The I Love Canadian Harness Racing Fan Club has announced the winner of its April “selfies” Zoom Challenge.

We asked Fan Club members to submit selfies (a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone) of themselves with a horse, at the races, watching a race, working around horses or any activity in harness racing.

William Chappell of Beaumont, Alberta is the winning entrant. His Mom, Kayla helped him hold the phone while he snapped the shot. She confides that “he's very full of himself when it comes to pictures and knows what button to press on the iPhone.” William is a fourth generation horseman from the Chappell side (Graham Chappell is his Great Grandpa, John Chappell his Grandpa and his Dad is Doug Chappell). Both his Mom and Dad train and drive and both sides of William’s family have been involved with the industry for years and hoping he follows suit.

The Chappell family met Pedal Steel last year in BC as Kayla casually paddocked and groomed him. “He has always been real gentle and kind with William. Pedal Steel was at Century Downs for opening weekend so we took the opportunity to visit an old 'friend' and wish him luck before his race,” she explained.

Thanks to our other Zoom finalists:

• Sarah Imrie of London, Ontario, for her shot of herself and her best friend, Viola Abermet at The Raceway at Western Fair District. Viola was visiting from Kassel, Germany and it was her first trip to the races.

• Tori Zobel of Milton, Ontario and two-year-old Divide N Conquer.

• Heather Young of Guelph, Ontario, and Lifeimittatesart (also known as Bart).

• J Bradley Harris of Hagersville, Ontario, for his shot of a group of horses training together in Florida.

ZOOM SPRING FEVER!

May’s Zoom Challenge theme is “Spring Fever”! We’re looking for any type of horse photos that say spring is here! Mares and foals, horses running or frolicking in the paddock, race shots, shots of horses in the mud, etc.
All these go hand in hand with springtime.

Get out there and get snappin’ for your chance to win some great prizes! Send your photos to [email protected]. The deadline to enter is May 27, 2015.

Contest Guidelines:

• Open to fan club members only, not a member? Join HERE for free! (IMPORTANT: photo submissions entered by non fan club members will NOT be considered for the contest)

• Only amateur photographers may enter this contest.

• Photos should be taken during the contest period.

• Photos must be a minimum 72 dpi, however 150 dpi is preferred.

• Photos may not appear to be digitally altered.

• Upon submission, you are releasing your photographs to Standardbred Canada and we reserve the right to publish them on our website, Facebook page, Pinterest Page and in print if we so choose (due credit will be given)

• Contests will open on the 15th of the month, and end exactly one month later

• Please include your name in the filename of your photo

• When you submit your photo, please include your name, address, and details about the subject matter that you photographed, (any names, location) as well as the date that the photo was taken.

A committee will select a handful of the best entries, which will be included in a poll on SC’s website. We’ll also post the entries on our Facebook page. Readers will then have the chance to vote for the photo they like the best.

The monthly winner will receive a great Fan Club Swag Prize package ($50 value) and the six monthly winners will be eligible to win a grand prize, which will include a $50 gift card to the racetrack of their choice and an enlargement of their winning photo framed or plaque mounted!