The Bill Galvin Racing Alliance (BGRA) has announced that prominent Standardbred breeder and owner Tom Rankin will be supporting four contests with a Standardbred horse theme for Ontario elementary school students in 2023.
The BGRA’s four contests include the Youth Literary Derby, a renewal of the original event in 2018, an Art Derby, Photo Derby, and Video Derby. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three in each of the contest divisions.
In 2018, Rankin sponsored the prize money for the Youth Literary Derby and hosted an open house at his St. Catharines Standardbred farm, which was attended by over 300 visitors including the Mayor of St. Catharines.
“Tom has again generously offered to sponsor the prize money for these Youth Contests,” said Karen Hauver, a volunteer director of the BGRA. “We sincerely appreciate Tom’s commitment and involvement and we’re extremely excited that he’s willing to host another Open House.”
On Saturday, May 13, Rankin will once again open the gates to his farm and welcome the public to stop by to meet his broodmares and foals in conjunction with the Youth Literary Derby and Youth Art Derby.
The open house event is intended to introduce youth to the foals and mares and inspire their content for the Youth Literary Derby and Youth Art Derby, which are open to Ontario elementary school children in Grades 3 to 8 with Junior and Senior divisions. Entries for these two contests will close on June 27, 2023.
“I was very happy to hear about the creation of the Bill Galvin Racing Alliance and their programs for 2023. Bill was a great friend of mine and a huge promoter of the Standardbred industry,” said Rankin, who feels that the Youth Literary Derby and Art Derby are great ways to introduce harness racing to a wider audience. "The contest is great for education in terms of encouraging literacy and the arts. It gives kids the chance to be creative, and who knows, there might be a budding poet, writer or artist out there."
The Photo Derby and Video Derby will take place over the summer months with entries closing on Aug. 31. Students and their parents will be encouraged to visit family friendly events at Ontario racetracks for inspiration for the theme, which is Standardbred horses.
Complete rules and details for all four contests can be found on the BGRA website at bgracingalliance.ca.
Children and their families are invited to Tom Rankin’s Horse Farm Open House to see the foals on Saturday, May 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1490 St. Paul St. West in St. Catharines, Ont. Please register no later than May 10 by contacting Rankin Construction at 905-684-1111 during business hours from Monday to Friday.
The non-profit Bill Galvin Racing Alliance was formed by a group of Ontario harness racing enthusiasts who were friends and associates of the late Bill Galvin to promote Ontario harness racing in the Hall of Famer’s honour. The mission of the BGRA is to work together to create and encourage partnerships and programs that will promote and grow harness racing by engaging youth and the general public with the racing community.
(With files from Bill Galvin Racing Alliance)