He may have just completed his Bachelor of Science degree, but that doesn’t mean Ben Hollingsworth is moving away from the racetrack. If anything, the 23-year-old is moving back to the prime time destination in Canada’s harness racing industry.
Emma Geldart of Farm Focus of Atlantic Canada explains in a piece on Hollingsworth that the Truro Raceway-based horseman is making the move back to Ontario, but this time with a nice piece of paper in his pocket.
Hollingsworth recently earned a BS (Agr) from the Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture. His degree is in animal science and is accompanied by minors in agricultural business and food science and technology. After having worked for conditioner Tony Alagna as a lead assistant trainer in Ontario in 2015, Hollingsworth will be back in Alagna’s operation full-time now that he has earned his degree.
Geldart’s piece explains that Hollingsworth worked for Alagna last summer, but then had to head back home for school. In the article, Hollingsworth stated that he will be back in his position in Ontario after he graduates.
Hollingsworth also discusses his early racing roots in the article, explaining that he naturally found his way to the local track at a young age.
“My grandmother was babysitting me one day,” he explained. “She lives near the track (Truro Raceway) and I was out on my bike. I wandered into one of the barns and picked up a broom and started sweeping.”
Hollingworth went on to say, laughingly, that he “went in there not knowing a mare from a stud,” but “Now I have my own stable, I train horses and have gotten to work with some of the best horses and trainers in the Maritimes and in North America.”
(With files from Farm Focus of Atlantic Canada)