Behind the Gate

There were two Dairy Queen races that he remembered with understandable fondness. The first was for two—year—old fillies at the GDP. and it was for 5852.000, the largest purse ever on PE]. at that time. Earl Smith had asked Garry to drive Dexter’s jalle while Earl would drive Charlotte/s Britt in the same race. Garry recounted, “I had traffic problems and the track was muddy.” At the wire, it looked like a dead-heat between these two fillies but a second print showed that Russell Doyle's Dexter/am) was the winner by the slimmest of margins. Earl Smith had made a shrewd decision in his choice of a catch—driver for that lucrative race.

Another race that Garry would never for- get was the Dairy Queen for three-year- old fillies in Truro. He had Island Rain which he had trained and driven for his brother-in—law, Bill Hogg. She was plagued with soundness problems but she came up big by winning her elimina- tion heat and subsequently winning the championship final in a torrid 168.2. This also was a very special and mean— ingful victory for Garry MacDonald.

Speed seems to be everything in harness racing today. faster. Horses are reaching the half—mile during races in almost unbelievable

Horses are going much

times. Everybody is trying to make the tracks faster. Today the trend is to make them as straight as you can with fewer turns like the present conversion at

Mohawk or the new track at Colonial

Garry iMacifionald

Downs in West Virginia where times are almost meaningless. Garry believed that this emphasis on speed would wear hors- es out. Horses cannot last when so much is taken out of them on a regular basis. There is a bottom to everything.

Harness racing declined in the Maritimes since the untimely closure of Sackville Downs outside of the Halifax—Dartmouth area. Garry believed that may have been the beginning of the end of live racing in the Maritimes. Everything went downhill because a major link in the chain was missing. The only way that it will ever work again is to have a major track in the Halifax—Dartmouth area where the neces— sary large population base is located. We need that base to keep our best horses from being exported each year to the larger centers. Garry was cautiously opti- mistic because of developments like the involvement of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation and sirnulcasting from tracks in and outside of the Maritimes.

This resident from Mt. Albion did not favor or support some of the more recent innovations in harness racing like passing lanes. staggered gates and unorthodox distances for a race. He felt too many changes would take the handicapping out of the betting and that would be a tragedy for the industry. In addition, he didn't want to see the driving taken out of racing, otheiwise he felt the horses might just as well be loose like dogs in dog races.

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