Last Saturday 64 horses qualified for the harness racing season in Yorkton. Additionally some horses from Alberta and B.C. weren't required to qualify as they had raced within the prescribed the past 60 days. The result was about 110 horses in the barns set to run in the harness races which start next week, Yorkton Exhibition GM Shawn Morin reports.
Between the chuckwagons and the harness horses there are about 580 horses on the fair grounds this weekend, Morin claims. "We have a large manure bill at the end of this one," he chuckles.
Morin is looking forward to another exciting race season again this year. Owners who've raced in Yorkton before have gone out and bought better horses. "I really think we're going to have some very good racing this year with very competitive group of horses," he states.
With the large number of horses racing fans won't see as many of the same horses racing against each other. It'll vary a little every couple of weeks, Morin says.
There are a number of familiar drivers returning for another racing season, Morin reports. Laurie Bell will be back driving after taking a year off because of illness. Terry Kaufman brought four horses over from Vancouver. He'll be driving and training his own four horses. "He has a good group of horses that look like they'll be very tough here," Morin offers. Brian Gray who's been racing in California all winter has a good group of horses. Tyler Redwood has 14 horses in Yorkton. He'll be driving every race probably. "We have a few young guns who'll be trying to beat the oldtimers, but some of those older fellows have driven a lot," Morin notes. One in particular, Ed Tracey, has earned over seven and a half million dollars driving horses. "Guys like that are pretty cagey. These young guys still have a lot to learn from them," Morin closes.
