The National Capital Region Harness Horse Association has announced a special Brown vs. Brown Driver Feature Night coming up at Rideau Carleton Raceway in Ottawa, Ont.

The careers of champion Standardbred harness drivers Doug Brown and Gord Brown will be celebrated at Rideau Carleton on Sunday, May 21 at 6:30 p.m. The recently-retired Gord will square off against his older brother and Hall Of Famer, Doug in an eight-race head-to-head driver challenge as part of the Sunday evening program of harness racing.

"Gord in the fall basically said 'I'm retiring in two weeks.' And we were stunned," NCRHHA Director John MacMillan told Trot Insider. "As he drove his last race I just said to him 'Gord, this isn't the way it's going to end for you. We're going to do something big in the spring.' The weather was lousy and it just wasn't the time to put something together.

"So we came up with the idea to bring Gord and Doug here together on the same night to honour their careers, and to make it fun for everybody we wanted to have an eight-race drivers challenge. Sure, people would like to get their autographed and personalized hat from Gord & Doug Brown but they really want to see them drive more than anything. "

Between them the Browns have won an astounding 12,400 races and over $110 million in purses. Doug dominated the driving standings for much of his career and was the Ontario Jockey Club’s leading dash driver from 1988 to 1997. He earned the O’Brien Award as Canada’s Driver of the Year a record seven times in the first eight years the honour was awarded.

Although Gord began his career at the now closed Greenwood Raceway in Toronto, he later achieved phenomenal success in Eastern Ontario. Gord captured 25 driving titles at three different racetracks: Rideau Carleton Raceway, Kawartha Downs, and Quinte Raceway.

Gord, 55, and Doug, 60, will sign autographed personalized hats and will be available for photo opportunities with racing fans before the 10-race program begins at Rideau on Sunday, May 21.

(with files from NCRHHA)