The Harness Horse Youth Foundation is pleased to announce that Keelan MacDonald of Inverness, Nova Scotia has won a $2,500 Curt Greene Memorial Scholarship and that the $1,000 Sweet Karen Scholarship has been won by Rebecca Galloway of Otsego, Michigan.

The Curt Greene Scholarship honours an individual who, like its namesake, has demonstrated a passion for harness racing. Keelan MacDonald, the son of Jolene MacDonald, demonstrates that passion with his goal of becoming a full-time trainer and driver. While he will be attending Nova Scotia Community College to learn heavy equipment operation, he plans to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. Even then, he has an eye to harness racing, believing his skills in equipment operation will allow him to condition the local track, Inverness Raceway. “When I was a child, the track was the place to be in the summer,” he says, demonstrating the same passion Greene brought to his myriad racing responsibilities.

Sweet Karen may be the HHYF diva, but Michigander Rebecca Galloway, the daughter of Scott and Tracy Galloway, is anything but. She has the talent and the ability of a diva, but leaves the attitude at home. Galloway attended the week-long HHYF Balmoral Park/Odds On Racing camp in 2010 (attendance at an HHYF event is a pre-requisite for the scholarship) and learned a great deal about the differences and similarities between the HHYF Trottingbreds and the larger Standardbreds that she had seen race. She plans to attend Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, here she will study Psychology. Rebecca plans to use her degree to develop a therapeutic equine program that involves a driving element. She attends Otsego High School and despite a demanding course load carries a 3.6 GPA.

“Reading their essays, it’s really clear that these two scholarship recipients meet the criteria and ideals that the Curt Greene and Sweet Karen Scholarships entail,” said HHYF President Marlys Pinske. “We are proud to be able to assist in their continuing education.”

(HHYF)