Grand River Raceway will host the 2018 National Driving Championship on Sept. 26.
It is a one-day event where top harness racing drivers from across the country will compete for the opportunity to represent Canada next year at the World Championship.
Organizers expect to grab the attention of Canada’s horseracing community and put Centre Wellington on the map.
“All eyes will be on Grand River Raceway to find out who represents Canada in Sweden in 2019. It’s a pretty big honor,” said Kelly Spencer, the raceway’s marketing manager.
“Hopefully the drivers have great experiences here and take those stories back to the places where they live across Canada.”
Grand River Raceway has played host to a number of regional championships in the past, the most recent of which was in 2016. Hosting the nationals, however, will be a step up from that.
The main focus of the preparations has been on setting up the broadcast.
“We live stream our races so for people who can’t actually attend then it’s like watching a live Sports broadcast,” explained Spencer.
Two of the broadcasting chairs will be filled by past world driving championship drivers: Jody Jamieson, who has won the world driving championship twice, and James MacDonald, winner of the championships last year.
The winner of the national on Sept. 26 will join MacDonald in the 2019 World Driving Championship in Sweden next year.
Community events
According to Spencer, the raceway is busy adding the final touches to a community event taking place the day before the races on Sep. 25.
Eight children from the Wellington branch of Big Brothers Big Sisters and their brother or sister will get the chance to learn how to drive a racehorse, and race around the track with all of the drivers from the national championship.
In planning all of the events, Grand River Raceway has worked closely with Standardbred Canada, the chief non-profit organization in charge of promoting harness racing in the country.
When choosing Grand River Raceway as host, Standardbred Canada considered the size of the county’s horse-riding community.
“It’s central that’s one thing,” says Spencer. “This area, Centre Wellington and Wellington County, are one of the biggest areas for horseracing in Canada in terms of how many racetracks there are and how many horses there are and how many horse farms there are, so it’s a nice central location.”
President and CEO of Standardbred Canada, Dan Gall said in an interview posted on the raceway website that the organization expects the raceway to deliver a great event.
“We are looking forward to working with the team at Grand River Raceway to deliver an exceptional National Driving Championship experience for both the drivers and the fans,” said Gall.
The National Championship starts at 6:30pm on Sept. 26.
