This Saturday night as part of its card of racing, Hanover Raceway is excited to host a special exhibition race with six trotters set to race under saddle.
The track caught up with one of the organizers, Julie Walker, to take a closer look at what could be the next big thing in Ontario Horse Racing.
The race will be Hanover’s third trotting under saddle event and second this season. Last year, RUS first took to the track on the raceway’s All-Trot Day, and Amoreena was victorious in 2:00.2. This season, Hanover hosted a special qualifying race and RUS racing was charted for the first time, as Amoreena prepped for stakes action south of the border. That horse will return Saturday with five others to promote Racing Under Saddle in Ontario. Walker says she hopes the event will “bring people into the grandstand and get them excited about racing standardbreds.”
RUS Ontario has been bolstered by a few Europeans that have come to the province and helped get the movement off the ground. In the race on Saturday night, three of the six riders hail from Scandinavia, and Walker says their expertise has been vital in growing and developing RUS Ontario.
Walker explains that RUS racing is far more prominent overseas, stating, “In Europe, it’s a part of the horses’ training. When they train their horses over there, they ride on day and go in the cart the next. In France, racing under saddle has more prestige than going in a sulky. If you can drive a horse, you should be able to ride.” As for what the foreigners bring to the table, Walker added, “The girls have experience and have been working really hard teaching skills and they’ll make the racing more exciting over here.”
The six riders that will be competing on Saturday in Hanover have been hard at work in preparation for the exhibition, and recently got licensed as riders through the Ontario Racing Commission in schooling action at Grand River Raceway.
Walker is really hoping that racing under saddle grows in popularity and thinks it is good for the sport of racing standardbreds, as it highlights their versatility. “It’s amazing what a standardbred can do. You can jump on their back and they catch on so quickly. Standardbreds are an amazing breed. I saw my first race under saddle in 2005 and fell in love with it.”
Surely, RUS racing is a new trend that is growing in this province, and is still very new and unique for racing fans to witness. But Walker is very hopeful that this is only the beginning.
“I’d like to see it on the condition sheet. The girls we have now are talented enough that they could hop on any horse as catch riders. We’d like to see it as part of the purse pool and on condition sheets at tracks around the province.”
For anyone who has never seen a trotter raced under saddle, Hanover Raceway is the place to take it in this Saturday night. Walker says the sport is as exciting for fans as anything she’s seen. “Watching two horses so close together look each other in the eye and really race is so awesome. For me, it has the same excitement as any sporting event. When you watch RUS racing, it’s the same thrill. The feeling inside when you watch a professional athlete I think is the same as what fans will get when they watch these horses and riders on Saturday night.”
(Hanover Raceway)
Good Luck girls, thankyou to
Good Luck girls, thankyou to all for your for wonderfull efforts as Ambassadors to keep Ontario Standardbred Racing alive WINNERS DON'T QUIT