We would like to extend our condolences to the family and friends of legendary Alberta journalist Peter Watts, who sadly passed away this morning at the age of 68.
Peter was one of the most respected members of the sports community in Alberta and worked hard to give the horse racing industry a voice during his many years of service.
His contributions to this sport and his tremendous legacy in the province will never be forgotten.


Peter Watts Obituary

​Tim Lake brings a unique perspective to his new role as a director with Alberta Standardbred.  He’s worked as a racing official for Northlands Park in Edmonton.  He’s currently working with the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, supervising the operation of video lottery terminals at many outlets in northwestern Alberta.  And, in his spare time, he’s a volunteer groom for the Rod Starkewski stable, currently in residence at Century Downs in Balzac, AB.  He’s the first licensed groom ever elected to the board of the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association and one of a handful ever to have achieved that distinction in Canada.
 
“I’ve said no on a number of occasions to serving as a director,” he told me.  “I much prefer to be in the background.  But these are interesting times in Alberta.  We appear to have found a good racetrack operator in Century Gaming.  They’ve got one facility operating in Balzac, they own a couple of casino operations in Edmonton and in St. Albert and they are building the new Century Mile facility which will open in the spring of next year in Leduc.  So, when I was asked by several people to let my name stand this spring, I decided I would try it.  I have no particular agenda.  In fact, I’m not sure yet what all I will be doing.  But I decided I would try it and see if I could be helpful to growing the industry.”
 
“It all began in 2007 when I was hired by Northlands Park as their operations manager.  My job was to look after the track, the barns, and the main grandstand building.  After about a year of them teaching me how to bet and how to read a program, my bosses suggested I should take a more active role.  So, my wife, Clauzette Byckal and I, bought our first horse in 2008.  She has always been listed as the owner and that’s the way we both like it.”
 
“Clauzette lived on an acreage as a child and grew up with horses.  The Starkewskis are happy to have us in the barn.  We’ve done everything.  We’ve done some breeding.  I’ve cleaned out my share of stalls.  And, the last couple of years, we’ve had some success on the racetrack.”
 
Lake brings a unique perspective to his new duties for ASHA.  His involvement with Alberta Gaming, which began for the first time in 1997, gave him a perspective on the racing entertainment center model which was pioneered in this province by former Alberta Racing Corporation chair, Doug Mitchell, and by the late Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein.  The model provided for slot machines at racetracks to contribute a portion of the revenues generated to support the live horse racing product.
 
“During my time at Northlands, I had occasion to be involved in the pari-mutuel part of the business.  I oversaw the off-track betting operation.
I’ve dabbled a bit in the racing operation side.  So, I think that’s why I was nominated and elected.  People seem to think I have something to offer.”
 
“I’ve learned a lot over the ten years or so that I have been involved.  I don’t really have a specific interest.  I suppose that once we get into it and I can understand the issues, I’ll look to achieve a consensus.  I’m interested in how we maintain and grow the business in Alberta.  We’ve lost Stampede Park in Calgary and after this year we won’t have Northlands Park in Edmonton.  We’ve survived some tough times in the province and I hope we’re going to see some better times in the next year and beyond.”
 
Another new director to join the ASHA board is Don McNeil.  He’s been selected to head up the owner’s committee and he comes to the role with some experience and some definite ideas of what he’d like to see, going forward.
 
“Owners pay the bills,” he told me.  “We’ve got a range of issues to address, beginning with what it costs to be in the business and what we need to do to make the business stronger.  I’m developing a survey I intend to send out to all the owners represented by ASHA.  It’ll reflect some of my own ideas from my experience, to start.  But I’m already getting calls and I’ve already started to listen.  I want to hear what owners’ priorities are and I want to be accessible to hear what owners have to say.”
 
“I got my start in this business when my father ran a dairy farm near Ottawa and had a few horses that raced at Rideau Carleton Raceway and at old Blue Bonnets in Montreal.  I got away from racing when I took a job at Imperial Oil, and later, at Syncrude.  When I retired in 2007, I went to the Harrisburg sale and bought a couple of broodmares in foal.  At one point, I had seventeen horses.  I’ve cut that back a bit, but I still have about nine horses, including one gorgeous foal that was born this spring.  We don’t have enough horses and we need to improve breeding in Alberta.  It’s all part of what needs to be done to make the business stronger.”
 
To that end, ASHA is launching an experiment this spring with a road trip to Springfield Ohio and the May mixed sale.  ASHA President, Bill Andrew will lead the mission.  He’ll be joined by driver-trainers, Dave Kelly and Harold Haining.  Andrew has done the pedigrees on some 90 mares that are either still racing or that have already found their way to the breeding shed.
 
“We’re taking the initiative and hoping to spend some money on May 15th to try and begin the process of upgrading our broodmare band in Alberta,” ASHA executive director, Fred Gillis, told me.  If we can get 8-10 mares at a reasonable price and bring them back to Alberta, we’ll sell them to interested parties at an auction at Century Downs on May 25th.  If the exercise works, we may try to do it again in the fall.”
 
Finally, Horse Racing Alberta has approved additional dates for a fall harness meet to be staged at Northlands Park in Edmonton.  This meet will take the place of the one originally scheduled for Century Mile in Leduc.  Construction of that facility won’t be completed until the spring of 2019.
 
“We’ll race Friday and Saturday evenings at Northlands between Sept. 14th and October 27th,” Gillis told me.  There are plans being made for the balance of 2018, but they are not yet finalized, and they will have to be approved by Horse Racing Alberta’s board before they can be made public.

​It doesn’t feel like it.  It might be sunny but it still feels pretty cool standing outside the paddock.  It doesn’t look like it.  There’s still a lot of snow and ice around the racetrack, and around the training tracks and barns across the province.
 
But the calendar says it is spring.  And hopefully it will feel like spring on Sunday afternoon, April 1st, at 1:15 PM when the 2018 harness racing season opens at Century Downs in Balzac.
 
“Horsemen have been able to get some training done,” racing secretary, Jackson Wittup, told me.  “But everybody’s behind schedule.  We’ve got about 150 horses on the grounds.  Twenty-five of them made it successfully through qualifying on Saturday morning.  Some that are here are still eligible to race without having to qualify.  We’ll see what the entry box looks like on Wednesday morning.”
 
“We may be short until Fraser Downs closes on April 14th and until a half dozen horsemen who have spent the winter racing at Cal Expo in Sacramento return to the province.  Ryan Grundy’s probably done the best of any of the Alberta trainers who went south for the winter.  I expect that there are 12-15 trainers at Fraser Downs who we can expect to show up for the season here at Century Downs.  So, we’ll do the best we can with what we have until they arrive.”
 
Through March 24th, Grundy had a 9-11-12 log from 96 starters at Cal Expo.  Quentin Schneider has done pretty well too, posting an 8-12-5 mark from 68 starters.  The good news is that when they arrive they’ll be bringing stables of horses that have been racing, so it should not take long for them to find their way to the entry box.  It’ll be the same story for those stables which have been competing through the winter at Fraser Downs. 
 
What to do with them when they come to Alberta is the next question.  Most of the stable space at Century Downs has been booked.  There’s room for horses at Olds College, about 45 minutes north of the racetrack.  And the new owners of The Track on Two at Lacombe, a little more than an hour north of Balzac, are working hard and hope to have at least 70 stalls ready for use by April 15th.
 
“The track is cleared,” Kurt Belich told me.  He and partner, Ross Morrison, took over the facility from Bobby Allan last summer, and have been working hard to make improvements.
 
“Ron Grift, who spent 30 years at Northlands Park in Edmonton, is coming in this week to examine the racetrack and tell us what we need to do to get it ready for training.  We’ve got a stall application on the ASHA web site if some trainers are looking for space.  We’re doing considerable work on the grandstand.  We’ve added things like washrooms on the main level.  Getting the kitchen in shape is the next project on the list.  We’re also applying to the county for permits to expand what we can offer to both the public and to horsemen.  Right now, we can accommodate about 600 people.  But we’d like to grow that number and we’d like to offer a more diverse entertainment product on race days and more events generally.”
 
“We’re also working with Horse Racing Alberta to get a B-track license to stage races.  We had a day or two of racing last fall and we think there’s room for more.  We’ve got 20 acres of ground north of the grandstand that’s never been developed, so we’re examining what we could do with that.  In all, we have about 145 acres of land on the east side of Highway 2.  As well, we have a small parcel on the west side of the highway.”
 
“By the time we get these improvements finished we’ll have invested about $1.5 million in the project, over and above what we paid for the purchase.  So, we’re serious about supporting the industry and excited about the possibilities for the future.”
 
Stabilizing that facility is part of Belich’s drive to be an option to provide harness racing with a venue this fall.  Work is underway at Century Mile in Leduc, but it appears the new facility won’t be ready for the meet that was scheduled to start there in mid-September.  Century Casino, which is building the facility, has told the industry that the opening has been pushed back to the spring of 2019.  Officials from Horse Racing Alberta and Alberta Standardbred are currently looking at alternatives.
 
People & Pacers….
 
The biggest news on the backstretch this spring is that veteran driver, Gerry Hudon, has driven in his last race.
 
“The doctors have told me I cannot withstand another concussion,” Gerry told me.  “So, I’ve decided for the good of myself and my family, I’m going to find some other things to do to keep myself busy.  I’ll train some horses and help Phil Giesbrecht who’ll be driving a lot of my stock.  And I’m excited to be part of a committee of Standardbred Canada and the US Trotting Association.  We’re looking at trying to create a standardized rulebook for the industry.  Right now, it’s early stage.  We’re meeting by conference call about every two weeks.  It’ll be a long complicated process.  But I hope it will make for better understanding of the rules when we’re done and ensure that racing continues to be conducted fairly for everyone involved.”
 
Hudon retires from driving with 2,084 wins from 11,913 starts.  His horses earned more than $13.2 million in more than 30 years of racing.  As usual, he’ll look at those numbers and wonder where it all went!  “Where it went, Gerry, was back into running a thriving stable, keeping a bunch of people employed over the years, raising a wonderful family, and being one of the good people in the harness racing business.”
 
Two other driver-trainers won’t be around either, at least for a while.  Veteran Bill Tainsh Jr., has taken a job near his off-season home in the Shuswap.  His small stable with horses owned by Willie Wychopen and Wally Moroz, has been turned over to Daniel LeBlanc.  Mike Hennessy has stepped away from the sport, at least for the time being.  That likely means that father, Rod, will have even more work to do.
 
A couple of familiar faces in the backstretch are expanding their roles.  Kaitlin Haining has completed her work to become a full trainer and will be of even more help to her father, Harold.  And Marjorie Dumont is going to get her driver’s license so that she can better assist husband, J-F Gagne.
 
“I’ve driven in amateur races for years,” she told me.  “I’ve trained horses at our home track.  J-F has been pushing me to get my license.  So, I decided with a good nanny for our two young children, I can do something I’ve always wanted to do.  Among other things, I need ten qualified drives to get my license.  I got two of them in Saturday’s qualifiers.  For the time being, I’ll just drive horses that J-F and I own.  We’ll see how it goes.”
 
The biggest loss to the industry during the winter was Blue Burner.  The 16 year old stallion had built a worthy reputation as a top sire in the province.  Mateo (1:52.2 - $301,048) was an Alberta champion before being sold during the winter to US interests.  So is Outlaw Fireball, the now 4 year old mare which dominated the 3 year old season last year.  Fireball (1:55.1 - $326,073) is owned by a consortium led by J-F Gagne.  She’s having a good rest right now at the farm near Wetaskiwin but she’ll be back in action later this spring.
 
In all, Blue Burner sired 147 horses.  Ninety-seven of them made it to the races.  Seventy-nine of those horses made it to the winner’s circle and owners took more than $5 million in purses to the bank.  Burner was a good one.  He’ll be difficult to replace as a stallion, and impossible to replace as a family member of Connie Kolthammer’s Outlaw Farms in Falun, AB.
 
His legacy will be sons and daughters who will become stars on Alberta’s racetracks for the next few years.  Outlaw Stables and some other breeding operations in the province, are already reporting new foals on the ground and more expected over the next couple of months.  The breeding operations are busy.  Now it’s racing’s turn to move into the spotlight.  Yes, it must be spring.

​I recently had the opportunity to talk to Dr. John Basarab who’s doing some interesting work in genomic testing of livestock herds at the University of Alberta.  The idea is to improve on the quality of breeding stock by using science to ensure that the best qualities of a sire and a female are brought together to strengthen the breed.  A lot of this work is still at an early stage, but I asked John if the work he’s doing could be applied to the horse racing industry.
 
“Oh, absolutely,” he told me.  “Horse racing breeders study pedigrees to determine which stallion to breed to which mare to produce horses that are bred for such things as speed, distance, and size.  What we’re doing is identifying bits of DNA that are passed on to the next generation that result in failure to conceive.  Maybe it’s failure to conceive, maybe it’s early embryonic death loss.  Can you imagine if we could identify those regions of the genome that are associated with that infertility and we could identify that in young females before any mating occurs.  It would save a lot of time and money.  That’s a future area of research but we’ll find the answers.”
 
Breeding, of course, involves a number of costs that are incurred long before a foal is born.  Last year in Alberta, of 311 mares that were bred, only 181 foals were registered.  That’s about 57%.  The industry average over the past five years isn’t much better.  And the challenge isn’t only in Alberta.  The horse supply problem is industry-wide across North America.  More mares in foal is only one part of the solution.  More productivity of the mares that are here now is also a part of the solution.  Perhaps, as it matures and develops, genomic testing will be an important part of the future.
 
Which is a bit of a roundabout way of getting to this year’s annual ASHA Yearling Sale set for Sunday, September 10th at the Olds Regional Exhibition Megadome.  A total of 71 yearlings are to be auctioned.  There are 25 stallions registered this year in the Alberta Sire Stakes program which means that their foals that are paid into the program have additional value because they can compete in the added money events that are only available to Alberta bred foals.  There are 18 consignors to the sale.  Meridian Farms has the largest consignment with 16 yearlings.  Al Neurauter has nine and Surdale Farms of Kelowna has eight.
 
Custard The Dragon is the most prominent sire with eight colts, two geldings and eleven fillies in the sale. Vertical Horizon is well represented with six colts and seven fillies.  Mystery Chase has five colts and five fillies.  Riverboat King has four colts and five fillies.  Given the opportunities presented by artificial insemination, there are also individual foals from such out of province sires as Sportswriter and Sunfire Blue Chip.  There’s also a Sunshine Beach filly in the sale.  Sunshine Beach is owned by a syndicate which includes Edmonton’s Diane Bertrand.  He is standing this year at Seelster Farm in Lucan, Ontario.
 
“I’m hoping we have a good sale,” breeders committee chair, Connie Kolthammer, told me.  “It’s a tough business.  I’m hoping that with Century Mile coming on stream next year that we can get to the point of a healthy and sustainable industry here in the province.  It’s really important that we continue to try and attract new owners and breeders to our sport so that we can continue to grow the racing business.  That’s another part of the process of improving horse supply in our industry.”
 
Among first time consignors to the ASHA Yearling Sale is Lynda Atkinson, who runs a 600-acre operation near Quesnel, BC.  A long time breeder of Morgan horses, Atkinson has expanded into the Standardbred ranks and has acquired the sire, Test Flight, from Bill Andrew of Meridian Farms.
 
“I really like the Alberta system,” she told me.  “It’s well organized, ASHA staff communicate well with us and it’s a little easier to get to Olds in September than to the BC yearling sale in Langley in November, from where I live.  The fact that I have a couple of yearlings which are Alberta foaled and BC bred means they are eligible for Sire Stakes in both provinces.  I think that gives them added value, given the complementary scheduling of racing dates in Alberta and BC.”
 
Also consigning to the sale for the first time is Angelique Currie from Langley BC,  and Jane Grainger from Regina.  Dr. Larry Hanson of Regina, who’s been a long time seller at the Alberta Sale, is back again this year with four yearlings.  It speaks to the notion that growing the number of breeders is not restricted to Alberta.  If the financial strength of the industry improves in this province, buyers are going to have more money and more incentive to make an investment.  Alberta has a strong Sire Stakes program and a solid administration structure in place.  It stands to reason that breeders from across western Canada are going to want to be a part of that.
 
“Those breed bonuses and foal incentives are really important to breeders,” says Atkinson.  “In this business, we’re price takers, not price setters.  We basically have to accept the buyer’s price for our yearlings, unless we want to start setting reserve prices for them.  We think we know what a yearling is worth but the clearest valuation comes from the market.”
 
Of special note are three yearlings which have been raised by 4-H club members as part of their learning experience.  Madisen Groves has Hip #26, Queenoftheriver, Sierra MacDonald has Hip #38, HF White Lightning and Dayton Rickard has Hip #33, Ceia Lata Alagata.  This is Sierra’s second year in the program.  She’s raised her filly for Colleen Haining of Clive, AB.  Dayton has acted for long time owners and breeders, Bryan and Cheryl Brook of Leduc.  Madisen has worked hard with her filly on behalf of Amanda Barron of Trochu, AB.  It is the first year that Madisen and Dayton have been involved.  The 4-H members spend several months with the yearlings, learning to care for them and preparing them for the sale.  They share in the proceeds from the auction.
 
As well, Hip #54, June Morning, is offered for sale under the auspices of the Let The Sun Shine program, organized by Bill Andrew at Meridian Farms. Proceeds from the sale of this yearling will be divided among five charities.  The initiative has raised about $34,000 to non profit/charity groups in its first two years of operation.
 
Sale catalogues have been distributed to ASHA members.  They’re also available from the ASHA office in Airdrie, AB.  The sale is set for 2:30 pm Sunday, Sept. 10th, at the Olds Regional Exhibition Megadome.  Previews go Saturday evening, 6-9 PM and doors open Sunday morning at 10 AM.

​ Fred Gillis longs for the good old days.  And ASHA’s executive director believes it’s possible that what has gone around in harness racing in Alberta, can come around again.
 
                “I remember when some of our races carried big purses that encouraged local owners to invest in better quality racing stock, and occasionally attracted owners from outside the province to send their horses to race here,” he told me.    “The Nat Christie in Calgary was probably the best example of that, but once in awhile someone would ship a horse into the market that could compete in races like the Western Canada Pacing Derby.  It gave us a chance to see some of the stars of the day.  It gave us a chance to match our horses against some of the best in the world.  It gave our racetracks some profile when the races were picked up and broadcast to other locations.  And it provided great entertainment for the racing public.”
 
                You look down through the list of winners of some of the big harness races held in the province over the years and some names jump out.  Falcon Seelster (1985), Matts Scooter (1988), and Village Connection (1995) are three examples of outstanding horses that shipped in to Calgary to win the Nat Christie.  Hall of Fame driver, Buddy Gilmour, drove Hall of Fame horse, On The Road Again, into the winner’s circle at Northlands Park in Edmonton in the 1984 Western Canada Pacing Derby.  Saskatchewan horseman, Ray Remmen, began his own Hall of Fame career racing on the Prairies and won the 1975 Western Canada Pacing Derby with Stormin Stephen in 1:59.4.  It was the first sub-2:00 mile in western Canada harness racing.
 
                And sometimes, an Alberta owned or Alberta bred horse would show the invaders a thing or two on the racetrack.  Just Doodlin swept the Western Canada Pacing Derby and the Nat Christie for Hall of Fame driver-trainer, Keith Clark, in 1996.  Clark won the Pacing Derby with As Promised and the Northlands Filly Pace with Flea Tag in 1992.  He repeated the double four years later with Filly Pace winner, Sippin Time, and with Just Doodlin.
 
                “They were all Alberta breds,” Clark told me.  So was Sky Hagler which won the WCPD in 1990.  So was Rons Girl which was a multiple stakes winner.”
 
                The struggles Alberta racing has gone through over the past decade has led to the demise of some of those great events and pushed others into a lower status financially.  Gillis, however, believes that a rebuild is possible for a number of reasons.
 
                “The opening of Century Downs in Balzac, and the opening of Century Mile in Leduc next year is the starting point,” Gillis told me.  We’ll have an operator which has already demonstrated its willingness to promote and market the sport.  We’ll have the benefits of support from machine gaming at the racing entertainment centres.  We’ve got the World Drivers Challenge at Century Downs on August 12th and that event is going to an international market.  We’ve got a 45-site Alberta tele-theatre network and a bunch of racetracks around North America taking our Monday racecard via simulcast.  And we’re starting to see a new and younger crowd of racing fans showing up to watch our product.  When fans can identify with the stars of the sport, the sport tends to achieve a higher profile.”
 
                Personally, I’d like to be able to find a sponsor for our Super Finals so that we could get the championship races up to $100,000 from their current $80,000 value.  Those races are for Alberta breds, so it gives us a chance to continue to showcase our breeding program.  We’ve also got the Western Canada Pacing Derby and the Filly Pace for the Edmonton scene.  I’m delighted that Calgary auto dealer, Glen Rumpel, is going to come aboard as sponsor of the Lady Luck Stakes for 3 year old fillies.  That race will be re-named the Gordon & Illa Rumpel Memorial Stakes, effective in 2018.  Gordon and Illa owned Matts Scooter and On The Road Again during their racing careers, so to see their names associated with the re-birth of harness racing in the province is really special.  And the Ralph Klein for the colts would be the fourth major.  Both of those races carry total purses of $100,000.”
 
                “The idea is to try and create incentives for owners to invest in racing stock and to have a chance to recoup their investments.”
 
                To be sure, there are some challenges.  One of them is North American horse supply, which is down substantially from the glory years of the 1980’s and ‘90’s.  Even if you want to buy a good horse, you have to look long and hard, and probably spend more to get what you want.   Serge Masse, who won four WCPD’s in a stretch of five years, tells an interesting story in that regard.
 
                “I was bidding on a horse at an auction,” Masse told me.  “The price was at $19,000 and I thought that was a fair price for the animal and one which I could afford.  The auctioneer was just doing his job when he stopped the bidding for a moment to tout the horse’s attributes.  The next thing I knew, the price had escalated to $67,000 US, which was way beyond good value for me.  I just had to walk away.”
 
                Veteran horseman, Kelly Hoerdt, introduces another difference from years ago.  “Horses down east, especially in Ontario, now race for really lucrative purses, certainly by our standards,” he told me.  “Purses here would have to be in the $175,000 range at least, in my opinion, to get eastern horsemen to take much interest.  I won the Northlands Filly Pace last year when it went for $75,000”   (in fact, Hoerdt-trained horses finished in the top four spots in the final).
 
                And there’s the inevitable debate between those who think a couple of flagship events are great, and those who would rather see slow and steady growth in overnight purses.
 
                “I can see both sides,” veteran conditioner, Rod Hennessy, told me.  “I’m one of the few that can play the game either way.  Last year, I think Keith and Kelly and I, and maybe Serge, were the only ones who went to the Harrisburg sale to buy horses.  With the dollar where it is and with prices higher because there are fewer horses available, you need to prepare to spend some money to get good racing stock.  There’s a lot to be said for putting some money into overnight purses to give owners of racehorses at that level a chance to get their money back.  Even $300-$400 a race can make a real difference to a small owner who wants to be part of the industry but who’s facing a monthly training bill.”
 
                We are still a little distance from seeing either dream become a reality.  It will take some time after Century Mile opens to generate additional revenues, which can be re-invested in any project.  The ten year agreement with the provincial government will add to the government’s revenue stream but will cost the industry a higher percentage of proceeds from machine gaming.  So, it means that additional revenues have to be found:  from increased wagering, from simulcasting, and from sponsorship.  But ASHA’s best salesman believes it can be done.
 
                “I think we’ve got something to sell here in Alberta,” says Fred Gillis, “and I think the sport’s future is getting brighter again.  We’ve got some ideas of how we can grow this business.  Let’s go try and see what happens.”