Maritime horsemen are eagerly awaiting the publication of 'Raise A Colt,' the soon-to-be-released history of the PEI Colt Stakes and its predecessor organization
, the PEI Harness Racing Club.
The book launch will take place Friday, May 15. One Island resident in particular is hoping that he will still be around for both the book release and the later festivities surrounding the annual PEI Colt Stakes races in September.
Jack McGuigan is just one of the many personalities featured in the book but has a very special place in the story of the longest running stakes program in Canada. His moment of fame came in 1948 when he won the two-year-old trot futurity of that year. The former resident of Montague, and now of Charlottetown, is the longest surviving participant in the program with his win 61 years ago at the age of 16. At the time he was also the youngest ever horseman to win a stakes race anywhere in North America, and probably still holds that honour, since the minimum driving age was, shortly after, increased to 18 by the United States Trotting Association.
Jack is, in many ways, the poster boy for the stakes program and its motto 'Raise A Colt,' also the name of the book. The horse he won with was called New Money, a trotting colt that he also bred and raised at his family farm in Montague. In many ways he typifies the spirit of the rural roots of the sport that are grounded in the virtues of hard work, perseverance and care of the land and its produce.
Many other families on PEI and indeed around the Maritimes will find one of their ancestors or current family members documented in this 75th Anniversary book. The older fans will remember racing legends Harry and Joe O’Brien, club founder George Callbeck, former presidents such as Willard Kelly, owners and drivers like Wellington MacNeill, Mrs. James Poulton, Rankin McLaine and Milton Bell. More recent memories cover the involvement of Edgar 'Duck' Acorn, H B Willis, Montague legends Jack and Ralph Annear, the Taylors of Nine Mile Creek, the Pineaus of Rustico, and leading breeders such as Dr. Robert Webster and Wally Wood. Famous names from off-Island are also featured including Clare MacDonald and her father, as well as owners like Walthen Piers, the Ratchfords of Cape Breton and the Downeys of Saint John.
The book launch will take place Friday, May 15 at the Silver Fox Club in Summerside on the occasion of a special Anniversary Dinner, which will celebrate the first meeting of the PEI Harness Racing Club held on that date 75 years ago at the offices of the Canadian Silver Fox Association on Water Street in Summerside.
Tickets for the dinner are now on sale for $20 at the CDPEC office and from the directors of the Colt Stakes. The evening will also feature an auction of stallion fees as a fund raiser for the various events that are part of the Anniversary celebration, including the installation of a permanent historical exhibit at the Charlottetown track where the Colt Stakes races have been held for all but two years of their long and colourful history.
(PEI Colt Stakes)