Century Downs Racetrack Readies for World Professional Chuckwagon Association Finals

Century Downs Racetrack is about to be the proud host of the World Professional Chuckwagon Association finals starting on August 21 and spanning to August 25. This year horse safety is the center of attention, in the light of the recent unfortunate events at the Calgary Stampede when six racing horses lost their lives. Recommendations on improving future chuckwagon races would be issued soon and the Calgary racetrack.

For many years now, a stigma has been attached to chuckwagon races as they have been associated with a high number of horse deaths. Since 1986, more than a hundred horses have lost their lives in rodeo and the aforementioned races have been associated with the unfortunate events surrounding them. This year will go down in history with the second deadliest Calgary Stampede race that ended the career and life of six horses over ten days.

Racetrack Improves Safety Measures

Unfortunately, horses are not the only ones losing their lives during the Calgary Stampede in its decades of history. Since 1986, two devoted horse people passed away because of head injuries – outrider Eugene Jackson in 1996 and wagon driver Bill McEwen in 1999. Century Downs is willing to work towards improving the safety measures implemented on site of the racetrack during the upcoming races.

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General manager Paul Ryneveld recently pointed out that the finals are projected to introduce strict measures and prevent unfortunate events from happening. In order to achieve this goal, the racetrack is carefully observing everything happening in the past few weeks. The ongoing review of the Calgary Stampede offers useful information about the shortcomings and how they could be prevented in the future.

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After the race, chuckwagon driver Chad Harden saw a CA$10,000 fine and a complete ban from participating in the Calgary Stampede from here on out. This was caused by the incident that occurred between his rig and Danny Ringuette’s one. September would bring him the opportunity to fight for his right to participate in the race.

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Century Downs Racetrack is about to host the finals for the first time and any piece of advice is especially valuable at this point. Mr. Ryneveld confirmed that ever since October 2018 conversation about safety measures improvement and making chuckwagon races safer has been in progress.

The final taking place next month would aim to prevent unfortunate event both among the racing horses and among horse people involved in the event. For the time being, the real impact of the Calgary Stampede is hard to be estimated. The only way horse people could gauge the current situation would be via ticket sales for the inaugural championship.

What should be taken into account is that this first edition comes with a cash prize reaching CA$100,000, making it an even more appealing racing congregation. Century Downs Racetrack is also going to transform this fall into a tribal celebration, as it would host the Canadian Indian Relay Racing Association championship with Thoroughbred horses. The purse for this race would reach CA$58,000.