A great month of racing kicked off July 1st with the Canada Day family friendly celebrations and fireworks at Century Downs. We had the finals of the Meridian Farms and Brad Gunn pace on the card. You Talk Too Much captured the Meridian Farms Breeders with Phil Giesbrecht in the race bike for the Keith Clark connections. Cheddar Jack took the Brad Gunn Breeder stake in an impressive time of 1:54.3 with Paul Davies steering the colt to victory lane for trainer Rod Hennessy and Owners Lorne Duffield and Diane Harries.
July 2nd was an amazing day. We saw the largest handle at Century Downs for Standardbred Racing with $182,000 put through the windows! During the entire 2018 Standardbred Race season to date there has been a very positive upswing in wagering which is extremely encouraging.
The Fun For Fans group for July, the Airdrie Over 50 Club, were out in full force each week to support “Outlaw Tootsieroll“. The club members were as enthusiastic as ever even though July was not a great month for Tootsie on the racetrack.
Let the Sun Shine took centre stage on July 8th with the Airdrie Victims Assistance Society there to cheer on the horses and pass out some gifts. Meridian Farm has grown this project every year and the selected groups seem to have more fun each time. Kudos to Meridian Farms for sponsoring this great day!
Family Day/Meridian Farms KidSport Day in conjunction with Century Downs was held on July 22nd. This was an amazing event hosted by Charlene Barry and assisted by Bret Litke. Many volunteers and their families from KidSport spent an exciting morning in the barn area with ambassador Dave Kelly. The kids were treated to spending time with the horses, asking Dave lots of questions and just enjoying themselves. On the Grandstand side there were pony rides, face painting, ice cream, balloon twisting, coloring contest and more. Meridian sponsored prizes and the famous candy scramble was the final event for the day. Many children came prepared with Dad’s hat or a small bag to scoop up some of the sweet loot!
We had the second legs of the ABSS for three-year olds on the July 21st and 22nd. Hot Kiss strutted her stuff to win the Fillies Final and Freedoms Rescue looked dominant in the Colts and Geldings final. Congrats to all the connections.
The Standardbred 4-H Program is in full swing with yearlings that were placed with members back in April. The three 4-H members have spent countless hours attending clinics, grooming and teaching manners to their charges in preparation for the ASHA Yearling Sale on September 9th at the Olds Megadome.
Finally, the Packwood Grand group took center stage on July 28th. You should have seen some of the amazing outfits as they scrambled up to the windows to wager on their picks. Dressed to the nines they certainly looked to be having a wonderful time enjoying the Standardbred Racing.
An eventful July is now in the books, now on to August and some more great Standardbred races and events!
Fred Gillis
July 2nd was an amazing day. We saw the largest handle at Century Downs for Standardbred Racing with $182,000 put through the windows! During the entire 2018 Standardbred Race season to date there has been a very positive upswing in wagering which is extremely encouraging.
The Fun For Fans group for July, the Airdrie Over 50 Club, were out in full force each week to support “Outlaw Tootsieroll“. The club members were as enthusiastic as ever even though July was not a great month for Tootsie on the racetrack.
Let the Sun Shine took centre stage on July 8th with the Airdrie Victims Assistance Society there to cheer on the horses and pass out some gifts. Meridian Farm has grown this project every year and the selected groups seem to have more fun each time. Kudos to Meridian Farms for sponsoring this great day!
Family Day/Meridian Farms KidSport Day in conjunction with Century Downs was held on July 22nd. This was an amazing event hosted by Charlene Barry and assisted by Bret Litke. Many volunteers and their families from KidSport spent an exciting morning in the barn area with ambassador Dave Kelly. The kids were treated to spending time with the horses, asking Dave lots of questions and just enjoying themselves. On the Grandstand side there were pony rides, face painting, ice cream, balloon twisting, coloring contest and more. Meridian sponsored prizes and the famous candy scramble was the final event for the day. Many children came prepared with Dad’s hat or a small bag to scoop up some of the sweet loot!
We had the second legs of the ABSS for three-year olds on the July 21st and 22nd. Hot Kiss strutted her stuff to win the Fillies Final and Freedoms Rescue looked dominant in the Colts and Geldings final. Congrats to all the connections.
The Standardbred 4-H Program is in full swing with yearlings that were placed with members back in April. The three 4-H members have spent countless hours attending clinics, grooming and teaching manners to their charges in preparation for the ASHA Yearling Sale on September 9th at the Olds Megadome.
Finally, the Packwood Grand group took center stage on July 28th. You should have seen some of the amazing outfits as they scrambled up to the windows to wager on their picks. Dressed to the nines they certainly looked to be having a wonderful time enjoying the Standardbred Racing.
An eventful July is now in the books, now on to August and some more great Standardbred races and events!
Fred Gillis
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