The year is almost over, and the holidays are almost here. It’s time for happiness, joy and cheer - right?

Wait. It’s not always that easy.

I realize that there’s been tumult here on Earth since humankind first inhabited it, but during my adulthood at least, I’m not certain I remember a time - other than during Covid - with more turmoil, dissent, and general unease in the world.

Just turn on the TV.

War in the Ukraine. War in the Middle East. Airspace above Venezuela closed. Protests in the streets. Trade wars. And lies - lots of them. It seems that lying is just the norm now.

Ok - I turn off the TV and look elsewhere for something uplifting.

I go to the racetrack - a place I love. But basically, other than in the paddock, it’s a ghost town. Nobody is there. Oh, that’s right, the powers that be in harness racing somehow think that online betting is all we need to thrive. That’s how other sports do it - right?

Ok. So I go back home again because the empty grandstand was too depressing. I turn the TV back on - but only to watch sports this time. No more news.

The women’s professional hockey league game in Seattle had a live crowd of over 16,000 tonight?

The lacrosse game in little old Oshawa is being played in front of a jam packed, sold-out and VERY raucous crowd?

The women’s Aussie Rules Football game on TSN has a crowd of over 50,000 in attendance?

Pickleball is being shown on national television in front of a
large crowd?

Hmmmm? But I thought a live crowd wasn’t important in 2025? I mean, we’re not talking about the NFL or the Premier League here. We’re talking about pickleball.

I’m sorry, but I realize that we’ve put out a 148 page Holiday Issue here, full of beautiful, upbeat ads - celebrating the holidays - and happy feature stories, but at this point this column is probably just bringing you down? Don’t worry, it gets better!

You see, one of my favourite annual things about this issue are the stories we present about retiring 14-year-olds, and this year, what I’ve recently learned about one of those equine seniors, and her connections, has saved the day for me, and put me into more of a holiday state of mind.

Six weeks ago I gave my associate, John Rallis, a list of the (105) 14-year-olds that raced in 2025, and asked him to plug a bunch of them into TrackIT and try to come up with some preliminary storylines on a handful of them that might be interesting.

The second I read his notes on ‘The Fascinator’ I wrote down ‘I LOVE this one!’ beside it. I mean, how could you not love the thought that this mare had barely earned $30,000 in 299 career starts, having solely raced at Northside Downs in North Sydney, Nova Scotia since 2019, yet there was someone that loved racing her so much that they continued on with her until her mandatory retirement?

Her story was assigned to Melissa Keith, and begins on page 118 of this issue, so I won't completely ruin it for you if you haven’t read it yet, but I will say that The Fascinator and John Ellsworth reminded me why I fell in love with horses - and this sport - to begin with. My bet is that it’s also a reminder as to why a lot of you fell in love with it too.

Their story, although short, has a bit of everything:

FAMILY: A family from Cape Breton Island, with a little barn behind their house, John’s dad and uncle raced horses, and his son now has the bug too.

HARD WORK: John supplemented his horse racing hobby with a ‘real job’ for many years.

TRAGEDY: The worst kind that horsepeople can face.

LOVE: The kind between a family and their horse.

Let’s face it, we all watch perfect specimens like Beau Jangles, Louprint and Emoticon Legacy do their thing, and we all dream that we will own a horse like that one day too. That’s what it’s all about, right?

But most of us, Doc Moore, Ron Burke and Luc Blais included, have had more horses that didn’t make us money than ones that did, and the story of The Fascinator - who has averaged 24 starts, yet only $2,119 per year in earnings for John over the last 11 years - was a reminder to me that it’s not all about hoping to own a superstar. My love of this sport goes much deeper than that, and yours probably does too.

I played Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas, in my Grade 6 school play, and just like he told Charlie Brown what Christmas is really all about, The Fascinator and John Ellsworth reminded me, what harness racing is all about too.

Bless them both for doing so, because my holiday cheer is back.

Wishing you all a joyous Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!

Dan Fisher
[email protected]