Trish Dooling of Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, is first out of the gate for 2017, with her photo of Tick Tack in the snow selected for the Heart of Harness Racing Calendar’s January image.

Trish is a regular contributor to the calendar and TROT 4 Kids. In her free time, the full-time hair stylist can be found on the family farm in Goulds, NL. “Horses are my main passion but I do enjoy my other farm yard four-legged friends,” she admits.

Dooling and her father, Jim, acquired Tick Tack at the end of the 2015 racing season. “We had our eye on her for a few years and she was literally in the stall next to us. She was a tough little mare with a big heart. She reminded me so much of my first horse that I owned that we took her back to the farm. It's unfortunate that we never got to race her, she had proven herself in the last few years with her previous owner and I was excited to see this mare continue to race well. Of course you can't come home to the farm for winter without being the subject of many Sunday photo shoots. I am outside for hours with frozen fingers trying to capture some great shots and this one seemed to just happen.”

For Dooling and others involved in harness racing in Newfoundland, 2016 was a very challenging year with the closure of St. John’s Racing & Entertainment Centre. “I always loved photographing races as capturing the intense raw emotion of horse and driver usually makes quite the photo but with no racing this year I did expand out on to photographing families, pets and events. While capturing special moments are quite fun, it lacked a little of the excitement that only a horse race can give me. I did branch out and photograph some sport bike (motorcycle) events, and the speed was pretty cool to capture but I prefer the original 'horse power'. A motorcycle doesn’t move quite as majestically as a horse does,” she explains.

“I have been like a 'fish out of water' with no racing here in Newfoundland this year. I was born and raised at the track. I don't know life without racing. For the last few years we all expected it would happen soon, but it’s unfortunate. I still help with the barn chores of course and taking care of the horses we currently have, but it's sad that my pink harness was not put to use in 2016. I have been active all year regarding harness racing in a different way. I’m very busy with a project. Myself and a few other talented people are working on a book for the World Driving Championship/World Trotting Conference taking place next August in PEI.”

Dooling didn’t manage to get to any live racing in the Atlantic Provinces but was able to watch all of Red Shores’ racing via live video stream. “It’s very hard to just watch from home and not be a part of it but thanks to the great race calls from Vance Cameron, I can feel the excitement of the races! I have some long time family friends racing up there and it's fun to cheer on their horses. I have followed some horses that used to race here; there are a few that race in the Maritimes. It's not the same as live racing, but at this point you have to make do.”

The 2017 Heart of Harness Racing Calendar is available now! Standardbred Canada members can stop by the SC Field Rep’s office at their track to pick up a calendar, and several of the tracks racing in January will be having giveaways.

For anyone who would like to purchase calendars to be mailed out, please contact the Industry Marketing Department at (905) 858-3060 x243 or x207. Calendars are $10 each (including postage to anywhere in Canada).