News Archive - November 2009
Import Suspension Announced for Horses from Texas Entering Canada
Ottawa, ON—The Breeds & Industry Division of Equine Canada would like to inform all stakeholders that due to the outbreak of equine piroplasmosis in the state of Texas, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has asked the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to suspend the issuance or endorsement of export certificates for horses and other equines originating from the state of Texas. The imposed restrictions on the import of equidae into Canada from Texas are effective immediately. The CFIA has confirmed that the import restriction only applies to live horse, donkey or mule imports and not to equine semen or equine embryo imports. Read full article...
See update below...
(Updated November 1, 2009)
Windfields Farm in Ontario will auction off it's remaining horses at the Keeneland Sales in Kentucky this week before the last phase of a new subdivision is built on the property. Windfields has partnered with Tribute Communities in a long-range plan for 2,000 homes to be built on the lands that used to be part of the farm. The famous horse breeding operation spanned over 570 hecatres in its heydey and produced horse racing's most influential sire, Northern Dancer. Windfields Farm continues today to be the world's No. 1. source of stakes winners. It is estimated that 70 % of the 2009 Breeders Cup fields are descendants of Northern Dancer. Windfields Farm owns the mother of the Alberta owned Breeders' Cup runner Careless Jewel, Sweet and Careless.
Read the entire article that ran on November 6, 2009 called Last Gallop for Legendary Windfields Farm (Posted November 17, 2009)
Statue Immortalizes Alberta Jockey, Seabiscuit
CALGARY - An Alberta jockey and the horse he rode to stunning victory during the Depression are set to be immortalized in bronze, thanks to a Cardston-area rancher.Jack Lowe, a successful rancher from Cardston, has commissioned a life-size bronze of George Woolf riding the famed horse Seabiscuit. The work is expected to be installed outside the Remington Carriage Museum in the town that Woolf once called home.For Lowe, the decision to honour Woolf comes both from personal reasons and a need to recognize where the jockey came from.
"He has felt that George Woolf has not been sufficiently recognized in his hometown," said museum manager Howard Snyder. But Lowe also grew up listening to his father talking about Woolf, whom he knew as a child. The Woolf family had a homestead on the ranch Lowe also called home. While the original log building has rotted into the ground, Lowe still feels a connection to the jockey, Snyder said. "He's been passionate about it for years." Woolf grew up on the ranch near Cardston and went on to become one of the most successful jockeys in the United States. He won more than 700 races in the 1930s and '40s at a time when there were really only three sports Americans followed:boxing, baseball and horse racing.
The sculpture will capture the moment when Woolf and Seabiscuit passed the heavily favoured War Admiral in the 1938 match race that had a third of the U.S. population glued to their radios--a feat that has never been matched in modern sports. (Posted November 24, 2009)
Read the full Calgary Herald article, click here.
grichards@theherald.canwest.com
New Book Celebrates 150 Years of the Queen’s Plate
Toronto, ON - The Queen’s Plate is the first jewel in Canada’s Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing and is the longest continuously run stakes race in North America. It is Canada’s most prestigious one-day social and sporting event. The Plate: 150 Years of Royal Tradition from Don Juan to Eye of the Leopard (December 2009, ECW) by Louis E. Cauz and Beverley A. Smith explores the colourful history of the Queen’s Plate through words and archival photographs. The book will be launched to the public at Woodbine Racetrack on Sunday, December 6th from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., on the second floor grandstand.
Cauz, an historian, archivist and the managing director of Canada’s Horse Racing Hall of Fame, and Smith, an award-winning reporter for the Globe and Mail, will be on hand to autograph copies and engage race fans with insider stories from the last twenty-five years of the Plate. The Plate updates a previous book by Cauz on the first 125 years of the stakes race with the inclusion of such greats as With Approval, who in 1989 became the first Triple Crown winner in 26 years, 2003 Triple Crown hero, Wando, and 2009 champion, Eye of the Leopard.
When asked about the importance of an updated edition Cauz said, “More than fifty years ago my obsession with the Plate and its history took roots at Woodbine. Years later, that infatuation with this historic piece of Canadiana prompted me to chronicle its first 125 runnings. My fixation on the Plate has not diminished. Joining forces with the talent of Beverley Smith, I have had the pleasure of adding another twenty-five years of Plate history and revisiting the first 125 years by editing, rewriting and adding photos and anecdotes that were not available in 1984.” Smith was also pleased to be involved in the book adding, “I’ve been watching the Queen’s Plate since I was twelve years old-and writing about it-so it seemed only natural now that I am a real journalist, I could carry on what I started many years ago. It’s been a labour of love from the first day and I’m honoured to have been given the task.”
Title: The Plate: 150 Years of Royal Tradition from Don Juan to Eye of the Leopard Author: Louis E. Cauz and Beverley A. Smith
Publisher: ECW Press
Distributor: IPG (Independent Publishers Group)
Publication: December 6, 2009
Price: $39.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-55022-855-7
Available: at bookstores and online booksellers. (Posted November 24, 2009)
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Alan Williams, Manager of Planning for Lacombe County, commented today that the Alberta Downs racetrack has now been issued a development permit for the racetrack from their office yet there remains a number of issues that must be dealt with before the track can operate as a public race track. Williams noted that Lacombe County is waiting for a revised landscaping plan from Alberta Downs and fulfillment of costs related to road construction south of Highway 12. Alberta Downs needs to bring its development into compliance with the Safety Codes Act in order to receive full development approval. Alberta Environment is also waiting for further information to be submitted regarding the downstream impact and the drainage aspect of the development in order to make a decision on the applications from Alberta Downs. (Posted November 25, 2009)
New Management Aims to Revitalize Horse Racing Industry in British Columbia
A new Horse Racing Industry Management Committee has been formed in British Columbia in order to revitalize and restore financial strength to the province's horse racing industry. According to Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman, "Across North America, the horse racing industry is confronted with competing entertainment attractions that necessitate new, innovative approaches to this sector. Here in B.C., the Province is working with leading industry and business experts to help horse racing thrive, with a strong, coherent new management approach that includes centralized financial planning".
The committee consists of six members from the provincial government, horse industry industry, gaming and business sectors. Committee members include Bill Boden, Michael Graydon, George Morfitt, Derek Sturko, Glen Todd and Milton Woensdregt. Read the full news release from the BC Ministry...
