“A good horse really wants to get out there and race; they love the competition. And I guess it’s just like any other sport: if the athlete wants to do it, they’ll do it."
At age 71 with 2,294 career wins, trainer Rod Hennessy knows what it takes to win races and still enjoys finding a good Standardbred horse.
The veteran horseman, who was recently named a finalist on the 2026 ballot for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, is among Alberta's trainers featured in a CTV News report ahead of the upcoming 2026 harness racing season at Century Downs.
Hennessy campaigns a 16-horse stable including the likes of Shark Week, Alberta's four-time Older Male Pacer of the Year, who won his qualifying return at Century Downs last Friday over stablemate Outlaw Game On ahead of the meet.
The first card of the Century Downs season is scheduled for this Saturday, April 4 with entries due on Tuesday, March 31.
“We race till the last weekend in August here for Standardbred,” said Josh Murphy, Assistant Manager of Racing. “We’re typically Friday nights and Saturday afternoons but do have some odd days; we do a Canada Day celebration on June 30, so the day before, and we do fireworks and we race on Father’s Day instead of the Saturday that week, but typically it’s Friday and Saturday until the end of August.”
(With files from CTV News)