The Canadian Sportsman
January 13, 2010
It’s been a great week for The Canadian Sportsman. Apart from beginning its 140th year of publication, the magazine is proud to announce its writers and photographers have received a number of awards and honours for work in 2009.
Photographer Claus Andersen is the winner of not one, but two U.S. Harness Writers’ (USHWA) George Smallsreed Awards for both the best race photo and the best feature photo published in 2009.
Andersen won the best race photo contest with his shot of Jody Jamieson and John Campbell battling in Delaware, OH (above) that was published in the April 16, 2009 edition. That same photograph is also a finalist for Standardbred Canada’s inaugural photography award.
Andersen also won the Smallsreed feature photo category for his shot of racing action seen through the trees at The Meadows published in a photo feature in our Aug. 20 edition.
Sportsman columnist Karen Briggs has been awarded Equine Canada’s Susan Jane Anstey Media Award for her feature on Equi-Challenge, “Jamieson Jumps for Charity” which appeared in our Sept. 10, 2009 issue. Her award will be presented at Equine Canada’s national awards banquet in Montreal.
Meanwhile, Sportsman editor Dave Briggs won the 2009 USHWA John Hervey Award for feature writing for his story on Canadian trainer Greg Peck winning the Hambletonian with Muscle Hill entitled “From the Mines to the Hill Top” published in the Aug. 20, 2009 edition. It is the fourth Hervey Award for Briggs, who also won in 1996, 1997 and 1998.
The Sportsman’s exclusive blogger, Alan Kirschenbaum, received honourable mention in the Hervey news / opinion writing category for his blog “The Cold Slap: We have never been more irrelevant” posted on Sept. 1, 2009.
Stanley Gutkowski also received honourable mention in the Hervey news / opinion division for his piece, “Pilfering the Pot in Pennsylvania” which appeared in the Aug. 20, 2009 issue.
Evan Pattak won the news / opinion Hervey for his Hoof Beats story about the use of the whip in racing entitled “Cracking the Whip.”
Finally, Sportsman assistant editor Lauren Lee is a finalist for Standardbred Canada’s media excellence awards for best written work for her piece about her father’s last trip to the North America Cup. Andrew Cohen is the other finalist for a piece that appeared in Trot Magazine.
Standardbred Canada’s awards winners will be announced Jan. 30 at the O’Brien Awards.
Dave Briggs and Andersen will receive their Hervey / Smallsreed Awards at USHWA’s Night of Champions banquet Feb. 28 at Yonkers Raceway.
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January 07, 2010
By any measure, the lucrative Ontario Sires Stakes program has long been the envy of the harness racing world. Now the $19.8 million program can take credit for landing two more top-flight stallion prospects.
It was already announced that Mister Big, the richest pacing horse in history (earnings of $4.1 million) would be standing stud at Tara Hills Stud Farm in Port Perry, Ont.
In the last week came the announcement that two other impressive prospects — both somewhat of a surprise — would also be coming to Ontario for stallion duty.
Trotting sensation Deweycheatumnhowe (above, Dave Landry photo) arrived yesterday at Westwind Farms in Strathroy, Ont. from his previous home in Lexington, Ken. where he completed one year of stallion duty.
Pacing star Shadow Play is expected to arrive at Winbak Farms in Inglewood, Ont. any day now. He was originally supposed to stand at Blue Chip Farms in New York.
Click on the words “Guelph Mercury” to read the article in its entirety.
December 29, 2009
What harness racing can learn from the Detroit Lions — seriously
For about 15 years, I was a Detroit Lions season’s ticket holder. About five years ago, I entered counseling for my addiction and I’m happy to report I haven’t bought a ticket in at least three years, though I remain a fan. It’s a malady I trust Toronto Maple Leafs fans can understand.
At least I was there for all of the Barry Sanders years, I tell people. In fact, apart from the perpetual heartache of the hapless Lions themselves — who, believe it or not, were actually a semi-regular playoff team in those days — the experience was a wonderful one. There’s nothing quite like seeing an NFL game in person.
Harness racing — and most businesses, really — can learn a lot from the NFL.
The other day, while brainstorming with colleagues about how to grow our game, I remembered how the Pontiac Silverdome was once filled with banners announcing this section or that section of seats was reserved for special guests — kids, mostly — of one Lions player or another. Safety Bennie Blades had “Bennie’s Bunch”, for example, which brought a busload of underprivileged kids to every home game.
The point wasn’t to grow the game, really. It’s not like the NFL has a popularity problem. It was simply giving back to the community at large.
With relatively minimal effort and expense, harness racing could follow that example and not just give back, but also slowly, steadily, grow the game and build a future fan base.
One of harness racing’s biggest problems — and it’s a doozy — is the fact the vast majority of the population does not know the sport exists.
That problem escalates by the day as our free time shrinks and our entertainment options grow. Many of us were first exposed to the track when our fathers or grandfathers took us. But what about the next generation of kids whose fathers and grandfathers don’t know what harness racing is and where to find it?
Here’s my idea: Take five of the most affable, kid-friendly drivers at Mohawk and let them pick a handful of local clubs or groups they want to support — Boys and Girls Club, 4-H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, for example. Every two weeks, each driver would play host to 10 kids from one of the clubs and one parent or guardian each. To follow the Bennie’s Bunch theme, think: Zeron’s Zone or Mac’s Pack or Jamieson’s Jungle.
The Woodbine Entertainment Group could buy or rent a small school bus, pick the group up and take them to Mohawk where a WEG staffer would be in charge of looking after the group. At the track, the group would meet the driver, have a simple, kid-friendly dinner with him where the kids could ask questions, go with him on a tour of the paddock and the drivers’ room and join the driver in the winner’s circle for every race he wins. Give every child a small winner’s circle photo, an autographed picture of the driver and a t-shirt with the driver’s name and colours and send them home happy.
I realize I’m spending other people’s money here, but in the big picture, I see it as an important investment in the future, so stick with me. The cost would be for the bus, the staffer’s time, the meal, t-shirt and photos. It’s not a big-ticket expense, but perhaps it could be shared with other industry groups, if need be.
If five drivers play host to 20 people once every two weeks, that’s deeply exposing 200 new people to harness racing every month — 2,400 every year. That’s not an insignificant number that would swell to 10,000 in just over four years if the track and drivers commit to the program and stick with it.
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