The  OBJECT of the Society shall be to encourage and ensure co-operative effort in all matters pertaining to the production and improvement of the Standardbred Horse in the Province of Alberta, and to co-operate with the Associations and Societies of other Provinces in the Dominion of Canada and States of the United States of America/or other Associations in other Countries..
The Alberta Standardbred Horse Association (ASHA) was formed to represent and protect the best interests of Standardbred industry participants and bring about a closer, more understanding relationship among members, racetracks, racing associations, governing bodies and the public.
​
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NEWS & UPDATES RELEVANT
​TO ALBERTA HARNESS RACING

ABSS SUPER FINALS STANDINGS
as of September 20, 2021

News Stories From Standardbred Canada

Campbells Sweep Century Opens

Driver Brandon Campbell and trainer Michael Campbell collected wins in both featured events at Century Downs on Tuesday (Sept. 21), winning the $8,100 Open Pace with Dontpokethedragon and in the $8,100 Fillies & Mares Open Pace with Moosette....read on

Hoerdt Dominant At Century

Not only did driver Kelly Hoerdt win five races on the 10-race card at Century Downs on Sunday (Sept. 19), but a pair of his victories came in the Alberta Sires Stakes (ABSS) finals contested on the card....read on

Keith Clark Retires From Racing​

After more than 50 years in the harness racing industry, Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer Keith Clark has retired from on-track participation....read on


YEARLING SALE UPDATE (and all racing activity at Century Properties)


September 15th Backstretch Update
Notes
 
HRA and ASHA Finance Updates
  • * There is optimism as we close in on the end of the current Century Downs meet and look forward to the winter Century Mile meet. Horse population continues to be a struggle but that is industry wide and the positive is horses get a race virtually every time they enter
  • *The Century Mile meet will have the 10% purse increase we had talked about at our last update barring the Covid 19 Pandemic situation worsening and tracks/casinos having to close. The condition sheet will be released in the not too distant future, a couple classes that were hit hard as our revenue streams were cut have slightly bigger increases
  • *In 2022, the industry total purse pool will increase which will allow us another minimum 10 percent increase to classes starting in January. These increases get us back to racing for purse pools we haven’t seen for over 5 years. These are based on conservative numbers from HRA, there is a chance of another purse bump later in the year if revenue numbers track similarly
  • *In 2022 our Stakes pool will increase from 1.2 to 1.7 million dollars, a significant increase of over 40% year over year. The Stakes guide will be released as dates are firmed up
  • *Looking forward to future years, the optimism continues as over 2022 and 2023 the majority of the loan HRA received from the Alberta Government will be repaid. That will leave more revenue for the purse pool and more healthy increases. We will not get ahead of ourselves and predict future revenues, our world seem to change fast
  • *In years of increased revenue, ASHA is going to do it’s best to slowly build back up our rainy day fund. It had a healthy amount until we had to subsidize purse funding when we received slots revenue cuts while the NDP were in power. We also did our best to support industry members during the recent shutdowns as we lost 8-9 months of time that we were supposed to be racing. The next few years we should be able to build the account back up to have some protection against future needs
 
Regulatory
  •  *ASHA is in the process of working with HRA towards rule changes and a review of the matrix being used for current fines and suspensions. This is being done for all breeds
  • *There is a new process for these changes, ASHA must submit any requests in a new format with includes a lot of information. We will be working through these over the next 6-8 weeks. If any member has something they think should be looked into or has a current rule that needs revision, please forward your comments/suggestions to Fred Gillis and he will pass them on to the board. Deadline for suggestions is Mid October
  • *New rules will be announced in or around Mid March every year and will be implemented early April which is before our stakes season begins and before the Thoroughbred season begins
 
Yearling Sale
  • *As we all are aware, new Covid 19 protocols were put into place province wide. Some started immediately and others on Monday September 20th. The Yearling sale committee and the Century Downs team are meeting the  morning of Friday September 17th, to discuss changes that will need to take place in order to conduct the 2021 sale. We will communicate those to the membership as soon as we can
 
Race Dates
  • *The Race Calendar for 2022 will not be released for a while yet as discussions/negotiations are still ongoing. There is a strong chance that the 2022 calendar will look like the 2021 calendar was supposed to before the December shutdown but again that has not been finalized. The first all breeds Race date meeting will take place in early October
  • *All parties are interested in working towards a 5 year agreement for better planning. That should aid industry members with staffing decisions and potentially accommodation requirements
 
Horse Population
  • *As we all have seen, there have been announcements by the HPBA that they are working towards some initiatives. From our perspective we believe this is great for the whole industry, the stronger each breed is the stronger the whole industry becomes
  • *It is important to understand that the HPBA has applied for funding for these initiatives, if they don’t receive approval they will be using their cash reserves to fund them. On paper they look very good but their Alberta-bred horse population for these races is very small
  • *This whole process began when Paul Ryneveld of Century Casinos undertook to lead a horse population initiative discussion and presentation to the HRA board. All breeds were asked to meet and send him Horse population increase short term and long-term initiatives. The ASHA Racing Committee met twice, and 6 initiatives were submitted, but in order to accomplish them we require funding from HRA
  • *We have chosen to wait to discuss our initiative suggestions until we receive approval. There is an HRA Board Meeting late in September and we will have a better idea then of the progress and timeline
 
Retention Racing in 2022
  • *Our policy over the past few years has been to race stakes finals with purses over $50k out of retention. In 2021 we requested funding into this area so that we could race eliminations for those finals out of retention as well, but due to Covid reductions of revenue that was not possible
  • *With the proposed increase to our stakes purses, in 2022 we will have many more Stakes that will be over the $50k threshold. We have submitted a request to have all these finals and eliminations raced out of retention, along with the Super Finals
  • *This request has been sent to build into the 2022 HRA Budget, we will hear most likely in November as to the success of this request
 
Those were the significant points to the Update. A question and answer period was held for about 15 minutes. We thank everyone who was in attendance. This detailed summary is being provided in best efforts to keep our membership better informed.
 
Don McDougall
On Behalf of the ASHA Board of Directors
 

2021 ASHA Yearling Sale - 
$2500 CREDIT VOUCHER TICKETS and...!!
  • Once again, the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association is offering for raffle a transferable $2500.00 credit towards the purchase of a yearling.

The proceeds of this raffle go towards the Horsemen's Benevolent Fund. If you would like to donate a prize (please contribute quickly !) OR to purchase a ticket, contact an ASHA staff member or a member of the Breeders Committee.
​
                                                TICKETS are only $20 each!

Other prizes  (pictures to be posted as they become available):
  1. *A custom made fire pit donated by Camrose Machine & Welding (2014) Ltd.​worth approximately  ​$1,100!
  2. *Cooler Package from C. Gubbels of Raceway Tack (worth $165)
  3. *Photo Session  worth $175 from esa Photography
  4. *A kids package (toys and goodies)
  5. *$100 ASHA membership 


NEW INITIATIVE PROGRAM!!
OUTLAWKISSMYCLASS:
​No bids yet
OUTLROADTOVICTORY:
​ No bids yet
Picture
Alberta Challenge of Champions ABSS SUPER FINALS

The OFFICIAL Stakes Schedule and Calendar

Below are the OFFICIAL  Stakes Schedule and Calendar respectively.
​PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE SCHEDULE COULD CHANGE DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND THE CONTROL OF ASHA

2021 Race Calendar

as of AUGUST 23, 2021

2021 Stakes Schedule

As of  May 25, 2021, with correction of Brad Gunn Breeders Stake which should have been the Moore's Mile Breeders Stake

Looking for help? Looking for work?

Announcing EquineJobTrack.ca – your source for horse industry jobs across Canada!  
​Equine Guelph launches free employment service. Employers, post your jobs here so Equine JobTrack can help serve the horse racing industry in Alberta.  ​

HRA HOURS of OPERATION at CENTURY DOWNS RACETRACK

As of April 1st, 2021

Horse Racing Alberta Century Mile Licensing Office
The office will be open Thursday, April 1 from 10 a.m. - noon
Completed license application forms will be accepted in person with CASH ONLY.​
ATTENTION: As a reminder, in February 2020 we received notice from HRA that in lieu of WCB, everyone participating in the harness horse racing industry in Alberta MUST have their Standardbred Canada license and ASHA membership in order to have proper coverage as mandated by Century Casinos.
Horse Racing Alberta (HRA) is requesting that you go ONLINE to renew your license(s), as there is limited access to the backstretch.

​HORSE RACING ALBERTA LICENSING
BALZAC / CENTURY DOWNS

HRA RENEWAL FORM  (Click to open)

CENTURY MILE:
PH. (587) 416-5455
FAX: (587) 416-5460 
EMAIL: lscafe@thehorses.com
​
​PO BOX 1376, 
NISKU, AB, 
T9E 7M0

​CENTURY DOWNS:
PH. (587) 349-7777 Ext: 7800 FAX: (587) 349-7794 
​EMAIL: bgerlitz@thehorses.com 

All information can be located here:
Century MILE HRA hours
For a list of OTB's in Southern Alberta, click this link ...HERE

The Horse Portal

SPECIAL 15% DISCOUNT FOR HRA MEMBERS 

Register at: TheHorsePortal.ca/HRA 

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