Horse Racing Alberta Announces 2009 Race Dates.
There will be a total of 96 days of A track Thoroughbred racing at Northlands beginning on May 1 and ending on October 25. The Community Circuit at Rocky Mountain Turf Club was awarded 50 days of thoroughbred racing from May 3 to June 28 and September 4 to November 7. Evergreen Park in Grande Prairie was awarded 25 days of thoroughbred racing from July 3 to August 23.
Shirley McClellan, Chair of Horse Racing Alberta, stated that "The 2009 race schedule is structured to address the unique needs of all our breeds in challenging times". It will allow horsemen to make plans for 2009 and decide their breeding and racing strategies. For further information, see the Horse Racing Alberta website at www.thehorses.com. (Posted December 3, 2008)
Read the following recent articles from the Edmonton Journal discussing the current state of Horse Racing within Alberta:
Harness Racing Faces Bleak Future in Alberta - Track near Calgary Still not Complete
Harness Racing Industry Pins Hope on Plan
Horsemen At Odds Over Race Schedule
Posted December 3, 2008
If anyone remembers back to 1970-1974, Marie is looking for information regarding a stallion who she thinks stood in Alberta during that time period. She believes that the stallion may have been based in the Rocky Mountain House area of the province and "Spider" was either at the beginning or the end of its name. If you know anything about this stallion please contact Marie at 780-388-2117. (Posted December 5, 2008)
Horse racing is again available on mainland China! Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, used to be the country's horse racing center in the early 1900s but racing was banned after the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. November 30th saw the Testing Event of China Speed Horse Race Open in Wuhan as a step toward legalizing horse race betting. (Posted December 5, 2008)
Longtime thoroughbred breeder and owner, Jack (John) Richardson passed away at the age of 85 in Olds, Alberta on October 14. Jack started the oilfield constuction company, Richardson Bros., as a partnership with his brother in 1947. The company still operates today as Richardson Bros. (Olds) Ltd. after he bought out his brother, Charles, in 1954. After retirement, Jack once again took up farming and raising thoroughbreds. He has stood the stallions Young Devil and Young Runaway at his farms in Olds, Alberta for many years.
The first meeting of the new CTHS (Alberta Division) Board of Directors was held on Wednesday, December 10. The Board has elected Gordon Wilson as President and Ed Welsh as Vice-President. Members of the Finance Committe are Adrian Munro (Chair), Ed Welsh and Mike Oslanski. The Sales Committee members are; Elaine Macpherson (Chair), Cal Britton, Red Smith and Maxine Anderson. Don Buchanan is the CTHS representative on Horse Racing Alberta.The Grievance Committee members are Mike Oslanski (Chair), Ted Davis and Jack Johnston. Elaine Macpherson will be looking after Marketing and Website. (Posted December 11, 2008)
Congratulations to Danny Dion who was the winner of four 2008 Sovereign Awards at Friday's 34th annual Sovereign Awards presentation. The Sovereign Awards honour outstanding achievement in Canadian Thoroughbred racing and breeding. Mr. Dion was awarded Outstanding Owner for 2008, Fatal Bullet was named Champion Sprinter and Canada's Horse of the Year. Bear Now was named Champion Older Female on the Main Track.
Also taking home a Sovereign Award for the fourth time and second in a row, Horse Racing Alberta and White Iron Productions won in the media category for Outstanding Film/Video/Broadcast for "The Ky Alta Stakes", which was shown on CTV Alberta.(Posted December 15, 2008)
A Quarter horse stallion standing at stud in Kentucky has tested positive for contagious equine metritis (CEM). Previously the United States was considered free of the highly contagious venereal infection. In 1978 an outbreak of CEM among Kentucky's Thoroughbred population shut down the breeding season with an estimated cost to the the industry of $1 million a day. (Posted December 17, 2008)
The CTHS (Alberta Division) has been asked to assist in finding Thoroughbred breeding stock for India. They are looking for two stallions under the age of 7 that have never been used for breeding purposes before. The pedigree must have Northern Dancer or Mr. Prospector in it. They are also looking to purchase mares under the age of 5 that have also never been bred before and the purchaser does not wish to pay more than $7,000 per mare. Polar Genetics Inc. will be the agent for the sale. If you are interested in selling stock that fits the above criteria, please contact the CTHS office at 403-229-3609 or by e-mail cthsalta@telusplanet.net as soon as possible. (Posted December 19)
