Woodbine Entertainment proudly celebrated International Women’s Day during its Saturday, March 7 program of live racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The Woodbine Racing Live simulcast show was entirely dedicated to women in harness racing, and featured interviews and selections from prominent females in the sport. Jessica Buckley, vice-president of Standardbred and Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine Entertainment, welcomed viewers when the show went live at 6:30 p.m.
“To all the women who are breeders, owners, trainers, drivers, grooms and our fans, thank you for being involved in this amazing industry,” Buckley said. “I would just like to remind all of the young women out there that there are incredible careers in horse racing and working with horses.”
Nancy Takter (Grand Circuit trainer), Natasha Day (driver) and Joanne Colville (Mohawk outrider, Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society) joined host Monique Vág during Woodbine Racing Live.
“There are a lot of women around us in this business and they are obviously a very big part of my success, as well,” explained Takter, while speaking with Vág and Chad Rozema.
“There was never any pressure when it came to becoming a trainer,” Takter furthered. “I kind of just fell into it because I loved the horses. I was going to be a lawyer and do all sorts of other stuff in my life, but I always just ended up back in the barn, so I guess it was my calling. It’s kind of hard to resist your calling when it’s the right one for you.”
Day spoke of a variety of topics with Vág, including tasting victory in a Mildred Williams female driving event in Pennsylvania, making the move to Canada from Down Under, and breaking into southern Ontario’s competitive racing circuit.
While discussing her win with Jailhouse Camryn in the Mildred Williams International Driving Series at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in November of 2013, Day said, “It was a really cool night. They treated us like royalty there. They did a fantastic job with it. I was able to put a new lifetime mark on the horse. It was also pretty much the first real exposure that I was able to get on the Pocono track in terms of people getting to see me drive.”
Day explained that, at the moment, she’s focusing on a lot of the half-mile racing on Ontario’s ‘B’ tracks, but that she adapts to the bigger tracks when the opportunity is there. “I’ve had a few drives down here (Mohawk), but it would be nice to get a little bit more and a little bit of power. I still enjoy being down on the half-mile tracks – it’s good fun.”
When asked what advice she would give to females – or her younger self – that are looking to break into the racing industry, Day offered her perspective.
“If you’re going to do it and move overseas, do it while you’re young,” Day said. “I did it later in life and it’s been tougher, but at the end of the day you’re tougher and develop a thicker skin as well.
“I think for a younger person, if you want to do it, do it while you’re young. Break into it and talk to everyone, get in wherever you can get in, and basically do whatever you can do.”
Woodbine Mohawk Park outrider, COSA director and OSAS events co-ordinator Joanne Colville took some time to speak with Vág. In addition to discussing the many industry initiatives that she is involved with, Colville commented on her daughter Emma’s passion for the industry and what that may lead to.
“Emma right now has her sights set on being a veterinarian, which I am encouraging,” Colville said. “She loves the horses. She can fall back on that and do it as a hobby, but I would like to see her become a vet. She certainly carries the passion. She was brought up in it, so she understands the hours and the workload. She just loves it.”
There’s no doubt that Colville has given her all for horse racing, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I enjoy what I do. I’m working with the horses that have given me my whole life, so I don’t really have any complaints.”
The evening’s third race, the $32,000 Mares Preferred Pace, was the International Women’s Day Race. All female racing participants were invited to the winner’s circle for the post-race presentation, and ‘Woodbine Cares’ made a presentation to the Halton Women’s Place following the race. The presentation featured a cheque and food donation following a month of fundraising, which was led by Woodbine Mohawk Park’s Lynn Koprowski and Robin MacKay.
To view Saturday's harness racing results from Mohawk, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.