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Horse-racing families reunited by Emerald By Dan Raley SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER usan, meet Richard. He's your husband. That might be overstating it a tad, but the opening of Emerald Downs has been responsible for reuniting families up and down the backstretch, restoring harmony among several displaced relatives. If only divorce counselors were as effective. Take the Wrights, for instance. When Longacres abruptly shut down in 1992, the Seattle family of five found itself in a mad scramble for jobs. Richard and Susan, a husband-and-wife trainer team, were forced to go elsewhere to maintain their livelihoods. Richard, 57, ended up at Yakima Meadows; his spouse, 47, took a half-dozen horses to Golden Gate Fields near San Francisco. Survival meant separation. The Wrights' three children got out of the business completely. Daughters Cherie and Judy had worked a variety of Longacres jobs, ranging from admissions to the mezzanine smoke shop, while son Blaine was a concession stand barbecue cook at the track. They weren't interested in relocating. Richard and Susan Wright now work side by side in the Emerald Downs stables. Their children have moved on to jobs in other fields -- stocks, personnel -- but at least everyone is back in close proximity. The elder Wrights surmise that two of their children might have stayed with racing had Longacres not disappeared. Susan Wright, who still wears a 49ers jacket, a memento of her temporary home, spent several months sharing a Bay Area condominium with two other women involved in racing. But it wasn't home. She winces remembering the hefty phone bills accumulated as she tried to keep tabs on her family. During the past Golden Gate season, she returned home to Seattle only once; Richard visited her twice in California. Things are much happier now that there's an Emerald Downs. "It was just too chaotic," Susan said of the void left by Longacres. "It was too long a separation. We found out we were cutting things too thin. I had to get home. It's good to be all together and back home and to be a family again." Said Richard, "I feel very fortunate and grateful." Renton trainer Mike Puhich, whose family is highly regarded in racing circles, took his horses to tracks all over the country, particularly Santa Anita, once the local racing shakeup occurred. But his father, Nick, a longtime trainer, threw up his arms in disgust and withdrew to his home. Emerald Downs has all the Puhichs actively involved in the sport again. "My dad trained at Longacres," the younger Puhich said. "To see the effect it's had on him -- in three years he hadn't got out of his easy chair and away from ESPN. He comes down here bouncing around. The effect it's going to have on people like him is incredible." Neil Knapp, a 60-year-old trainer, sold his small Maple Valley farm when Longacres closed. He moved to Arizona, racing at Turf Paradise near Phoenix. Now he and his wife, who raises dogs, live in a trailer close to Emerald Downs. The Knapps are happy to be back in the area. It was 110 degrees when they left the desert. "I roll with the punches," Knapp said. "You have to do what you have to do. A lot of people kind of sat around and moped." Alana Goff was not one of them. The 52-year-old Renton trainer traveled around and moped. She took horses to Turf Paradise, Golden Gate, Bay Meadows Park and Yakima Meadows while a Longacres replacement was sought. Goff saw her husband, an Associated Grocers employee, only when he was able to draw vacation time and travel with her. It was a difficult existence. But now it's finally over. "It was really, really hard because I have kids and grandchildren here," she said. "I spent more time away from here than being here." Send comments to webmaster@seattle-pi.com © 1996 Seattle Post-Intelligencer The Hearst Corporation All Rights Reserved