Fans of harness racing have a chance to help promote the industry thanks to a very unique opportunity courtesy Orange Snail Brewery of Milton, Ont.
Last March, Trot Insider profiled Orange Snail and its co-owner Damion Orsi as the craft brewery had announced its Backstretch Cream Ale would become a regular offering. Orsi grew up around Standardbreds and wanted to give the beer a name to honour the long tradition of harness racing in the Halton area.
"I'm a little biased because I'm the owner here but I also grew up racing Standardbred horses," Orsi told Trot Insider in 2018. "When I was young, my parents raced Standardbreds in the London-Windsor-Sarnia area so I grew up with horses and I've always enjoyed everything to do with harness racing."
This past year, Orsi made the jump into fractional ownership with TheStable.ca and he's now enjoying harness racing with his family more than ever.
"We live just north of the track, and Anthony [MacDonald]'s stable is just down the road outside Campbellville. So Mother's Day we went down to the open house. I'd been researching it, and I went to talk to Anthony. He tells it like it is. And we were, right from the start, not about making money. It's about giving my daughters the same experience that I had growing up with horses and the fun you can have going out and watching your horse race. And I also wanted to get my mom back in, my dad has passed away but I could get my mom back in it. It's one of those affordable options, and I knew it didn't matter what percentage you own of the horse you still feel involved and engaged.
"So we went down to the Open House and I had two horses in mind. I looked up both of them knowing horses, and growing up with them...it's amazing, it's like they can look right through you."
That horse was Trafalgar, a two-year-old pacing filly. She showed tons of potential early, winning her first qualifier in 1:58.1 and then pacing in 1:55.4 in her lifetime debut on June 28 in a runner-up effort. The decision was made to enter the first Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 8. The filly finished a respectable fifth in that event but then required time off as a "small line" was found in a subsequent x-ray. She returned to the racetrack on November 1, finishing second in a qualifier at Mohawk, and then broke her maiden with a 22-length romp in 1:58.4 over a snowy Western Fair oval on November 12. She's being pointed for the second leg of the Autumn Series at Western Fair on Monday (November 18).
The Backstretch Cream Ale had a more consistent year for Orsi than his pacing filly, continuing to provide Orange Snail with strong ale sales.
"It's been selling well, it has since we launched it," noted Orsi recently. "It's always been popular. The craft beer industry is niche right now. IPAs are still huge, which is the other side of the spectrum, and then you have the cream ales and the craft lagers. You have that pocket of people that like IPAs, of course the majority of people that are getting into the craft beer and are tired of the same stuff go to the cream ale first."
Currently offering two canned products at beer and liquor stores across the province, Orange Snail has made the decision to start packaging its Backstretch Cream Ale in cans. And that's where this project involves the Standardbred industry.
"We have two [products] in cans now and we want to do the four that we do year-round, the [16 Jasper] IPA and the Backstretch Cream Ale," noted Orsi. "It's a beer that should be in cans; one of those that you bring to the cottage or your back deck."
Orange Snail is asking for help from the Standardbred industry in creating a design for its cans that will showcase and promote harness racing in the essence of a beer named after a key element of every racetrack.
"We want to launch it with something in the realm of the harness racing community with a label. Kevin and I aren't the best designers in the world, and once we get it in cans we think sales are going to increase."
Design should take into account the need to place the Orange Snail logo, UPC code, ingredients list. Backstretch Cream Ale has 4.8% ABV. The main elements that would be considered for the successful design are the background and the stylized name of the beer. The front panel is about 8" wide x 6" tall, and the successful designer will get their name/credit in the artwork as well as financial compensation plus a prize package.
Click on the above image for a PDF of the can design specs
Click on the above image for a PDF of the can design specs
Designs and questions about the design should be emailed to SC's Director of Digital Communications, Jeff Porchak.