By: Allen Hadley
s the association continues to prepare for our 50th anniversary celebrations, this special date has given me a moment to think back to when I was first introduced to racing as a youngster. The following story contains a few of my own memories from over the years.
Many readers may or may not know that I originally hail from Ontario, outside a little, one stoplight town called Omemee (about 1-1/2 hours northeast of “The Big Smoke”).
Truthfully, my family from Ontario couldn’t be farther away from the racehorse world than any person on the street, but as the Hadley family (all five of us) headed west every other year to visit my mother’s side of the family in Medicine Hat (2,000 miles door to door), my horse racing education began at a relatively young age.
Some of my first memories include going to the old Stand Off Track (circa 1980) and betting on “green number 4.” It was my first big win as my grandmother Adelaide helped me place the bet at the ticket wicket.
Another early memory is of driving to Shelby, Montana, in 1982 to watch “Catch the Wave” run (and subsequently win) the Trink-A-Dink Northern Lights Allowance. I remember the drive like it was yesterday, as it was the first time I learned how to spit out of a moving car window. The first effort wasn’t too good, though, as the “loogie” ended up hitting the door frame rather than going out the window. It made for a good laugh for my grandfather Al Davis and another fellow Perry Marr.
It’s funny to think of memories such as those as we travelled to various racetracks, not just in Alberta, but all over Western Canada and the Western U.S. Another distinct memory of mine occurred in the summer of 1989 when another one of my grandfather’s horses “Mrs. Pat Cooke” won a 440-yard race in Lethbridge (back when the 440 chute actually existed – people complain about the hook in the track at 400 yards – the 440 might as well have been incorporated into the oval), and paid $21.80, in a come-from-behind win.
I was never so pleased than to head to the winners’ circle and then go up to the fifth floor restaurant to watch the replays afterwards. The fifth floor used to be a really big deal, as in those days there were no other forms of gambling in Canada, aside from horse racing.
From that point on, I vowed that whenever I made it to the races, irrelevant of whose horse was running, I would always try to make a bet on something.
Maybe that point lends itself to the next, as whenever I’m at the track and have money in my wallet, I can feel it burning a hole in my pocket. This goes for present day racing and all the AQHRA member’s horses. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’ve just yelled at me on the phone, given me hell for something at the racetrack, or just plain irked me in some way; when it comes to wagering, no favourites or “heart bets” are placed. If I figure you’re going to make me money, then you get picked.
To finish, one of my other memories is the best Quarter Horse race I’ve ever seen (so far). Some may think of the Cup or Challenge races, but for me, it was when I first started working for the association back in May of 2000.
I came down to Lethbridge to do the “meet and greet” thing and a race called the Horsemen’s Memorial (in memory of Dennis Edwards, Jim Chipman, and Jean Dalgleish) was on the card for two-year-olds.
High Flyin Flash and Mi Chicks a Lady left the eight-horse field in the dust and ran neck and neck (literally) for the entire way down the stretch with Mi Chicks a Lady nosing out High Flyin Flash (half brother to Heza Hot Hit) for her the win. A friend of mine (a lifelong, diehard Thoroughbred fan) was at the races that day and commented, “that was a horserace!”
The association has come a long way in the past 50 years; for me personally, it’s come along way in just seven. A few aforementioned reamings, whether on the telephone or at the racetrack, may have given the program coordinator a few more grey hairs, but it hasn’t dulled his enthusiasm in trying to improve the Quarter Horse racing world here in Alberta.
Here’s hoping that the next 50 are as memorable as the first 50. Heck, at 82, I may just live long enough to ring in the 100th.
Upcoming Races & Payments
Stampede Park Classic – Friday, April 27.
