Barona Lilac’s Win-Win Endeavour

Barona Lilac has been riding a high in the last few months at Truro Raceway. Her seven-race win streak has been one of the many talking points in Atlantic Canada’s racing industry. CTV News Atlantic has taken notice and has also helped shed some light on the ‘Cheering For Charity’ program, which is seeing local charities benefit from the mare’s success, as well.

The CTV News Atlantic report explains that the Meridian Farms-owned Barona Lilac shares a portion of her purse earnings with local charities. The five-year-old daughter of Ameripan Gigolo races for a different charity each month, and the charities have surely been humble benefactors of Meridian’s generosity and Barona Lilac’s fleet turn of foot.

The charities that Barona Lilac races for are guaranteed $1,000 a month, regardless if she wins or not (the $1,000 is not contingent on Barona Lilac winning – even if she only makes $500 a month, the charities still receive the $1,000).

As Michelle Misener of the charity Big Brothers Big Sisters pointed out in the report, it’s not just the financial aspect of the initiative that is valuable to the charities – it is also the memorable experience that will remain with everyone touched by the philanthropic notion.

“Mostly it's been the experience for the little brothers and little sisters. It's been a really positive experience. You know, just the memory of having done this for them will live with them a long time,” Misener said. “Then, of course, there's the money aspect and every organization appreciates any kind of donation that they can get through this kind of event.”

Barona Lilac has been enjoying a stellar 2015 campaign. She only won two of her 25 starts last year, but has hit the wire first in 11 of her 21 starts thus far in 2015. Along with her wins, the bay has also notched three second-place finishes and two third-place efforts. She has now won 19 of her 75 career races and boasts an overall bankroll of $114,191.

(With files from CTV News Atlantic)