Save for the rare exception, women rarely get their share of the spotlight in the sulky. That changes this weekend, as eight of Canada's finest horsewomen will converge at two grassroots tracks to settle the inaugural OLG Ontario Women's Driving Championship.
The 10-race tournament features eight horsewomen who compete at Ontario racetracks and consists of five races Saturday afternoon (July 17) at Hanover Raceway and another five on Sunday afternoon (July 18) at Dresden Raceway. And, while races specifically restricted to female drivers are nothing new, tournament organizers are hopeful the event gives the sport's hard-working women more recognition for their contributions.
"In the past, there’s been something called the Powder Puff Derby, that really didn’t have the connotation that we wanted to have here," Hanover Raceway general manager Steve Fitzsimmons said in a recent piece produced by CTV News' London, Ont., outlet. "This is a 100 per cent serious driving competition. We’re doing some good for charity. The ladies will be donating their earnings to the two charities, and it’s going to do a lot of good. I think it’s going to showcase a part of our business that doesn’t get the credit it deserves."
While Fitzsimmons had conceived the idea for the Women's Driving Championship a few years ago, the willingness of other horsepeople to support such an event remained a major hurdle — much more so than past one-off races, such as the Mildred Williams Driving Series a decade ago.
"There’s a lot of women with a lot of talent that just don’t get the same opportunities because we have a lot of people in this game — owners and trainers — that just think that women aren’t physically strong enough or good enough," said Natasha Day, an Australian native who has driven 199 winners thus far in her career. "It’s disappointing to see, but it’s going to take someone to kick things off and prove to people that we can do it, just as good."
Make no mistake about it: there's no lack of ability or experience among the field. The eight drivers slated to take part — Marie-Claude Auger, Natasha Day, Marielle Enberg, Pam Forgie, Maggie Jones, Brittany Kennedy, Andrea Leon and Julie Walker – have driven a combined 881 winners, and they also have 664 training wins among them. Organizers and participants alike are hopeful that this weekend's Championship can serve as a springboard for something bigger in the future.
"Our hope is this will grow to a bunch more racetracks, and become more of a circuit, maybe down the road, having more racetracks participating," said Fitzsimmons.
The entire CTV News piece appears below.
To view the entries for Saturday's card of harness racing at Hanover, click one of the following links:
Saturday Entries || TrackIT Program Pages