Does your Mom or that special lady in your life love horses and /or harness racing?

To show your Mom that you recognize her ‘horsey’ side, you could buy her a horse, wine and dine her at the horse races, or take her to a beautiful breeding farm to see mares and foals! Here’s your guide to special Mother’s Day activities in Canadian harness racing this Sunday, May 13.

OPEN HOUSES

Ontario Standardbred breeding nurseries Mac Lilley Farms and Tara Hills Stud have special open houses taking place for the general public on Mother’s Day, and the popular fractional ownership endeavour ‘The Stable’ is holding its Spring Showcase.

Mac Lilley Farms will host their event from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The Lilley family, who own and operate Mac Lilley Farms, have been in the business of breeding, training and racing Standardbred horses for over 45 years. They currently have 57 broodmares, many of which have foals on the ground, and five stallions on site. The newest member of their breeding establishment is trotting stallion Daylon Magician, a winner of almost $2 million during his racing career.

Tara Hills Stud, one of North America’s premiere Standardbred breeding farms, is owned and operated by David Heffering. This is Tara Hills Farm’s first Mother’s Day Open House event and it will run from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. In addition to seeing the mares and foals, visitors will also have the opportunity to meet some of North America’s top ranked stallions including Kadabra and Muscle Mass.

If you visit one of the farms, don’t forget to take some photos of the mares and foals and enter the I Love Canadian Harness Racing Fan Club’s Zoom Photography Contest. Please send your photo submissions to [email protected] or in a direct message to the Standardbred Canada Facebook Page. The deadline to submit photos is Monday, May 25 at 5:00 p.m. (EST).

Interested in horse shopping? The Stable’s Spring Showcase will take place at Tomiko Training Centre in Campbellville. It will feature The Stable’s two-year-olds in training. The event will kick off at 10:30 a.m. and you can watch as 50 youngsters of The Stable and other trainers, show what they've got as potential racehorses.

The addresses for each of the participating farms are as follows:

Mac Lilley Farms
28322 Chalmers Line
Dutton, Ont. N0L 1J0
Phone # - 519-762-3423

Tara Hills Stud Farm
13700 Mast Rd.
Port Perry, Ont. L9L 1B5
Phone # - 1-877-828-6057

Thestable.ca
Tomiko Training Centre
210 Campbellville Rd.
Campbellville, Ont. L0P 1B0
(10 minutes from Mohawk)

RACING ACTION (many tracks feature dining rooms with Mother’s Day specials!)

For an entertaining afternoon or evening, complete with great food, take Mom to your local racetrack on Sunday. Don’t forget to buy her a betting voucher!

• Century Downs Racetrack & Casino - Races start at 1:15 p.m. (MST)

• Flamboro Downs - Races start at 6:00 p.m. (EST)

• Hippodrome 3R – Races start at 12:50 p.m. (EST)

• Rideau Carleton Raceway – Races start at 6:30 p.m. (EST)

• The Raceway at Western Fair District – Races start at 1:15 p.m. (EST)