By: Risë Massey
Holy flying females, batgirl! The first woman driver to pilot a four-in-hand in a carriage racing derby ever – maybe anywhere in the world – is a member of our own High Country Driving Club.
Debbie Laderoute, with her all-girl crew, wowed ‘em at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto in November. Her team of Chinook Valley Warmbloods galloped its way to glory against three of the world’s top four-in-hand drivers, making Deb, Lynne Jupp, and Ann Moody the first female entry to join the ranks of the Royal’s elite carriage racers.
The Royal, billed as the “largest indoor combined agricultural, horticultural, canine, and equestrian event in the world” can be a daunting venue at the best of times. Deb was invited, less than a month before the fair, to step up to the plate as one of the four participants in the hugely popular feature entertainment, the Carriage Derby.
As manager, trainer, and competitor of the Chinook Valley driving horses, she had driven a full team of four in a couple of combined driving events, but never in a high-speed exhibition with no room for error in front of a crowd of thousands!
To top off the test, she would be driving in the company of multi-time world champion Michael Freund of Germany, U.S. driver Chester Webber, a veteran of international four-in-hand competition, just back from the World Equestrian Games, and Eugene Hug of Quebec, who won the derby at the Royal last year.
Did she hesitate? Well, maybe mentally, but never one to back down from a challenge, she “whomped” together a crew, practiced a couple of hazards at home, and headed east (the trip itself is a story to be told!). The rest is history.
Over the course of four nights, Deb proved repeatedly that she belongs in the ranks of the big boys – a woman can so drive a four-in-hand as fast as they can run. Weaving through gated hazards, across bridges, and through tight sets of cones, she guided her team with boldness and precision.
Ann on the top step and Lynne on the back, balancing and stabilizing the fish-tailing carriage through the tight turns, managed to keep their grip during the adrenalin-releasing runs. The crowd went wild for the “chick team” (okay, maybe some of the chicks were over 60 and none were under 45), roaring its approval at every dirt-spraying turn.
The derby originated at the Royal some eight years ago and was designed as a crowd-pleasing spectacle meant to keep people in their seats between horse show classes. From the outset, the event achieved its purpose and more, becoming a huge draw in its own right.
Not just a minor amusement, the derby is now “the” event that some people come to see. And the sport has been adopted elsewhere as well. Indoor carriage racing has become a sport in its own right in North America, and even in Europe – all stemming from the Royal’s innovation.
Congratulations – and thanks – are well deserved by Deb, the horses she trains and competes, and her fearless “groomigators” Ann and Lynne – for showing us all just what can be accomplished with some talent, hard work, guts, and enthusiasm!
Hopefully, international-level combined driving has not seen the last of the Laderoute/Chinook Valley Team. The World Equestrian Games will take place on this continent in 2010 and I can think of someone who deserves to be there.
The High Country Driving Club’s next monthly meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m., Monday, January 15 at Spruce Meadows in the meeting room above the tack shop (in the Riding Hall). Visitors and potential new members are most welcome to attend.
