Winbak Farm of Ontario will present an open house for Larry and Jackie Drysdale’s retirement on Saturday, August 18, 2018 in the North America Cup Room at Woodbine Mohawk Park from 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The Drysdales are moving on to the next stage of their lives together after dedicating their entire adult lives to the sport of harness racing.
"I started working at Armstrong's in 1970," Larry told TROT Magazine, "but when we took the yearlings to sell in Harrisburg that fall I took a job with Joe O'Brien and I headed to California from there. Joe trained all of the Armstrong's yearlings and he offered me a job. I worked for Joe for the next four years and that's where I met Jackie."
The couple tied the knot in 1974 a year after they met. Larry was raised in Acton, Ontario, and Jackie in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but their love of harness racing brought them together, both working for a man from Atlantic Canada.
Shortly after they were wed, both moved on to work for Jack Kopas, After two years at the Kopas Stable, Larry went back to work for the Armstrong Brothers in 1976, and he remained there until they closed their doors in 2004. Jackie worked a few different jobs over the next decade, but rejoined her husband at Armstrong Brothers in 1988, and they both stayed on when Joe Thomson's Winbak Canada took over the facility afterwards -- Larry as Farm Manager, and Jackie as Office Manager.
"We've worked beside each other for the last 30 years," laughs Jackie (16 years with Armstrongs and 14 with Winbak), "and we still like each other!"
When asked what they plan to do with their newly-found free time (they believe their last day working will be Friday, July 20th), Larry told TROT, "We'd like to do some travelling -- maybe even buy an RV. We'll spend some of the cold winter months in a warmer climate I would think, but we won't stray too far from our home in Orangeville, Ontario for too long...that's where our son and our three grandchildren live. Our family means everything to us."
For more information on the Open House please contact Winbak Farm of Ontario at 905-838-2145.