Reader Feedback
April 10, 2007
Click here to send us your thoughts on any of the comments below.
Should the O'Brien Awards move around the country?
Events such as the O'Brien Awards are significant to the industry in numerous ways. Attendance from across the board is crucial and holding any type of event away from the GTA area can be beneficial. However, certain considerations need to be made in order to plan for future venue sites. It's important that attendees can afford to attend, taking into account travel and accommodation expenses, should the Awards "go on the road". A few other thoughts … where do the majority of attendees currently travel from; are there convention facilities and hotels available to host the event; will the people come if the event does travel around?
Janine
Little Britain, ON
Why not have the awards in a different city every year. I'm sure it would help by creating a bit of interest in different areas/regions. Anything to get new fans and/or owners.
D. Lynns
Red Deer, AB
Moving the O'Briens from Toronto would be a disaster! I don't think any other city would support them the way they are supported here. Who would pay the travel costs?
Ian Dow
Orton, ON
The grief with the O'Brien Awards is that they are mostly Ontario or WEG awards. With the exception of the Horsemanship Award, all of the other awards are usually awarded to WEG horses or US horses that raced on the WEG circuit. The same usually is true for driver and trainer awards. Until there is a national aspect to the awards, it doesn't make any sense to move them to other parts of the country.
John Doyle
Calgary, AB
Let's have it in the province where Joe's career started instead of in Ontario, or in the province of the new Canadian Driving Champion. If the Champ is from B.C. than that's where it goes. If he/she is from Quebec, then Quebec it is, etc.
Kevin Taylor
PEI
It seems only fitting that since Joe O'Brien was from PEI that if the Awards were going to be shared among different locations within Canada that the place to start would be PEI.
Les Rogerson
PEI
I feel the awards should be held at a different location annually. Perhaps the venue could be chosen no less than two years in advance. This would allow the host city to lobby local media, hotels, and catering companies for the cheapest available rates while seeking quality commensurate with the occasion. In addition, I think the awards themselves should try to separate themselves from the regional bias that now exists. The current format lends itself more to WEG awards than Canadian awards. While I accept that the horses racing at WEG are probably the best Canada has to offer, the awards are to recognize those participants who they felt made the greatest contribution to Canadian harness racing over the past season.
Dean Nixon
Lasalle, ON
Any opinions and views expressed are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Trot Magazine or Standardbred Canada.