Racing fans of all ages were able to experience first hand what it’s like to sit behind a harness horse when the Hands On Horses program visited Kawartha Downs Saturday evening.
Hundreds of patrons entered the draw to win the chance to sit behind a horse (on a double seat sulky alongside experienced horsemen Dave Gibson and Brian Tropea of the Ontario Harness Horse Association). Both of the horses giving the rides were great ambassadors for the breed with wonderful temperaments and one, Hollywood Ham, is still actually racing.
The six-year-old son of Mach Three is owned by Hands On Horses' program co-ordinator Stacey Reinsma, who also trains him which lately has proven somewhat tricky as if he sees kids at the side of the track when he’s training he’ll slow down wanting to pick them up and give them a ride.
In racing action tonight, leading driver Gord Brown had the hot hands, scoring a hat trick with Albert Is Back (1:58.4), High Fashion Mel (1:59.3) and Part Time Lady (1:59.2) and Galagher Seelster returned to his winning ways, scoring in 1:56.2, his fifth win in seven lifetime tries.
Racing returns to the Fraserville oval next Saturday with a 7 p.m. post time.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Kawartha Downs.
(Kawartha Downs)