People's Choice Award: First Decade 1974 - 1983
*Racing Legends: Alberta Bred Thoroughbreds Leave Their Mark (1974 - 1983)
The inaugural year for Night of Champions was 1974 and what a year it was. President Nixon was the first U.S. President in history to resign, CANNONADE won the Kentucky Derby and the cost of a 30 second Super Bowl ad was $107,000 US. There was a “Rumble in the Jungle” and Alberta Bred, WESTERN DANGLER won five of six races including the BIrdcatcher and the Stampede Futurity Stakes. Bred by Elmbrook Stables, owned by Diron Farms, trained by R.K.Smith and ridden by Rick Hedge, WESTERN DANGLER raced from 1974 to 1981 with 68 starts, and career earnings of $117,518.00.
Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 and it was the first year on the track for the Dangblastit horse, CARELESS WORD. Bred by Mrs. Katherine Durrand, owned by H. Buechler and trained by L.D. White the multiple stakes winner, CARELESS WORD had 100 starts winning the Western Handicap and the Teeworth Plate Handicap twice along with the BIrdcatcher, the Klondike Handicap, the Strathcona Handicap to mention a few.
The year the Sony Walkman was released a chestnut horse by the name of KY ALTA started on the Northlands Park track. Racing from 1979 to 1983, the Graded Stakes placed KY ALTA had 52 starts and earnings of $313,885. Over the course of KY ALTA’s career he won the B.C. Premier’s Championship Stakes twice, the Speed to Spare, the Spangled Jimmy and the Harvest Gold Plate and placed second in the 1980 Canadian Derby. In 1986, this horse was honoured with the KY ALTA Stakes which ran for a number of years.
There was a 74 day disagreement between Argentina and Great Britain in 1982 over a place called the Falkland Islands, which is the same year multiple stakes winner, CHILCOTON BLAZE began racing. At the end of his ten year career, he had earnings of $490,862 putting him as the top earner during these years not only setting a couple of track records but winning the Klondike Handicap and Westerner Handicap twice.
The final episode of M*A*S*H aired in 1983 and you could purchase one of the first mobile phones. A thirty second Super Bowl ad was costing $368,200 and it was SPECIAL INTENT’s first year on the track, ending in 1993. Bred and owned by R. and D. Petryk and trained by Floyd Arthur, SPECIAL INTENT had an amazing 107 starts, 30 wins, 25 seconds and 20 thirds winning the Sun Handicap and Stampede Park Sprint Championship twice, not to mention the Spangled Jimmy, Beaufort and Sturgeon River.
Also racing during this decade; 1980-RAPIDO DOM (Lifetime earnings of $466,974), 1982-BANNER ROSE (Lifetime earnings of $220,317), 1979-CHIVAY (Lifetime earnings of $187,087), 1981-GROWING REGARD (Lifetime earnings of $167,949) and 1982-MAXI SPIRIT (Lifetime earnings of $152,048).
*Disclaimer- Horses for each decade were chosen for that decade based on the first year they raced and ranked according to lifetime earnings. It is possible that depending on how they are viewed they may fit into more than one decade. We leave it to the “People” to decide which decade they feel these Alberta bred horses best fit.
Thank you to Ashley Gilkyson for sharing the photo below of Chilcoton Blaze at Northlands Park in 1983.
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