Grand River Raceway recently wrapped up a busy weekend of hands-on initiatives designed to educate and engage staff, newcomers, and longtime race patrons about harness racing. The three events saw nearly 250 people drive a horse for the first time

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The Elora, Ont. track worked in cooperation with the Hands On Horses Program — an umbrella program for initiatives such as the Ontario Harness Racing Youth Camps, Standardbred Xtreme Adult Camps, iDrive, and So You Think You Can Drive.

Grand River Raceway’s Showtime Staff Training program spanned two days (May 25-26) and gave 25 frontline employees from the racing operation, and staff from the OLG Slots at Grand River Raceway, a hands-on appreciation and understanding of the industry.

The track’s fourth annual Open House was held on May 27 and featured six interactive stations, which covered a gamut of topics and offered the opportunity for all Open House visitors to drive a racehorse. More than 220 people of all ages took part during the three-hour event.

Grand River Raceway extends its sincere appreciation for the volunteers, industry participants and organizations who helped to stage these events, including: staff of the Hands On Horses Program (Stacey Reinsma, Natalie Elliott, Ken Ellis), Kathy Wade from Standardbred Canada and the I Love Canadian Harness Racing Fan Club, Brian Tropea of the Ontario Harness Horse Association, driver/trainer Anthony MacDonald, Gayle Ecker of Equine Guelph, Chris Matthews, Gregg McNair, Paul Taylor, John Newell, Ken Middleton, Justin Herod, Deb Richardson, Jimmy Proctor, Paula McGuire and Tanya Martin.

(Grand River Raceway)