Hall of Fame horseman and Prince Edward Island native Wally Hennessey joined CBC Radio's Maritime Noon with Bob Murphy on Tuesday (March 1) as a guest to talk about his background in harness racing, the future of the sport in the Maritimes and his biography Wally: Driven to Win.
Hennessey, a career winner of more than 11,100 races, discussed his early career transition from racing in the Maritimes to Florida and shared some harness highlights including driving the "greatest ever to live" Moni Maker, and winning two editions of the Gold Cup & Saucer, which he describes as "an out of body experience."
Hennessey was joined by the book's author, Gary MacDougall, and viewers also called in for a discussion on the state of the industry, which touched on the complete entertainment experience offered at P.E.I. racetracks.
"I do watch all kinds of racing and I definitely always go into Red Shores' live stream with Lee Drake and his whole broadcast team there and I can't tell you how proud I am of everyone," said Hennessey from his Florida base. "Not just of the job that these guys do, like I race all over the United States, I've been all over the world, and I've never seen a product put together and shown to people like the product they have on Prince Edward Island. I know that product can work and will work in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick if they give it a try."
To listen to the full interview, which begins approximately at the 9:05 minute mark, click here.