By: Janice Sather
2007 marks the 50th anniversary of Quarter Horse racing in Alberta (1957-2007). As such, the Alberta Quarter Horse Racing Association, with the help of its members, will be marking our golden anniversary with a series of stories and special events throughout Alberta. “50 Fast Years, 50 Great Stories” will be the theme of the anniversary.
The aforementioned stories will be written by Janice Sather of Beaverlodge, AB. They will feature interviews and quotes of many of our first members, such as Gerry Going and Jim Munro, who raced some of the first Quarter Horses in Alberta and started the present day AQHRA.
The following story, written by Janice, paints a picture of those Albertan’s who had the “dream” of watching Quarter Horses race in Alberta.
Throughout the years, we’ve seen purse levels rise dramatically; Alberta is home is home to the richest Quarter Horse race in Canada, the Canada Quarter Horse Cup Futurity (RG3 - $100,000), which has been televised on CTV in 2005 and 2006.
I wonder if those Albertan’s who started out in the late 50s and early 60s, ever realized that their dreams would unfold into such a dynamic industry.
Allen Hadley
The Dream to Run Fast Horses
No one knows where the dream originated or how the dream got started – it could have been that cattle rancher from Oyen or Drayton Valley who started it, or was it that rich oil tycoon from High River who previously had owned cutting horses that started the dream?
Or, was it that woman way up in northern Alberta who watched that first foal being born from her fast Montana mare who thought of the dream?
Or, could it be that chief of the Blackfoot band down by Cardston who had seen his sorrel stallion run across the plains so quickly that it made his heart quicken?
He had the dream just as certain as that old rough cowboy from Medicine Hat did. They all saw the dream, owned the dream and lived the dream of running fast horses; horses who were quick and compact, not horses that would go the distance, but horses who possessed the fastest speed, the speed of an equine cheetah, the speed of the Quarter Horse.
The Quarter Horse as a breed was well known in Alberta and very popular – they were versatile, athletic individuals and they were also capable of running races at the local fair, rodeo or where ever there happened to be a race track. Quarter Horse racing was fun, entertaining and competitive so once the dream originated, it catered to a lot of people and it carried those people to a lot of different places.
Although we believe Quarter Horse match racing was already well underway in Alberta, the following newspaper article taken from the Calgary Herald confirms that organized Quarter Horse racing was taking place by 1957: “The Millarville Races are going to get off to a fine start this year with a 400-yard Quarter Horse race. If this isn’t the first Quarter Horse race in Canada, it is among the first.
“It could mean the opening of QH racing in this country. It has become a big money business in the U.S. and with the interest in Quarter Horses in Alberta and Saskatchewan growing steadily the same type of short swift races may become a big event on the Canadian turf.
“There aren’t a great number of registered Quarter Horses in Canada. In view of that, the race committee at Millarville decided to leave the race open to registered and unregistered Quarter Horses. As the breed becomes better established, tighter regulations may come into effect.”
So, we know that Quarter Horse racing was alive in 1957 - it was a substitute for the former saddle horse race and ran for a purse of $150. As well, there was pari-mutual betting and the Calgary Herald predicted, “In all probability there will be increased attendance because the races are held in one of the most scenic spots in the Foothills.”
In all parts of Alberta, the dream of Quarter Horse racing took hold. In the 1970’s and 1980’s under the auspices of the Can-West Turf Association, Quarter Horse owners, trainers and jockeys were like traveling gypsies as they moved from track to track approximately every other weekend. We’d race at little bush tracks like Stettler, Milo, Standoff, Trochu, Vegreville, Teepee Creek, High River and Millarville.
We’d camp beside the river at Cochrane; hurry up to Hobbema to find stalls, go on to Enoch to find a first class facility and modern bathrooms.
We ran at fairgrounds like Lethbridge, Red Deer, Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat. We ran at places that possessed exotic sounding names like Trout Springs and Cardston.
We ran for $200 purses and for a little gold trophy that still sits on many of our shelves – it’s just the same trophy with a different horse’s name on it but each of us was connected to that special horse. That horse is still a part of our heart and memories, and we talk about him or her proudly.
It was that special horse crossing the wire just a little in front that keeps the dream alive even today in a different time and at a different race track throughout our great province.
