It was cool, damp and breezy on Saturday afternoon as Century Downs marked its first anniversary as the home of live harness racing in southern Alberta. Just as it was on Opening Day one year ago. Rod Hennessy won the very first race that day, piloting Waitin Ona River to victory over the Travis Cullen trainee, Sports Wizard, in 1:59.4. On the first anniversary, Hennessy was pressed into service as a courier, delivering Century Downs’ new mascot, Post-Time Pete, to the winner’s enclosure. Annie Patterson sang the national anthem and then Gerry Hudon got the first anniversary-racing day off to a good start, guiding Hollywood Master to a 1:56.1 win in the opener of a 12-race card.
For his part, Cullen celebrated the first anniversary weekend the same way he has celebrated virtually every day of racing. He sent out 18 starters over 2 days. Sixteen of them finished in the money and nine of them finished in the winner’s circle, including Counter Strike, which won the $25,000 Prairie Boys final Sunday afternoon.
But there were some other things to celebrate as well. Twin B Breezeway was an afterthought when trainer Dave Lamont and Donna Wyse of Airdrie, bought a couple of racehorses in Ontario earlier this year. The 4-year-old daughter of Badlands Hanover had won one race in 36 lifetime starts on Ontario. She now has two lifetime wins and Donna has her first stakes win blanket in 39 years of racing after Twin B Breezeway towed pilot Phil Giesbrecht across the finish line in 1:59.3 in the final of the Prairie Girls series on Saturday. While the cooler was for the horse, there are reports Donna wrapped herself in it to ward off the chill.
The Saturday card was wrapped around a “behind the scenes” feature for racing fans. About a dozen of them took advantage of the opportunity to learn something new about harness racing. After a seminar about different kinds of wagers, the group went to the backstretch to meet some of the stars and continue their learning experience in the shed row of Meadowlark Stables co-owner, Carl Archibald.
“I expected they’d stay for a few minutes and then move on,” he told me. “But they were there for over an hour and asked some really good questions.” Archibald used one of his stars, 2-year-old filly champion, Divas Dragonfly, to show how horses are harnessed and how various pieces of equipment are used to achieve certain objectives. “And they were impressed with all the liniments,” said Archibald. “I think it was an education for them to see how much work goes in to caring for horses.”
“It’s been a good first year,” ASHA executive director, Fred Gillis, told me. “Century Downs has been really good to deal with and the people really work at promoting harness racing. For me, it’s been great to see something new every week, like the growth of a younger audience coming to the races. Our drivers have taken a little time to learn how to drive the track, which is a little different layout than, perhaps, they are used to. But we’re getting winners both on the front end and from off the pace. And I think the wider turns are a little more forgiving for horses racing on the outside.”
For his part, Century Downs General Manager, Paul Ryneveld, couldn’t stop smiling as fans strolled through the racing entertainment centre, stopping to play a machine or heading outside to watch the races.
“We know we still have lots to do,” he told me. “But the word is getting out about what we have to offer. I expect we’ll have a good crowd for the Mother’s Day brunch next Sunday. Then we’ve got our Cinco de Mayo celebration on Thursday, May 5th, followed by Kentucky Derby Day on May 7th. In June we’ll have the Regional Driving Challenge on June 26th. That features eight drivers from western Canada competing over the full racecard that day for the right to go to the National finals in London in October. Then we’ve got the Packard Grand group coming back on July 1st. More than 1,400 were here for that event last year and I’m hoping it will draw as many as 2,000 this year.”
“And we’ve got a really interesting promotion involving 24 racing Chihuahuas on Friday evening, May 6th, which, by the way, will be when we add a third day of harness racing to the schedule. We’ll start at 5:45 PM that day. That should be fun to watch.”
Beyond that, Year 2 will be a year of adding to the infrastructure that is already in place. “The 10 year Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in late March was a big deal for the whole industry,” Ryneveld told me. “We’re now preparing plans and applying for permits for a third barn and we hope to be into the ground with that this fall. We’re looking at an addition to the building by adding more space at the southern end. At some point in the future, we’ll probably add lights so that we can race at night. And we continue to look at ways to enhance the visitor experience. We’ve created a really nice atmosphere on the tarmac when the weather is good and we want to expand that. And we’ll need a paddock in preparation for the possibility of live thoroughbred racing coming to Century Downs in 2017. So we’ve got lots to do.”
Lots that’s been done, lots to do. If Year 2 can build on Year 1, it will be a very good year, indeed.
For his part, Cullen celebrated the first anniversary weekend the same way he has celebrated virtually every day of racing. He sent out 18 starters over 2 days. Sixteen of them finished in the money and nine of them finished in the winner’s circle, including Counter Strike, which won the $25,000 Prairie Boys final Sunday afternoon.
But there were some other things to celebrate as well. Twin B Breezeway was an afterthought when trainer Dave Lamont and Donna Wyse of Airdrie, bought a couple of racehorses in Ontario earlier this year. The 4-year-old daughter of Badlands Hanover had won one race in 36 lifetime starts on Ontario. She now has two lifetime wins and Donna has her first stakes win blanket in 39 years of racing after Twin B Breezeway towed pilot Phil Giesbrecht across the finish line in 1:59.3 in the final of the Prairie Girls series on Saturday. While the cooler was for the horse, there are reports Donna wrapped herself in it to ward off the chill.
The Saturday card was wrapped around a “behind the scenes” feature for racing fans. About a dozen of them took advantage of the opportunity to learn something new about harness racing. After a seminar about different kinds of wagers, the group went to the backstretch to meet some of the stars and continue their learning experience in the shed row of Meadowlark Stables co-owner, Carl Archibald.
“I expected they’d stay for a few minutes and then move on,” he told me. “But they were there for over an hour and asked some really good questions.” Archibald used one of his stars, 2-year-old filly champion, Divas Dragonfly, to show how horses are harnessed and how various pieces of equipment are used to achieve certain objectives. “And they were impressed with all the liniments,” said Archibald. “I think it was an education for them to see how much work goes in to caring for horses.”
“It’s been a good first year,” ASHA executive director, Fred Gillis, told me. “Century Downs has been really good to deal with and the people really work at promoting harness racing. For me, it’s been great to see something new every week, like the growth of a younger audience coming to the races. Our drivers have taken a little time to learn how to drive the track, which is a little different layout than, perhaps, they are used to. But we’re getting winners both on the front end and from off the pace. And I think the wider turns are a little more forgiving for horses racing on the outside.”
For his part, Century Downs General Manager, Paul Ryneveld, couldn’t stop smiling as fans strolled through the racing entertainment centre, stopping to play a machine or heading outside to watch the races.
“We know we still have lots to do,” he told me. “But the word is getting out about what we have to offer. I expect we’ll have a good crowd for the Mother’s Day brunch next Sunday. Then we’ve got our Cinco de Mayo celebration on Thursday, May 5th, followed by Kentucky Derby Day on May 7th. In June we’ll have the Regional Driving Challenge on June 26th. That features eight drivers from western Canada competing over the full racecard that day for the right to go to the National finals in London in October. Then we’ve got the Packard Grand group coming back on July 1st. More than 1,400 were here for that event last year and I’m hoping it will draw as many as 2,000 this year.”
“And we’ve got a really interesting promotion involving 24 racing Chihuahuas on Friday evening, May 6th, which, by the way, will be when we add a third day of harness racing to the schedule. We’ll start at 5:45 PM that day. That should be fun to watch.”
Beyond that, Year 2 will be a year of adding to the infrastructure that is already in place. “The 10 year Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in late March was a big deal for the whole industry,” Ryneveld told me. “We’re now preparing plans and applying for permits for a third barn and we hope to be into the ground with that this fall. We’re looking at an addition to the building by adding more space at the southern end. At some point in the future, we’ll probably add lights so that we can race at night. And we continue to look at ways to enhance the visitor experience. We’ve created a really nice atmosphere on the tarmac when the weather is good and we want to expand that. And we’ll need a paddock in preparation for the possibility of live thoroughbred racing coming to Century Downs in 2017. So we’ve got lots to do.”
Lots that’s been done, lots to do. If Year 2 can build on Year 1, it will be a very good year, indeed.
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