In the lead up to this 40th Anniversary edition of TROT our SC website has been asking our members and readers to share their favourite memories. Throughout the years, TROT Magazine has been there telling our story of the special people, horses, races, and places within our industry. We have all benefited from a host of wonderful publications, some now demised, which helped connect readers within our business.

In the times before internet, Facebook, Twitter, emails and cell phones, written publications were one of our most relied upon forms of information. In Atlantic Canada we were very fortunate to have the late Doug Harkness co-found the Atlantic Post Calls, which has told our story in regional racing for over four decades. For those of us fortunate to have known Doug well, we enjoyed his wonderful writing style, his sense of humour, his gift for storytelling, and most of all his passion for racing. It is those attributes which made Doug such a worthy inductee into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame a few years ago.

We all can look back on our involvement in harness racing and relive our experiences with horses, races, and people that have had a lasting significance. When I first read the TROT Insider story on the 40th Anniversary, I thought about my personal memories of that time period, and the many great experiences before and since.

I recall the great race calls by announcer Ed Watters at the Charlottetown Driving Park; the immense crowds and great horses of Gold Cup and Saucer night; being at Monticello Raceway and seeing Silk Stockings beat the boys in the OTB Classic; the amazing experience of the opening night at the Meadowlands; meeting my hero Joe O’Brien for the first time; watching Niatross race live, the first visits to the Hambletonian, Little Brown Jug, North America Cup, and Lexington; the Atlantic Breeders Crown; hosting a leg of the World Driving Championships; building new facilities at Charlottetown and Summerside; watching my son Nick win his first race; my Grand Daughters first visit to a racetrack and hundreds of road trips with family and friends for races and sales.

The constant through it all for me, and I am sure for most of you, were great experiences with the people and horses of our business. Our industry connects rural and urban, all economic classes, and the veterans and rookies in the stables and the grandstands.

In order for the stories of the next forty years of TROT and our industry to be positive ones, we all need to be storytellers. Tell your family and friends of the great experiences you have had participating in our industry at whatever capacity and level, and invite them to the barn, training centre or race track.

We need to constantly tell our Federal and Provincial Governments of the benefits of our industry, and the great opportunity for partnering racing and gaming, and to grow as complementary, not competitive products.
Congratulations to all those involved over forty years of TROT.