Matt Crawford Joins Sam Houston Race Park as the New Racing Secretary

With the start of its upcoming meet just a month away, Sam Houston Race Park has tabbed Matthew Crawford as its new Racing Secretary.  Crawford replaces Fred Hutton, who recently departed Sam Houston to pursue other opportunities in the racing industry.

Having started his racing career as both an assistant trainer and then trainer in the thoroughbred and Quarter Horse ranks nearly 40 years ago, Crawford transitioned to the front side and has held the titles of Assistant Racing Secretary and Racing Secretary at several tracks over the past decade.   After serving as the Assistant Racing Secretary at Louisiana Downs, Lone Star Park and Fairgrounds, Crawford then held the Racing Secretary position at Hialeah Park and, most recently, Delta Downs.

“I’m just looking forward to getting in here and with the first condition book being out turning my attention to the stakes and just getting ready for the first day of entries,” said Crawford, who originally intended on pursuing a career in medicine until turning towards training horses.  “Training for a while when I did certainly has helped me understand the horseman’s point of view in this role as well.”

While Sam Houston’s thoroughbred condition book had been released, the book for the Quarter Horse meet is expected to be made available sometime in late January.

“With Matt’s experience as a Racing Secretary in the region over the last couple of years and time in that role during his career with both thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, we believe he will be an asset to our racing program here at Sam Houston,” said Sam Houston’s President Andrea Young.  “With our meet starting on January 20 and the Houston Ladies Classic shortly thereafter on January 29, we look forward to Matt joining our team and hitting the ground running.”

Sam Houston’s meet gets underway on January 20, 2017 with a card that includes three stakes and kicks off with a first post of 7:00 P.M. CST.   A little more than a week after it opens for live racing, Sam Houston will hold its biggest day as it plays host to the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic (G3) and $250,000 John Connally Turf Cup (G3) on Sunday, January 29.  Post time for Houston Ladies Classic day is 12:00 PM CST.