Middleton To Standardbred Chaplaincy

Ken Carter, Chaplain of Standardbred Racetrack Chaplaincy of Canada, has announced the appointment of Ken Middleton to his Chaplaincy’s board of directors.

Middleton, a 44-year-old Toronto native that now makes his home in Cambridge, Ont., was introduced to harness racing by his late father Ken Middleton, Sr., at a very early age.

The popular and multi-talented Woodbine and Mohawk race announcer called his first race at age 16 at Elmira Raceway. He assumed the position of race announcer/television host and public relations assistant at Flamboro Downs in 1994, and in 1998 was hired by the Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) to host its Standardbred simulcast television show, in addition to hosting its nationally televised broadcast shows on Sportsnet and The Score.

He became WEG’s Standardbred race announcer in 2006 and hosted many of its Standardbred television simulcast programs.

Middleton is also a horseman. He is involved in racehorse ownership and currently assists his fiancée, Stacey Reinsma, training a small stable of horses.

A consummate professional, and one of the best in the horse racing broadcast business, Middleton has hosted the annual O’Brien Awards for over a decade. He will co-host the upcoming 2014 O’Brien Gala with Grand River Raceway’s Kelly Spencer at the Delta Meadowvale Hotel and Conference Centre in Mississauga, Ont. on Saturday, February 7. It will be his 12th year anchoring the prestigious event.

Middleton will join eight Chaplaincy directors for Chaplain Ken Carter’s non-denominational, Christian fellowship non-profit charity dedicated to providing for the emotional, spiritual, physical and human needs of the horse racing work force in southwestern Ontario. Food and clothing, recreation, healthcare, legal and financial referrals, pasturing counseling and hosting horsemen’s barbeques at a dozen or more training centres are just some of the services and activities provided by the Chaplaincy.

Chaplain Carter, a career horseman, visits the sick and injured workers in hospital, officiates at weddings, funerals, baptisms and memorial services, and makes referrals to AA meetings. All are part of his day-to-day activities.

Since horsemen and the Chaplaincy were left homeless with the closing of Mohawk Raceway’s stable area and dormitories in 2012, Chaplain Ken’s daily travels take him to a dozen, or more training centres all over southwestern Ontario.

(Standardbred Racetrack Chaplaincy of Canada)