WOW........What a Day at the Track!

That is just about all one can say....................!

A Great Day

BC Cup was just a fabulous day. The crowd had to be one of the best in years. Probably close to 15,000 people were lined up everywhere to watch a great day of thrilling races. The handle was superb as it came in at $1,172,104 which was well above last year. In fact the handle on Monday was the best handle since 2009. We had 6 races in a row, 5 through 10 that topped $125,000 in handle per race. And even though there were 9 scratches mostly due to a virus running around the barn area the 80 horses that still were able to run was the largest total this year for any card.

BC Day Crowd was Huge

Some other points worth noting……………………….Trainer William La Vanway had his first stakes win ever and so congratulations on a job well done. The horse he conditions for Corsair Holdings “La Belle Rose” held off a late charge by “Camino” to win by a ½ length. She was 17 to 1. So well done William!

William LA Vanway and La Belle Rose winning the "Dogwood Handicap"

I do hope that the track photographer plans on sending a Christmas card to Glen Todd (3 wins) and Patrick Kinsella (2 wins). They were at it again as I counted three trophies, a hat, a bunch of flowers and at least 150 photos that will be required to keep everyone happy.

Bringing Home the Hardware

Also we bid farewell to a splendid horse in BR Remark as he was retired. BR Remark had a great career at Hastings and finished with a record of 38-9-2-11. In those 9 wins 3 were stakes victories. He was a personal favorite of mine as I cashed a number of tickets on him over the years. Trainer Brian Giesbrecht always had his horse ready for the races and BR Remark still holds the track record for 6 furlongs here at Hastings running in 1:092/5 carrying 124 pounds when he won the PNE President’s Speed Stakes August 30, 2008. BR Remark is a 9 year old gelding by Regal Remark.
Happy retirement fella.

Weekend Recap
After day 47 of the meet the handle is down 4.93%. However when you adjust for the missed races (15) we are off less than 1%. Considering what we have been up against this year this is remarkable. So far 694 horses have started in 366 races. Our field size has crept back up to 7.07. I am still convinced with a little luck and some continued better weather our handle will be up for the year come day 71. Remember there are still 18 stakes races left to run in the meet including the BC Derby G111 September 11th. There are 6 stakes races scheduled so there is no reason why that day cannot be as good as the one we just had.


The leading owners at the track are Glen Todd and Patrick Kinsella with 44 wins and earnings of $726,510. Swift Thoroughbreds are second with 17 wins and earnings of $346,277. The leading trainer is Troy Taylor with 40 wins followed by Craig MacPherson with 23 wins. Elizabeth E. Stolzenberg is in third spot with 20 wins but it is worth mentioning that she has a win percentage of 43% which is astounding. When you look at the North American standings for trainers with at least 40 starts she is in first spot. That is amazing. Good work Elizabeth. Incidentally Glen Todd and Patrick Kinsella are ranked in 48th spot in the North America owner rankings.


On a down note we had 21 scratches Saturday, Sunday and Monday. For the most part they were from the virus that has hit the barn area about 8 or 9 days ago.


The Last Word
The one last comment I will make is to Hastings Management. The horsemen came through when they needed to with 89 horses entered for the 10 Races at BC Cup. And in spite of the scratches, they put on a hell of a good show. Please, don’t even think of running a meet next year without extending it to the end of October. In spite of the weather, owner/ horse shortage, virus and other scheduled events, all of the owners, trainers, jockeys, jockey agents, exercise riders and all of the barn area workers have come through on BC Cup Day which was fabulous. Anything short of what the Standardbred sector received will not sit well with very many owners, trainers or breeders. With some fair funding and a meet that keeps trainers here instead of chasing them south, this track can and will thrive. We still have to figure a number of things out but if you can still get 15,000 people to come out to the track…..then horse racing is still alive and well and living in Vancouver.


But if I have to, I will phone the Standardbred boys over there at Fraser Downs, (I don’t dare go there) and get the addresses of Minister Rich Coleman, Minister Kevin Falcon and Minister Shirley Bond. They wrote a letter to each of them asking for a longer meet and were handed 82 days over 10 months. I am quite prepared to do the same.

Now reaching over 570 owners, trainers, breeders, jockeys, jockey agents,
Hastings Management, BCLC, and the Management Racing Committee.
2387 site visits up to and including August 02, 2011

See you at the Races,

Michael Robert Bye

Owner G&G Stable


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