The I Love Canadian Harness Racing Fan Club read many unique stories about what brings our fans and members good luck and after a great deal of deliberation, the judges have selected Michelle Olson of Fraserville, Ont. as the winner.
Michelle wrote about nine-year-old trotter Zukav, and how a training mishap was responsible for her gaining a new good luck charm!
Here is Michelle’s story:
When training a star pupil in the stable, Zukav, one day at the local track, he took a bad step in a dip in the track and rolled off stride, quickly recovering to finish trotting his mile.
The next morning, our boy could not walk. After looking further into it, x-rays confirmed a slab fracture and bone chip in his knee. Surgery was booked and half of the fracture and the chip were removed.
When we picked him up, the vet clinic handed a tag to us that contained the bone. I started carrying it with me and since then have found it to be quite lucky!
Michelle initially got started in the industry right around the time when Zukav aka ‘Zeus’ was a yearling. She has paddocked for many trainers in the past and currently works full-time with Roger Ferguson who is the owner and trainer of Zukav. This past summer she took her passion for harness racing one step further by acquiring her Racing Under Saddle license.
We would also like to give honourable mentions to a couple of entries and share some excerpts from their submissions:
John Hayes of Sharon, Ont. who submitted his story about ‘Bill’ the $10 Córdoba (Nicaraguan currency) note, that he keeps with him for good luck. Just after receiving ‘Bill’ he was fortunate to buy a small piece of a John Bax-trained colt "Summer Indian" who turned out to be an excellent Ontario Sires' race horse winning the Dream of Glory in 2012.
Sherry Williams of Woodstock, N.B. who submitted her story about her new yearling purchase Iloveroses. Iloveroses was purchased this year at the PEI yearling sale and is Sherry’s first horse. She has always been interested in grey horses and when she noticed a grey horse being sold at the auction she placed a bid and ended up leaving with a horse. Sherry is hoping Iloveroses will bring lots of luck!
Michelle has won a $50 ILCHR Fan Club prize package.
Get in on the Fan Club’s December contest and share your most memorable moment or favourite racing memory from 2016. You could win a fabulous Fan Club prize package!