The weekend of Oct. 17th & 18th delivered the kind of entertainment and excitement that has made good harness racing such a great sport over the years.  Take On Da Boys took on the girls in the Alberta Marquis Stakes final and came from 4th spot in the stretch to take the top prize and give the punters a $33 payday.  Twenty-four hours later, Jim Marino took advantage of a blistering pace through three-quarters in the final of the Alberta Maverick and then steered Johnny Gun, four wide, down the stretch for another upset win.
 
The two three year olds are now into the Super Finals championship round on Oct. 31st, where they’ll compete in a couple of $80,000 finals.  They may not be the favourites, but their performances in these two finals will leave lasting memories – and a couple of nice cheques as well.
 
 “I’m just really happy for (owner) Lorne Duffield,” trainer-driver, Rod Hennessy, told me.  “He’s been with me a long time, and even when things got tough in racing, he was still going to the ASHA yearling sale, still buying horses and still supporting the industry.  Now he’s got this filly and three others going to the Super Finals.  And I’ve got Royal Renegade for my wife, Diane, and for Bryan Brook, who’s been with me for awhile too.  I’ve never won a Super Final, but maybe this will be my year.”
 
Owner Don Richardson doesn’t like to talk about his horses, but his big smile in the winner’s circle following Johnny Gun’s performance, spoke volumes.  Trainer Harold Haining was a little more forthcoming.
 
 “Johnny’s had outside posts in a few starts this summer and it’s been tough to compete against these quality horses,” he told me.  “But on Sunday, Jim (Marino) took advantage of Rod Hennessy’s decision to push the early pace against the favourite, Cool Cowboy, and Johnny Gun had enough left in the stretch to get to the wire.  Another outside post, but this time, it worked out.”
 
 “Don’s another owner who’s been with me a long time and has invested a lot of dollars in good horses at the yearling sale.  We won a Super Final with the filly, Cloud 9, and I’ve won another Super Final with one of my own horses.  We’ll have Johnny Gun and probably the filly, Joyful Sound in the championship round on Oct. 31st, so it should be exciting.”
 
Then you’ll see horses like Funkmeister, claimed in August by trainer Floyd Fraess from Keith Clark’s barn…..and Outlaw Triggerhappy, owned by trainer Rod Starkewsky, in partnership with Clauzette Byckal of Spruce Grove.  She and her husband, Tim Lake, have commuted to Century Downs all season to work in the backstretch.  On Oct. 31st, they’ll have a place with the other owners and a chance to watch their filly compete for a championship. 
 
 And so, the stage is now set for Super Finals 2015 at Century Downs.  The best 2 and 3 year old pacers that are products of the Alberta breeding and racing business will race in a series of added money events on what should be a terrific day of racing and a celebration of the sport in this province.
 
 “It started a few years ago when a group of our directors were discussing the demise of live racing in Calgary and what we could do to keep alive the interest of owners in the business,” said Fred Gillis, executive director of ASHA, the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association.  “The purse money declined a bit and we wanted to keep the integrity in the stakes program, so we came up with the idea of the Super Finals.  We wanted to do something for the owners who hung in during the tough times.  Now we want to continue the program and expand it in the future.”
 
Horses have had to qualify over the course of the summer to get into the finals which go for $80,000 apiece, or the consolation races which will go for $15,000 apiece.
 
“With the 3 year olds, there are 3 Alberta Sire Stakes featuring eliminations and finals.  The top 8 money winners over those 3 events who enter, get to race in the final and the next eight who enter will race in the consolation.  For the 2 year olds, we use a point system over the qualifying events.”
 
“We’re expecting 75-100 of our owners to attend.  We’ll put on a decent gala and they’ll get to watch their horses.  “Obviously they’ve made a financial investment in the business and it gives them a chance to appreciate and enjoy the sport.  We want to thank them and congratulate them.”
 
 While the current racing stock is in the spotlight, Super Finals Day is also an opportunity to pay tribute to the breeding industry.  Movin Uptown, herself a brilliant pacer during her racing days, is now a solid broodmare for owner, Bill Zaretsky of Saskatoon.  She’ll have two of her offspring in action on Oct. 31st:  Blue Star Jet in the 2 year old colts race, and the 3 year old filly, Blue Star Texas.  Another mare, Red Star Sugar Gal, will be represented by Awhimaway in the 2 year old fillies event and by Withflyingcolours in the 3 year old colt division.  Among the Alberta sires, Brandons Cowboy, Blue Burner, JK Royal Flush, Camystic, and the newest stallion in the province, Mystery Chase, will have multiple representatives lining up behind the starting gate.
 
 It promises to be a great day of racing.  If Oct. 17th & 18th was any indication, you should make plans to attend.
 

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.