November is kind of a let down month for me. Winter is on the way (or has already hit in some parts of Canada!) and the major stakes race season is over. When I worked in Calgary I used to enjoy looking at the Kentucky and Harrisburg sales results, knowing that plenty of new faces would be coming to Alberta to be trained, but now that enjoyment has left as well. Over the years, I too have bought into a yearling partnership in the hopes of finding a dream colt... good luck to those looking for that home run.
As a race secretary I have always said it is my job to work with both the horsemen and track management. When the topic of reducing race dates comes up, I certainly understand both sides of the story. We always hear about the hardship to the horsemen and breeders, but I would also like to mention one segment of the industry that gets forgotten -- each time there are race reductions, it also affects racing officials (judges, race secretaries, timers, charters, announcers, and paddock judges) as well. Going forward, I think it’s going to be hard to find officials in our industry. With each one that is laid off or leaves, the industry loses years of experience. I am 50 years old and when I go to industry meetings, I am still on the younger side of the scale -- which is not good! Next time you go to your local track, check out the average age of the officials working in various jobs that day.
On another topic, I’m glad to see that it looks like the ORC is going to continue to monitor the urging rule and fine tune it.
The Breeder’s Crown races have now taken place, and I wonder if there were a record number of $2.10 payoffs. That would have been my prediction.
As I write this column, I am very excited to be part of the planning process for a Casie Coleman day at Fraser Downs on November 11. Casie, of course, grew up at Cloverdale and had a very serious accident at Sandown Racetrack on the island. As a result, she spent a lot of time in the burn unit of the Royal Jubilee Hospital. Casie has asked the industry to host a fundraiser to benefit the hospital, so we would all appreciate anyone that could help out in any way. Welcome back to B.C. Casie!
On a sad note, I would like to send condolences on behalf of myself and all Standardbred Canada directors and staff to the family of Doug Cressman, a Standardbred Canada Track and Breeder Director from Saskatchewan. Doug was a big supporter of Alberta racing and, in particular, the Alberta Yearling Sale.
I was also saddened this month to hear of the tragic death of 26-year-old Brody Johnson, a well-respected executive assistant at Harness Tracks of America. My condolences go out to all his family and friends as well.
On a better note, there have been lots of positive milestones this month.
Doug Chappell (son of Alberta driver/trainer John), will always remember 9/11 for a different reason. Doug won his first ever drive at Fraser Downs that day (Sept 11, 2009) with Hammers Bad Boy. Congratulations Dougie! And congratulations to Dawn Lupul on becoming the first woman to professionally announce standardbred races -- she did a great job at Grand River Raceway. Finally, hats off to Jim Morand for reaching 8,000 driving wins and Gilles Gendron for bringing his career win total to 7,000.
Until next month!