A rainy race night at Fraser Downs opened the final month of the meet, but the rain didn’t dampen the winner’s circle celebrations for one happy couple.
Thanks to a slick winning drive by his uncle Kelly Hoerdt in the evening's finale on Dec. 1, third generation horseman Chris Anderson was able to execute a special plan to propose to his partner of six years in the winner’s circle. And, of course, she said “yes!”
There were a few close calls earlier in the night, but driver/trainer Hoerdt was winless heading into the final race with one last shot to help seal the deal. No pressure.
Sending Chuck You Farlie three-wide into the first turn to make front from the outside post, Hoerdt took the lead with his four-year-old claiming pacer and cruised to victory, setting up the memorable winner’s circle celebration for his nephew.
Anderson pulled his soon-to-be fiancée Kristine MacKay in front of their family as they gathered in the winner’s circle and took a knee to pop the question.
“I was just hoping that Kelly was going to win a race; that was my plan, and it came down to the last race and he finally won a race,” said Anderson, who gave up driving himself in the early 1990s when his daughter was born and works for his uncle’s stable in Edmonton, Alta. “I wasn’t nervous about asking, I was just nervous about everything falling into place. I had a backup plan, but I wanted to do it in the winner's circle."
Anderson planned for the proposal to take place in the Fraser Downs winner’s circle during a visit with MacKay’s family in Abbotsford, B.C.
“Kelly's got a stable in B.C. and one in Alberta. I wanted to do it in B.C. because her mom and her granddaughter and family were there,” noted Anderson. “This is her first engagement, so I wanted to make it memorable.”
“It was a very big surprise,” said MacKay. “I think all my pictures speak pretty clearly. I was shocked.
“I think it's really cool [to have the proposal in the winner’s circle] because that's one of his loves and he loves the horses. And that was special that Kelly was able to be involved and my granddaughter and my mom were there, so that was super special too. It worked out nice. It's all been very exciting.”
Please join Standardbred Canada in congratulating Chris Anderson and Kristine MacKay on their engagement.