Kawartha’s down-home charm still shining bright in 52nd season

by Matthew Lomon

What’s Kawartha Downs’ secret for churning out impressive attendance numbers year after year?

As Jim Huck, the Fraserville, ON, oval’s general manager noted, the simple-yet-effective formula involves going above and beyond to ensure each guest’s next visit is more exciting than their last.

“We have a strong following here at Kawartha Downs,” Huck said, while also highlighting the steady presence of horseplayers both at the track and at home. “It’s our 52nd year of racing. All in all, it’s been a good year.”

The five-eighths mile raceway officially kicked off its 2024 campaign with a 10-race card on Friday (May 17).

Shifting race days from Saturdays to Fridays was a move Huck, who assumed the GM role in August of 2021, viewed as an opportunity to maximize the multi-purpose event space’s busy summer schedule.

“The reason for that is to free up the weekends for any events that we want to have, such as monster trucks, tractor pulls, concerts, or anything that would tie up our weekend,” he said. “With horse racing, as you can imagine, you can’t have monster trucks and horse racing on the same day. It’s just not feasible. So, we decided to move in this direction, and I pushed for it, and so far, Fridays have been a success. We’re really enjoying it.”

Clearing the runway for Kawartha’s live harness product to take center stage is already starting to pay dividends in the attendance category, even before the summer reaches full swing.

“We think it was a good decision to race on Friday,” Huck said. “Our attendance is strong now, but it’s beginning to grow a lot more now that summer is kicking in. Once the kids are out of school, the place will be jam-packed.”

Situated near Peterborough, an area known for lively summers, Kawartha’s offerings may sometimes conflict with other major events going on in the county.

However, Huck and Co. turned a perceived weakness into a strength.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on in Peterborough on the weekends, and that’s one of the things that has really helped this year,” Huck said. “For example, there are free concerts on Saturdays at Del Crary Park, where they bring in 3,000 or 4,000 people.

“Now, we don’t compete against that because of Friday racing, and it allows people to realize there’s something else going on. Word of mouth has gotten out that Kawartha Downs is now becoming more of an area not only to enjoy horse racing but all kinds of other activities.”

Whether it be a car show or any of the other non-harness racing days that Huck mentioned, the decision to separate these events from the on-track racing product has still given Kawartha management an avenue to introduce different breeds of fans to racing.

One of the key spectator segments that Huck’s team hopes Kawartha’s appeal will resonate with is families.

“We’ve always emphasized doing whatever we can, say for a couple that has two young kids, 5, 6 years old, to bring them to the track,” Huck said. “It’s pretty inexpensive entertainment when you only have to buy a program at $2.50 — there’s no parking fee, no admission — where can a young family go for next to nothing and be entertained?”

It appears Huck’s palpable passion for the sport has already begun to rhyme with this key demographic.

“We get a lot of kids coming out as is and have a lot of things planned for the summer,” he said. “Aug. 2 is Kids Night at the Downs; there’s face painting, a clown, and balloon animals.”

These small, but considerate gestures have gone a long way in shaping Kawartha’s reputation as a family-friendly venue.

There’s plenty else for racing fans to look forward to over the next few months, particularly on July 19.

The day’s on-track festivities will include a double feature of Ontario Sires Stakes events for 2-year-old pacing fillies.

Off the track, fans can (safely) test their driving skills through a simulated reality racing experience.

“The Bill Galvin Racing Alliance will be here that day, as well,” Huck said. “Their team brings a race bike and hooks it up to a virtual reality headset for you to put on as if you’re driving the horse.”

Theme nights aside, Huck said there’s a reason worth coming out for on all 18 race dates this season.

Trivia nights, prizes for non-winning wagering slips, live local music, photos with the equine athletes, tours of the backstretch, and wiener dog races are all on the docket this summer at Kawartha Downs.

During their visits to 1382 County Rd 28, Huck hopes fans will also find a moment to appreciate the high-quality live racing product before them.

Huck specifically shined a light on local legends Reg Gassien, brothers Doug and Carman Hie, and Murray Samons, who all participated on opening day.

Between them, the quartet has accumulated over 11,000 driving wins leading to nearly $55 million in purse earnings.

It was a special moment for Huck, who got to see some of the living legends he grew up watching and working alongside, compete against some of the sport’s up-and-comers.

The lifelong horseman, and former owner, got his start in the standardbred industry working under Doug Hie as a teenager. He’s also maintained a fond admiration for Gassien, as new names begin to take center stage at Kawartha.

“You can’t beat experience,” Huck said. “There are a lot of horsemen that have been driving at Kawartha for a long time. You see how some of the younger drivers look at these guys, especially Reg Gassien. He’s in his 70s and he’s still at the track, still one of the top guys. I tell him ‘You’re like wine Reg, you just keep getting better and better.’”

There are also stars-on-the-rise and established names who have uncorked their own success at Kawartha.

“Samuel Fillion, he was our leading driver last year,” Huck said. “There’s a young trainer named Thomas Riley, Samuel drives all of his horses. Tommy’s having a phenomenal year so far, he’s just a dominant trainer. Jimmy Gagnon, from out Rideau way, he’s now coming down. A lot of established horse people got their feet wet at Kawartha Downs. [Champion driver] James McDonald raced here early in his career, Jonathan Drury [closing in on 2,000 driving wins], too.

“We can say, ‘Hey, these big-name competitors got themselves going here.’ You see the young guys like Samuel, who’s a real up-and-comer, I see him making his way up through the circuit. Once you start getting well known and someone picks you up to drive more, off you go.”

Huck’s hope for those who compete on the racetrack and those who come for a night of racing is the same, that everyone feels right at home at Kawartha Downs.