Once upon a time, a young boy would join his Dad in trips to Greenwood to watch the races. He found the race bikes fascinating, liked the little pizzas with the stretchy cheese and saw Ronnie Waples and Dream Maker win the Queen City Pace in 1:56.
That young boy was Garnet Barnsdale and those trips to Greenwood Raceway were the start of a lifelong love affair with harness racing.
Garnet has become somewhat of a 'fixture' in North American racing circles, and can be found trackside at Mohawk Racetrack every Saturday night during their racing season. So, it was only fitting that he chose to have his I Love Canadian Harness Racing Ambassador award presentation made there to add to his many memorable moments at Mohawk over the years.
On Saturday, May 31, Garnet was presented with Fan Club’s Ambassador of the Year Award for 2013. Garnet was greeted with a great round of applause from the crowd surrounding the winner’s circle and tarmac following a brief overview of all of his promotional work in racing, delivered over the PA system by Ken Middleton. According to his wife Kim, “he was deeply humbled” by the presentation and crowd response.
The next day on Facebook, Garnet was, as usual, talking racing. “What an awesome night at The 'Hawk! Not only did I get honoured with the I Love Canadian Harness racing Ambassador presentation, I also got my picture taken with my favourite driver of all time Ronnie Waples and the top sire of harness drivers perhaps in history, Mr. Fred McDonald. Harness racing will always be one of my deepest passions. May Mohawk Racetrack outlive me. It is certainly one of my 'happy places'."
Garnet is a major player in the social media world and tirelessly spends his free time on Twitter, Facebook and various blogs positively promoting harness racing and handicapping, sparking conversation and keeping fans in the loop.
He freelances for several industry publications and also hosts an online radio show dedicated to harness racing and handicapping that attracts around 3,000 listeners. The Fan Club extends its congratulations to Garnet and would like to personally thank him for all of the work he does in promoting Canadian harness racing.
Garnet’s introduction to racing was via his father and he recalls his earliest trips to the racetrack:
“My dad was a big horseracing fan, but preferred harness, so quite often he would go down to Greenwood and bring me along. I was fascinated with harness racing at a very young age and it was especially fun at Greenwood because you could interact with the drivers going in and out of the paddock. There is a similar atmosphere at Mohawk which is part of what makes the whole experience so much fun."
Speaking of first time experiences at the Racetrack, The Fan Club wants to remind everyone that this weekend is our Bring A Friend National Promotion.
Share the passion you feel for Canadian harness racing! Register for the Bring A Friend National promotion and bring a friend or two, or more, to the races during the weekend of June 6-8.
To register, click here. To view the list of participating tracks and their activities, click here.
Advance registration is not mandatory but it is helpful so that we can let our partner racetracks know how many people to expect so that they can also prepare. Online registration closes at noon on Wednesday, June 4.
Making the presentation to Garnet, his wife Kim and son Nick, is Kathy Wade Vlaar, Manager of Industry Marketing for Standardbred Canada, and Sydney Weaver, winner of the Fan Club Ambassador Award for 2012. (New Image Media)