Last January, Richard Young, owner of pacing champion Put On A Show, approached the Woodbine Entertainment Group with an idea for an invitation race for a charity that's close to his heart

. The result was the establishment of a $100,000 Invitational that will be held at Mohawk Racetrack on Saturday, September 3 in honour of the 'A Spring of Hope' charity.

Young’s daughter, Brittany, a 20-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania, along with her mother, Joanne, founded the charity to help South African schools in desperate need of clean water. When she began her freshman year of high school in the fall of 2005, she began fundraisers and eventually raised over $10,000 to help start the charity.

“A Spring of Hope is a non-profit small international charity that provides clean water sources for South African schools,” Brittany explained. “Primarily, we drill water wells, but our mission allows us to provide any source of clean, sustainable and largely beneficial water sources to schools that need some ability to catalyze change themselves.”

To this stage, 19 water wells have been drilled, but it doesn't end there. There is a waiting list for the charity to drill more water wells in rural schools, where large numbers of children and their respective families can benefit.

Young first ventured to the third-world country in her early teenage years and witnessed first-hand some dire conditions.

“I first visited South Africa when I was 14 with my mother for a simple vacation and we didn’t realize how extremely interested we would become in international politics and international affairs," Brittany recalled. "I sort of dedicated my life to understanding why some places are the way that they are and I wanted to help to solve these sorts of problems.”

Young hopes that providing wells for schools will help assist young students in receiving a safe and healthy education.

“We invest in the development of schools so they can improve the environment for their students who can graduate and have a better education and experience,” she said. “My parents have always been extremely supportive of whatever I put my mind to. My family is into ingenuitive thinking and my father always wants to help me with whatever
is going on in my life and this case was no different. He wanted to take his passion for horse racing and do something to positively affect my passion. That’s when we approached Woodbine Entertainment Group to set up the race.”

Brittany believes that educating people about these types of issues is the best cure in the long run.

“Everyone around the world should educate themselves and be aware of these sorts of issues and that can translate into a particular type of action that can speak louder than a donation. If we educate ourselves and make educated decisions we can have a more equitable and prosperous world."

When 10 of North America’s finest pacing mares line up behind the gate, the Young family will be in attendance.

Headlining the event is Canada’s 2010 Horse of the Year, Dreamfair Eternal. The seven-year-old daughter of Camluck has six wins from 10 tries with year with $597,115 in seasonal earnings. The remainder of the field will be announced on Tuesday.

On September 3, Mohawk customers will have the chance to enter a raffle for some great prizes featuring a limited edition framed print of Put On A Show with driver Jody Jamieson. All proceeds will benefit A Spring of Hope. Tickets can be purchased that evening inside the entrance.

(WEG)