After a red-hot start to 2025, Brandon Campbell is making a change of scenery.
A perennial leader at western Canadian racetracks, Campbell returned for the final two cards of the 2024-2025 Century Mile meet in mid-February after surgery in November for a previous spinal injury. Canada's top percentage driver for 2024 then shifted his focus to Fraser Downs while racing in Alberta took a break, and it was like old times for the B.C. track's leading driver for the 2020s.
Campbell strongly sprinted away from his fellow sulkysitters, posting a 26-9-9 summary in 58 starts at Fraser Downs. Phil Giesbrecht — the 2024 dash win leader at Fraser Downs — sits second with nine wins as of press time, with three of those wins coming on Thursday, March 27.
That eight-race card on Thursday was the first card of the year at Fraser without Brandon Campbell as a catch-driving option, and that's the way it's going to be for the time being. He told Trot Insider that he'd shift his focus to Century Downs as that travel back and forth to B.C. from his base of operations in Alberta isn't physically ideal.
"Too much for me; my body is still adjusting."
Given the 0.558 UDRS to start 2025, on the surface it would seem that Campbell's post-surgery body is adjusting pretty well. When Century Downs kicks off its 2025 Standardbred meet on Saturday, March 29, he'll have six opportunities to add to his seasonal totals before making another adjustment during the second scheduled card: driving under the newly-installed lighting system. The switch will flip for those lights during the track's 10th anniversary celebration on Wednesday, April 2.
"I’m looking forward to the evening post times," stated Campbell. "Hopefully they can draw in the after-work crowds as there is a lot of industrial area around the track and possibly some other fellow Calgary folk who would have not normally come out to see us in the afternoon."
The 2025 Standardbred racing season at Century Downs runs from March 29 to Aug. 30, with first posts on Saturdays at 12:45 p.m. (MDT) and Wednesdays at 6:15 p.m. (MDT).
Saturday's seven-dash offering features the circuit's top older competitors in action. Campbell and Mercedes (PP5, 8-5) seek their second straight tally over Alberta's reigning divisional kingpin Shark Week (PP4, Mike Hennessy, 4-5) in the $16,000 Preferred Pace, the third race on the Saturday card. For full entries, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Century Downs.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Campbell and Stash The Cookies winning at Century Downs)