How Hurricane Bill Changed Legends Day

While the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2009 season was downgraded to a Category 1 storm as it grazed the coast of Nova Scotia on Sunday, its forces were strong enough that they could be felt in southern Ontario on Legends Day at Clinton Raceway

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Hurricane Bill caused flooding and power outages, grounding all flights. As a result, many Ontario-based reinsmen including Brad Forward, Anthony MacDonald and Doug McNair, who were out East for the Gold Cup & Saucer and Old Home Week festivities, could not return home right away.

One driver not competing out East was veteran driver Doug Brown, vacationing before an appearance at Clinton's Legends Day program. Brown missed his scheduled drive in the Legends Trot at Clinton aboard Fa Mulan, which was picked up by the mare’s regular reinsman, Bruce Richardson. The 38-year-old resident of Arthur, Ont. battled with seven veteran Hall Of Fame drivers in the feature race, finishing fourth behind John Campbell and New Dice Please.

Jim Doherty, Bud Fritz, Bill O’Donnell, Ray Remmen, Clint Galbraith and Ron Waples also participated in the Legends Trot.

“Well, I thought it would be more competitive if we had a running race instead of a horse race,” laughed Richardson.

While the race featured some of the sport’s all-time greats, Richardson admits that his strategy didn’t change going into the event, and it was just another race for him.

The winner of 2,037 races lifetime and over $12.3 million is purses, who was introduced to harness racing through his father, trainer Bryan Richardson, told Trot Insider he never had a racing idol growing up, but notes that Orangeville-based Charlie Lawson was one of his favourite drivers.

“It was a great day and there was a very good crowd,” said Richardson of the fifth edition of Legends Day, which produced a record seasonal handle at Clinton of $33,680.