By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport Vancouver, B.C. (Nov. 8/18) – More Friday Night Live cards and earlier start times on two of the biggest days of the year: these are two major changes to the 2019 live thoroughbred racing schedule announced by Darren MacDonald, General Manager, Hastings Racecourse & Director, BC Racing. “We’re excited…
By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport SCENE & HEARD: Emergence and resurgence are two words that come to mind when reflecting on the 2018 thoroughbred season that draws to a close following nine-race cards on both Saturday and Sunday at Hastings Racecourse. Youth was certainly served when two-year-old fillies Summerland and Dancin Shoes emerged…
By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport SCENE & HEARD: Two or three mornings a week a tall, lean man wearing a broad brimmed, caramel-coloured hat walks briskly through the Hastings Racecourse parking lot towards the track’s main entrance. His routine rarely changes. He mingles for a bit with his pals in Jerome’s, picks up…
By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport SCENE & HEARD: To quote Postmedia journalist Lori Culbert in a riveting article published in the Vancouver Sun in November, 2017: “The 350 square foot, two-bedroom apartment is a cramped, no-frills space, but it provided a safe place for cabinet-minister-to-be Shane Simpson, his little sister and his mother…
By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport SCENE & HEARD: Two very special ladies who have dedicated countless hours over decades to the well-being of horsemen and horsewomen in the backstretch at Hastings are going to be singled out during tomorrow’s Thanksgiving Holiday Monday card. Jeannie Spence, co-founder of the Hastings Park Learning Centre and…
By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport SCENE & HEARD: Hastings Racecourse was making some positive headlines in political circles this past week when it was named in concert with Great Canadian Gaming Corporation as a recipient of a 2018 Child Care Award of Excellence. The Honourable Katrine Conroy, Minister of Children and Family Development and…
By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport SCENE & HEARD: In the days leading up to this year’s 73rd running of the BC Derby at Hastings it appeared Glen Todd and Mario Gutierrez were going to be back together again, albeit for a short but treasured time. Original word from California-based Reddam Racing was that Mario…
By Greg Douglas – Dr. Sport SCENE & HEARD: Last Saturday’s race card opened with a moment of silence in memory of Dave Dahl, the man Richard Yates so eloquently described as a significant part of the Hastings racing community both as a horseman and as a member of the security team that manages the…