Season's End

This last weekend was the end of the Thoroughbred Racing Season here in Vancouver. It was another year of winners and losers in the tough world of Thoroughbred Horse Racing . Richard Hamel who has been a Jockey around here for as long as I can remember , leading the Jockey's standings with over a million $ in earnings. Although he's been riding for over 2 decades I don't remember him ever being the leading jock here.Good job Richard!. There was some nasty spills , one ending April Friesen's riding career and one horrible accident that started with a horse stumbling out of the gate falling head first into the dirt , knocking his blinkers down over his eyes , then getting up and running blindly down the Track , first bouncing off the inside rail then running headlong into the Winner's Circle killing himself and seriously injuring a Security Guard. The definite lowpoint of the season. On a positive note though injuries to horses and jockeys overall were way down , somewhere around half of the previous year.On the financial side I don't think it was a very good year. With the Casino closed for a couple of months due to the Olympic Security concerns , the continued economical problems combined with the over abundance of Casinos in the Lower Mainland the money just hasn't been coming in like they expected.From what I've been hearing the same applies to the Standardbred Racing industry as well. That Track also has a Casino but they are losing money and at one point cancelled plans for next years racing schedule until something could be worked out. I'm not sure where that stands right now. So all is not rosy in the Racing World around here. They continue to do things that seem to be counter productive like running their biggest and best races at the end of the day when most people are going home. The Premiers Stakes , probably the second biggest race of the year , was the last race of the day and run when half the crowd has left. Although it has it's problems I'll always come back and am sad the season is over. I will continue to post as long as the pics last.
Good Luck to all my visitors and we'll see you back at the Track next Spring for "A Day At The Races"
DC