he also has a small farm from which he and his wife have bred, raised and raced horses for over 20 years. Steve is very aware that OKHBPA’s primary purpose is to foster, promote and encourage a healthier economic climate and higher level of public acceptance of Oklahoma’s horse industry.
Donnie K. Von Hemel
Donnie cannot remember not being around a shedrow. With his father Don a successful and highly respected trainer in the Midwest, horse racing was a way of life. Donnie took time from galloping horses to earn a degree in accounting from the University of Nebraska. He has been a public trainer since 1983 and, as is the case with most trainers, an owner as well. He and his wife relocated to the Piedmont area (northwest of Oklahoma City) in 1988. Donnie’s background has instilled in him the importance of the HBPA’s benevolence and that the phrase “horsemen helping horsemen” is more than a motto.
John Lowder
First alternate director representing trainers, John L. has previously served horsemen as the association’s president. He has a farm near Ringwood, in the northwest part of the state, on the Cimarron River.
John Richter
First alternate director representing owners, John R. is a breeder who has produced several nice horses. His farm is near Perkins, also near the Cimarron River, in the north-central part of the state.
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