The scene: the Mega Dome at Olds Agriculture Society. The first of 72 yearlings is paraded into the ring. The auctioneer introduces the youngster and begins the patter to drum up a solid dollar investment. The crowd watches. Many in the audience have already spent hours looking through pedigrees and deciding what they are prepared to spend and what they hope to buy. Some are veterans of the sales. They know what to look for. They know the racing history of each family represented by the yearling in the ring.
Others are new to the process. Their nerves are running a little higher. They’re caught up in the sights and sounds. They have a raw idea of what they are prepared to spend and what they want to accomplish. But it is still something new, and fascinating. And, given the fact it involves their money, their hopes and dreams are often mixed with the unknown.
It’s Sept. 4th, 2015, the date of the Alberta Standardbred Yearling Sale. It’s a date that brings together the dreams of finding another champion with the reality that this is a business. Everyone involved needs a plan to get to the winner’s circle. It doesn’t just happen. It’s the product of a shrewd purchase, hours of care and training, and a smart horseman at the controls when that yearling ventures onto the racetrack for the first time.
“We’ve been so looking forward to the new racetrack opening in Balzac,” says Connie Kolthammer, who chairs the ASHA breeders committee. “We have to maintain a positive approach to the system.
One of the strengths of harness racing in the province is the Alberta Sire Stakes program. Since 1977, the province has provided financial support to the racing and breeding industry, recognizing it as an important contributor to the agricultural economy. In 1995, under Premier Ralph Klein, a new, arms length regulator, the Alberta Racing Corporation – later, Horse Racing Alberta – was created and a slot machine program was introduced to support live racing. That program helped to fuel the growth in the Alberta Sire Stakes series which is now worth about $1.2 million a year.
In addition, owners of Alberta breds keep their horses eligible for the series through a number of sustaining payments in their yearling, 2 and 3 year old years. Those funds become part of the purses for several Alberta Sires Stakes races. The racehorses also have to be offspring of an Alberta-based stallion to be eligible.
“Even if Alberta breds don’t make it to stakes level races, they are still eligible for the bonus program,” Connie Kolthammer points out. “Every time a 2,3 or 4yr-old Alberta bred horse finishes in the top three in a race, there’s a bonus paid to the owner”. So the breeding program is important. We have some good sires in the province right now. We need to keep upgrading our brood mares to ensure that we keep producing quality racehorses. The biggest problem is getting quality mares into the province. The dollar exchange makes it more expensive to bring in quality mares from the US. We need to work harder to bring in good fillies to race and then to breed.”
Diane Bertrand has gone that route and has had some success with My Villas on Fire. “I owned the mare and bred her and My Villas on Fire turned out to be the 2 year old Alberta sired filly of the year. She finished second in a BC stakes race earlier this year as a 3 year old and my partner, Robert Gillespie and I, are hoping she’ll be good as this season goes along at Century Downs.” “I know we used to have additional stakes races for 2 year old fillies to try and attract more and better fillies to race here. I think we need to devote some dollars to promoting that program again. The government has always supported the development of our homebreds, so it’s important that we continue to improve the breed. Whatever we can do to make that happen will be good for the industry. And we know we’re making progress when our Alberta breds can race in open events and win.”
“So far as the sires are concerned, the best ones we have right now have come from eastern Canada and the US. The east doesn’t want them if they haven’t made a million bucks at the races. They just have too many stallions. So it’s possible to get good stallions in Ontario and the US and bring fresh bloodlines into the province.”
At last count, 66 of the 72 yearlings scheduled to go through the sale on September 4th are Alberta breds. Something to think about when you plot your investment strategy and dream your dream.
Others are new to the process. Their nerves are running a little higher. They’re caught up in the sights and sounds. They have a raw idea of what they are prepared to spend and what they want to accomplish. But it is still something new, and fascinating. And, given the fact it involves their money, their hopes and dreams are often mixed with the unknown.
It’s Sept. 4th, 2015, the date of the Alberta Standardbred Yearling Sale. It’s a date that brings together the dreams of finding another champion with the reality that this is a business. Everyone involved needs a plan to get to the winner’s circle. It doesn’t just happen. It’s the product of a shrewd purchase, hours of care and training, and a smart horseman at the controls when that yearling ventures onto the racetrack for the first time.
“We’ve been so looking forward to the new racetrack opening in Balzac,” says Connie Kolthammer, who chairs the ASHA breeders committee. “We have to maintain a positive approach to the system.
One of the strengths of harness racing in the province is the Alberta Sire Stakes program. Since 1977, the province has provided financial support to the racing and breeding industry, recognizing it as an important contributor to the agricultural economy. In 1995, under Premier Ralph Klein, a new, arms length regulator, the Alberta Racing Corporation – later, Horse Racing Alberta – was created and a slot machine program was introduced to support live racing. That program helped to fuel the growth in the Alberta Sire Stakes series which is now worth about $1.2 million a year.
In addition, owners of Alberta breds keep their horses eligible for the series through a number of sustaining payments in their yearling, 2 and 3 year old years. Those funds become part of the purses for several Alberta Sires Stakes races. The racehorses also have to be offspring of an Alberta-based stallion to be eligible.
“Even if Alberta breds don’t make it to stakes level races, they are still eligible for the bonus program,” Connie Kolthammer points out. “Every time a 2,3 or 4yr-old Alberta bred horse finishes in the top three in a race, there’s a bonus paid to the owner”. So the breeding program is important. We have some good sires in the province right now. We need to keep upgrading our brood mares to ensure that we keep producing quality racehorses. The biggest problem is getting quality mares into the province. The dollar exchange makes it more expensive to bring in quality mares from the US. We need to work harder to bring in good fillies to race and then to breed.”
Diane Bertrand has gone that route and has had some success with My Villas on Fire. “I owned the mare and bred her and My Villas on Fire turned out to be the 2 year old Alberta sired filly of the year. She finished second in a BC stakes race earlier this year as a 3 year old and my partner, Robert Gillespie and I, are hoping she’ll be good as this season goes along at Century Downs.” “I know we used to have additional stakes races for 2 year old fillies to try and attract more and better fillies to race here. I think we need to devote some dollars to promoting that program again. The government has always supported the development of our homebreds, so it’s important that we continue to improve the breed. Whatever we can do to make that happen will be good for the industry. And we know we’re making progress when our Alberta breds can race in open events and win.”
“So far as the sires are concerned, the best ones we have right now have come from eastern Canada and the US. The east doesn’t want them if they haven’t made a million bucks at the races. They just have too many stallions. So it’s possible to get good stallions in Ontario and the US and bring fresh bloodlines into the province.”
At last count, 66 of the 72 yearlings scheduled to go through the sale on September 4th are Alberta breds. Something to think about when you plot your investment strategy and dream your dream.
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