June, what a great month! There are so many positives this time of year. Let's try to forget about politics and bad news stories. Let the horses do the talking!

For three Saturdays in a row this month, starting on June 12, Mohawk Raceway will host the best three-year-old pacers in North America, with the Burlington Stakes and the Pepsi North America Cup (as well as NA Cup elimination races) taking place over those days. GO CANADA GO!!!

I know one fellow that will be out and taking in some of our big events -- the new President & CEO of Standardbred Canada, John Gallinger. Most of you probably will have read the press release and learned a bit about John last month, so I would just like to welcome him on your behalf and remind you that John and all of our Directors are here to serve YOU -- the members.

In my opinion, the 2010 Kentucky Derby was one of the best ever -- especially from the betting and human interest point of view (and no, it’s not because I picked the winner, but I REALLY DID)! I guess the weather would have been disappointing for those in attendance, but it's another great variable when handicapping a 20-horse field. How about the favourite drawing arguably the worst possible post position... yet another variable!

Now for the best part -- the human interest stories. Is there anything we can learn from this event? NBC does an excellent job covering racing and telling stories that the non-racing person will have some interest in. One such story is of the 25 people that got together, threw in $400 each and bought a $10,000 yearling. The horse had the lead in the stretch of the Kentucky Derby and finished fifth. How much fun have they had over the past year?

Glen Fullerton of Texas, who has virtually nothing to do with horse racing, entered an online contest co-sponsored by Churchill Downs and CNBC. He was the one lucky contestant chosen out of 67,000 entrants, and was given $100,000 to bet on his choice to win the Derby. He picked the winner and walked away with $900,000! Talk about a life-altering payout!

Joe Torre, one baseball's most famous managers, owns 10% of one of the Derby starters -- which helps brings more national exposure to the sport.

I guess my point is this: maybe we could take a page from the Derby book! To bring exposure to our sport just prior to our signiture event, let’s have a cross-country contest and give the winner $10,000 to bet on a race that's covered on national television in the weeks leading up to the 2011 Pepsi North America Cup. (Maybe that race could have 20 horses in it, with two tiers... just like at Extreme Day at Georgian!) I have said all along that we as participants in the industry have to bring new people in.

Since my last column we have had some more milestones. Congratulations to Sebastien Turenne (Rideau Carleton) and Travis Henry (Flamboro) on their first lifetime driving wins. On the seasoned veteran front, congratulations to Gord Brown (3,000) and Kevin Wallis (9,000) for hitting major plateaus.

Bring on June and some great racing!!!

Until next month!