Congratulations to Penny Wesley, who has been named the 2024 Winner of the General Manager’s Award, given out annually for Meritorious Service to Truro Raceway.

Penny was instrumental in the planning and fundraising of the Harness The Hope event this season, which raised funds for two worthy area organizations.   She also interacted with Hubtown Horse Owners Club members as a liaison on behalf of both the Wink McCallum Stable and Truro Raceway.   She also assisted management with several other promotional endeavours in the 2024 season.

“It was a great pleasure working with Penny.  She was the driving force behind our Harness the Hope fundraising, organizing volunteers and the various initiatives.  She and her committee raised$3,862 apiece for the We Care About Cancer Fund and the Colchester East Hants Hospice Society.   She was also great interacting with the Hubtown Horse Owners and helped me with some very worthwhile feedback on the planning of several other events this season.   She is a very deserving recipient to be recognized.”  said Truro Raceway General Manager Steve Fitzsimmons.

A horse that was a $43,000 Yearling Purchase at the Ontario Select Sale in 2020, has taken a winding road to start realizing the potential that he was born with, but in recent weeks Bettor On Than Off has been dynamic at Truro Raceway for Trainer/Owner Danny Romo and driver Jamie Ramsay.

Purchased by Dave Ratchford at the sale, he didn’t have much luck with the hulking son of Bettors Delight, out of the Western Ideal mare Lights Go Out, handing him over to legendary Maritime trainer/driver Danny Romo. “Dave bought him at the sale and he couldn’t do much in Cape Breton with him. He was two years old and got him castrated and he still wouldn’t go. I was down there to race in the stake races and Dave said do you want to make a deal? I’ll give you half of the horse and don’t send me any bills for him. I brought him to Truro and we trained him the first time in 3 minutes and he was all over the place.” said Romo.

Nicknamed the Alligator for his penchant for nipping people in the barn, the horse started off modestly in his three-year-old season. “Next year as a three-year-old he raced slow, but he did race. Then we sent him to Ontario and he won at Flamboro (in 159.0) and I thought he was going to be all right. He kicks at you and you have to watch him. I think he must have kicked over something and hurt his foot up there, so we brought him back home.” Romo commented.

The horse ended up racing 23 times as a 3-year-old, earning a speed badge of 158.1 at Truro and chalking up 4 wins and $12,329 in purse earnings.

Then in training him back for his 4-year-old season, calamity struck, causing a season ending injury before the season started. A crane that was being used to help renovate the Truro Raceway grandstand spooked the horse, causing him to injure himself.

“We were training him back and there was a crane over by the grandstand and he did something to his leg when he saw the crane. He’s a bit spooky. Dave just said at that point, you can have him. I threw him out in the field for 7 months. I figured I would just play around and get him back to the races and drive him myself. I was just hoping he’d pick up a few cheques.” Said Romo.

Cue his 5-year-old season in 2024, where he started slow after not racing at all in 2023, in the lower conditioned classes at Truro winning a modest non winners of $320 in last 5 race in 200.2 on June 2nd with Romo in the bike. He followed that up with a solid 2nd place effort the following week, pacing his mile in 157.2. He then went 8 races in a row where he picked up a cheque, but failed to win as he rose up the class ranks.

Then a breakthrough and a harbinger of things to come happened on September 6th, as the horse cruised to a new lifetime mark of 157.1 with Romo aboard. Then on September 22nd, with Romo occupied with Stakes action elsewhere, he recruited driver Jamie Ramsay to drive. The result, a strong second place finish, beat just a quarter of a length in 157.1.

Then on October 6th, with Ramsay back aboard the horse flashed the potential that belies his pedigree, as he exploded off cover at the half, crushing the top conditioned class on the day at Truro with a 14 ½ length victory in a nice lifetime mark of 154.1. It was the fastest driving victory of his career for Ramsay, who has 58 driving wins in 677 career starts. “He’s a beast. An absolute beast.” said Ramsay. “I’ve raced him from behind, he raced super. I raced him from a hole, he was great and I raced him off the front and he was perfect. He’s a very nice horse. A fast horse. I don’t know how fast he is actually. The day he went in 154, he could have went in 153. Danny’s done a great job with him. Whatever he’s doing, keep doing it. It’s definitely not me. It’s all the horse. I’m just going along for the ride and I’m just glad Danny is taking me with him. This has been awesome.” said the affable and popular Ramsay.

Then on Thanksgiving Monday, all eyes were on the horse, to see if he could go back-to-back off of his dominant win last week. Sent off as the even money favourite, he did not disappoint, as Ramsay took control from the outset, as he went gate to wire for a 4-length victory over a good track allowing two seconds in 156 flat.

With 4 wins and 5 second place finishes in 16 starts and $6,464 made all at Truro for the modest purses they race for, the sky is the limit on what the future may hold for the horse. Veteran horsemen Romo is taking it all in stride, after having seen almost everything you can see in a career that has seen him chalk up 3,770 career driving wins and 1,055 training wins, noting wryly, “I told Jamie I guess he better continue driving him now. He’s on him until he doesn’t get a cheque (Romo laughing) and then I’ll take him off.”

Nova Scotia native Clare MacDonald, Canada’s winningest female driver, was crowned the champion of Truro Raceway's first Atlantic Women's Driver Challenge on Sunday afternoon, July 21.

The competition was fierce, with five different drivers winning the five challenge races. MacDonald clinched the title with the most points accumulated from a win, a pair of second-place finishes, a third and a fifth. She ended with 27 points to top the leaderboard, while Ontario-based Natasha Day was the runner-up with 25 points and Prince Edward Island's Ambyr Campbell rounded out the top three with 23 points. The other participating drivers were Julie Walker (20), Monica Sutherland (19), Maggie Jones (18) and Tammy MacKay (11).

The majority of the seven participants were still in contention heading into the finale, with MacDonald holding a three-point lead over Day and Campbell in the standings after striking in the fourth leg with the pocket-popping Lucy With Diamonds ($8.70) in 2:03.3. The winning mare's Henry Smallwood stablemate, Pride And Paradise, came back on for second in rein to Day after a backstretch duel with the faltering pacesetter.

In the finale, Im A Miracle and Jones protected pylon position off the gate and had the rest of the field lined up in post position order as they opened up nearly three lengths on top through :28 quarter. But Day sent 3-5 favourite Fifth Estate ($3.30) first-over from third heading to the half in :57.4 and advanced alongside the early leader down backstretch, gaining the advantage past three-quarters in 1:27.4 and taking off with MacDonald picking up the chase out of fourth in rein to Hardy Mill Joe. With the jump on Hardy Mill Joe, the Ernie Laffin-trained Fifth Estate sealed the deal for his third straight win in 1:56.3 with a one-length lead at the finish for Day. It was nearly 11 lengths back to The Yingyang and Campbell in third.

Campbell had picked up a win in an earlier leg with the Gardner McCallum-trained Justa County Boy ($8.70), launching from third with a quarter-mile to go to catch the pace setting Oh Artleigh and Day in the stretch for a 1:59.1 victory while Smilin In Heaven and MacDonald just missed the runner-up honours along the pylons in that race.

Walker made her first Truro started a winning one as she kicked off the five-race challenge with a wire-to-wire 2:00.3 victory in rein to the Don Ellis-trained Silverhill King ($11.30) over MacDonald and Camco Willow.

Sutherland was next to score as she sent 4-5 favourite Well Lets See ($3.60) down the road for a 1:59.3 victory with the parked out Little Taggs and Jones unable to reel in the Carl Isenor trainee late.

The Atlantic Women's Driver Challenge was sponsored by Ozzie MacKay and Achieve Financial, with support from the Truro Harness Horse Owners Association, Grattan Helmets and the Central Ontario Standardbred Association.

In addition to being named the Atlantic Women's Driver Challenge champion, MacDonald will be awarded a new painted racing helmet courtesy of Grattan Helmets.

"It's great. I'm glad to see all the fans supporting everything too -- it's for a great cause," said MacDonald, who has driven 1,531 winners in her career. "These girls are all tough, they're all good drivers, and they did all put on a great show."

The driver challenge was part of Truro Raceway's Harness The Hope event, which raised funds for both the Colchester East Hants Hospice Society and the We Care About Cancer Fund with sponsored races, a 50/50 draw, a cake live auction and the sales of commemorative driver challenge t-shirts with art work from Michelle Hogan and custom designed sports cards of the challenge drivers. The afternoon's festivities also included Wiener Dog races.

It was a night for the record books, as two Canadian distance records fell at Truro Raceway, during their race card dubbed “Distance Day.”

In the 6th race, the ¼ mile record fell, with a gate to wire victory by Top of Her Trade and driver Todd Trites, who blazed to a 26.1 time for the rarely used distance.

Sent off as the second choice by bettors, she took full advantage of her post one, out-leaving post time favorite The Ying Yang, who was second 1 ¼ lengths back. Top of Her Trade is owned by Andrea Rennison of Truro, NS and Corey Pickrem of Eastern Passage, NS and trained by George Rennison.

Then in race 9, defending ¾ mile record holder Risin Horizon was looking to defend his title, but found himself parked out leaving and was not able to contend, as Well Lets See blazed to opening fractions on the front of 27.1 and 55.4 and let to the top of the stretch, when Fifth Estate and driver Ernie Laffin was able to march on by and pull away to win by ¾ of a length in a new Canadian record for the distance of 124.4. That time erases Risin Horizon’s Canadian record set at Truro last July.

Fifth Estate is owned by Michelle Patriquin of MacPhee’s Corner, NS and trained and driven by Ernie Laffin.

Other distance winners on the card were: ER Quinn and Lady N Paradise and Dustylanesebastian at 1 ¼ miles, and Camco Willow at ¾ mile distance.

In the Winners over, American Risk and driver Todd Trites took over the lead just past the 1/8 pole and never looked back, as he blazed to a 154.4 score over Brumby and Rockin Corona. Owned by the Risk Bizz Group of Truro and trained by George Rennison, it was his 4th win in 8 season starts.

In the race for the Ron Harris Memorial Award for the Top Driver of Atlantic Grand Circuit Week, Driver Paul Langille jumped from 9th place into a tie with Corey MacPherson for the Top Driver. Congrats to both drivers!

Since we have only one TV, we will be a random draw for the 40” Television on our next race broadcast to determine if Paul or Corey will receive it. The final driver standings were:

T1. Paul Langille and Corey MacPherson 33 points
3. Marc Campbell 30 points
4. Adam Merner 22 points
5. Mike McGuigan 18 points
6. Brodie Macphee 17 points
T7. Greg Munro and Ernie Laffin 16 points
T9. Todd Trites and Myles Heffernan Sr. 15 points

We had a chance to sit down with the current leading driver and trainer through the first 3 race days of our season, Darren Crowe, to get his thoughts on the season to date.

Q - We've had three weeks of racing so far, and you are off to a really great start, on the driving side 7 wins in 27 starts and on the training side you have 5 wins from 16 starts. What has been going right for you so far?

DC - Just the right horses in the right class right now. I've been pretty lucky, I've picked up a few horses this spring from PEI and a new horse that just came from Ohio, and he seems to be fitting in pretty good.

Q - Let's talk about him, Rockin Corona. He's certainly made a statement so far at Truro. He's got 3 wins in 3 starts for you and looks like he's working his way steadily towards the top class, the way he's been going.

DC - So far, so good. I think I haven't really had to stretch him out yet and see what he can actually do, but he is getting better every week.

Q - You had a nice performance from Speakingofshadow, who you've had for a little while, with a new lifetime mark and a huge effort last Sunday.

DC - She is really starting to come around. When I raced her last year, she had been through the grinder a bit. She had a really good two-year-old year, and her three-year-old year was disastrous. She was turned out. Got her back the end of January. Trained her back, and she's just starting to come back to herself and her two-year-old form. She always had speed, but she's actually starting to get her confidence back, and I think that was her big thing. She had just lost confidence in herself, and she's starting to come back to be a really useful horse I think.

Q - You picked up an older classy mare, MsDragonfire, who picked up a nice second last week. She certainly has a lot of back class to her.

DC - She does. She was a late comer here to get ready. She's racing herself into shape, but she seems to be getting a little bit better every week.

Q - You've picked up some live catch drives in recent weeks. Well Lets See, that was a nice performance from him and obviously the new horse in Pam Moore's barn, Life Speaks, looked good as well.

DC - Yes, nice race horses. I ended up getting the drives oh those, so that was good.

Q - As always, you always have a lot of support from the Won't Back Down Stable, and Risin Horizon is off to a good start this year as well.

DC - He's just a nice little race horse. He gets in the right class and he can do some damage. He's a bit of an in between-er, he's not really good enough for the top class, but he can get money, but the next class below he can usually do some damage. He's just a nice raceway horse.

Q - We saw your son Brennan in the Mini Horses event, of course he won that event last year. Might we see a future driver there?

DC - He really enjoys the minis, and he's very horse oriented anyway. He barrel races. Who knows. He likes what he does. Some day maybe, but I'm not really pushing that.

Q - Continued success with everything

DC - Thank you.

We are pleased to announce that Jayson Baxter will be joining our broadcast team on September 15th, as part of the Remembering Sackville Downs day at Truro Raceway. Mr. Baxter, is the long-time co-host and a producer for CTV News at 5 in Atlantic Canada.

He has won many distinguished honors during his career, including an O'Brien Award for his incredible 5 part series called Saving Sammy, which captured the hearts of people from coast to coast of the journey of his family to track down and return their former race horse Samspace, nicknamed "Sammy" to Nova Scotia and their care, after having not known his whereabouts.

Baxter's father Dennis is a former long-time driver and trainer at both Sackville Downs and Truro Raceway. To commemorate the event, 20-year-old Sammy and Dennis Baxter will lead out the post parade for the races that will be contested that day by former Sackville Downs drivers. Sammy will also be available for people to meet, pet and get a picture with.

Other special guests that day are Canadian Harness Racing Hall of Fame drivers Bill O'Donnell and Carl Jamieson.

Fans - As you know, we are having a Remembering Sackville Downs event on Sunday, September 15th. Based on our conversations with fans, people will be travelling from all over North America to be in attendance for this special day.

As a result, we've spoken to our exclusive Hotel partner, The Best Western Glengarry and have secured a great deal on rooms for your stay! They are offering an exclusive rate of $189 per night (Regular $319), for any of Friday, September 13th, Saturday, September 14th and Sunday, September 15th.

There are a block of rooms reserved under the Sackville Downs block. If you are planning on attending the event and need accommodations, call them asap, as there is a limited number of rooms available.

Please share and help spread the word to anyone who is planning to come from out of town.