Kevin Gareau has been racing chuckwagons a long time. This veteran racer, while preparing to wow the crowd at 6:30, took a bit of time to talk to Yorkton This Week about the sport of chuckwagon racing, training, and what you can expect to see at the races.
“Today we’ve got the chariots that run at 3 o’clock, tonight, the chariots at 6:30. We’ve got 17 heats of chariots; great turnout, and we’ve got, I think, 38 wagons. 12 heats of wagons. They treat us well here,” Gareau says of Yorkton.
“Everybody loves to come to Yorkton. There’s a good mix of young and veteran drivers. It’s great being here and great to see so many people coming out here.”
Gareau is definitely one of the veteran racers.
“Been racing since 1996,” he says.
“So, I guess I’m coming up here on 24 years, 25 years. It’s good, you know? My daughter’s involved, now, in her third year [racing]. She’s 16, my brother Ben comes with us, my dad raced before us in the ‘70s, early 80s. It’s a family thing for sure, and we have a lot of fun doing it.
“As it is for most of these drivers, it’s a family affair.”
Training, too, is intense.
“It starts early,” Kevin admits.
“We have a measure day; we’ve been doing it in the Yorkton Exhibition grounds for a few years, so every horse that comes has to be measured in the spring. Up until they’re five years old. They can only start when they’re two, and [they’re measured] up until they’re five. Then they get a permanent brand if they measure in as a five year old. They get what we call a permanent freeze brand, and you’ll see it on their shoulders. It’s an ‘SL’ with a bar underneath. So you’ll see, if you’re a bar ‘P’ or a Bar ‘A’ -- it’s just different association measures. It’s all part of a provincial deal between Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
“Right after measure day, you know, you start giving them a few miles getting them ready for the first event which is at the end of May. Then, from there we keep on going to keep them in shape.”
“We do take a lot of pride in our outfits, and you’ll see tonight there’s going to be a pile of outfits within one second which is pretty amazing when you start from a stop and have to do a figure eight around a half-mile track. It’s pretty impressive.”
