The Canadian Sportsman
Archive for September, 2009
September 18, 2009
Even Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington can agree Grand River Raceway’s Battle of Waterloo is the most fun you can have at a track.
Can you do better?
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September 18, 2009
What exactly does David Miller (Dave Landry photo) have to do to become a Hall of Famer?
He is the fifth leading money-winning driver in the sport’s history — at $129 million. That’s the highest figure in harness history for any driver not in the Hall.
In addition, his seven $10 million seasons are second only to John Campbell all-time. Miller should have been in a long time ago.
Brian Sears is about $300,000 away from becoming the eighth driver to reach $100 million (in U.S. funds).
It’s interesting to note the first four to hit the nine-figure plateau — John Campbell, Mike Lachance, Ron Pierce and Cat Manzi — all went into the U.S. Hall of Fame with less than $100 million in earnings at the time, but none of the next four drivers on the $100 million list are, yet, in the Hall.
Oh, and Tony Morgan has surpassed $99 million, so sometime soon he’ll be the fifth to hit $100 million and not earn a berth in the Hall of Fame.
Dave Palone, who will be enshrined in 2010, has $76 million to his credit — some $55 million less than David Miller.
No offense to Dave Palone, but it appears they got their Daves in the wrong order.
September 18, 2009
The fun thing about traveling with Dave Landry is he never misses an opportunity to talk about light, camera equipment or photography in general.
This is all well in good once you learn to let it drift right through you like a ghost without wasting time reflecting on what you’ve heard hundreds of time before, but should Landry run into another photographer — even worse, an amateur photographer — might as well pull up a chair.
This very thing happened in Lexington last year when Landry ran into amateur photog and Hall of Fame trainer Bob McIntosh in the lobby of our hotel.
The conversation went from light to camera bodies, to the virtues and crimes of the major camera makers to how best to take one’s own life (oh wait, that was me).
Before we know it, we’re all in the hotel bar, where the conversation turns from ISOs to editor Dave, particularly his published support for what at that time were proposed changes to the whipping rules in Ontario.
For a second, put aside the recent disqualification of Trevor Ritchie’s filly in the Peaceful Way eliminations. Even a year ago, McIntosh was against any changes to the whipping rule, a point he made eloquently by questioning everything about me except my manhood (wait a second… come to think of it, I think he did that, too).
That comes with the territory when you’re in the business of stating opinions. I can take it — no matter what Bob says about my manhood.
But whoo-eee, isn’t it fun when your good pal Dave Landry quickly joins in on your public flogging. After all, that’s what friends are for, isn’t it?
Landry threw in the occasional jab and, basically, laughed his ass off at my expense for the better part of a two-hour roast that ended with McIntosh literally borrowing a whip from Luc Ouellette and demonstrating its proper use on a bar chair before announcing his intent to name one of his homebreds after me — DontwhipmeBriggs.
I keep checking the USTA’s Pathway system, and, so far, McIntosh hasn’t made good on his threat.
It all adds up to another cherished road warrior memory with the rock star and the monkey he travels with.
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