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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-08-22, Page 14UFK t �V�+J✓l�Y� Pale 14 l acknow Sentinel, Wednesday, August 22, 1979 :dµ r:efj.rs harness racing to Only three per cent of the harness horse owners in Ontario are into harness racing as a business. Ken Houston, Kinloss, has made his love of horses his business. Raised on a farm, he bought his first horse in 1970 and started driving the following year. He chose' harness racing as his business five years ago rather than go into beef farming and hb has no regrets. He says he couldn't go back to farming. He couldn't bear to stay on the farmall year round. When he was racing Napal Dew, he clocked over 30,000 miles travelling to Sudbury, Kingston and Windsor. Napal Dew was a foal of his best brood mare, Black Mist, born in 1972. With a time of 1:57 he has made over $400,000 in his racing career. Ken sold him in 1975 because there was no competition in the circuit and arming Ken did not wish to go farther afield to continue racing him. Napal Dew's shoes are on a plaque hanging on the wall in Ken's dining room alongside his brother, Napal Hal's shoes and his .time of 2:03. "Some people ° keep their children's shoes," laughs Ken, "we keep our horses shoes." Ken is racing Lancer Fella this summer and plans to take him to Windsor to race un- til Christmas. Lancer Fella will get a month's holiday now before going to Windsor, because Ken doesn't want to race him too hard. He wants to get him sound up so he's better when he's older. Napal Dew was not trained as a two year old. He was trained at three which Ken believes is part of the reason he is racing better now at seven years old. "He was never burned out as colt," says Ken. Sports Event, a two year old filly,il Ken's new pride. He purchased her at Lexington Yearling Sales in Kentucky with his father- in-law, Stewart Farrel, ,who is co-owner of. the filly. He is training the filly to race her in Windsor this fall. He trains his'aged-horses on. his 100 acre farm in Kinloss where he has a track, He trains his young horses on a better track at a neighbour's farm nearby or in.Teeswater. Black Mist, his best brood mare,was bred in Kentucky earlier this 'summer and is `in. foal. She is a good producing mare. and Ken hopes to have this foal and another from her before she retires. The winters are hard here and in Kentucky the horses can be on grass two months longer a year, so Ken may leave her down there next year when he takes her to be bred. There are 14 horse at Houston Stables at the present time; five brood mares, three weanings, two yearlings, two two -year-olds and two aged horses. Ken sees his breeding stock: as' his future in the business,. The tracks, especially Toronto9are becoming more competitive and with the price of gasoline, travelling is too expensive. He wants to develop a.good line of producing mares. :.... . He also wants to go to Vancouver torace for a winter before his daughters, Amy and Angela,are in school, so his wife, Joy,and the girls can go with. him. Ken is a director of the Ontario Harness Horse Association which helps him keep abreast of the problems in the business before they start to affect area tracks. The group organized the strike at the Hanover track to lobby for better purses. Ken's fireplace is lined with trophies and he has a chest of blankets won by his -horses. Blankets are similar to trophies in the business. Napal Dew won 10 blankets in his best year at Houston Stables. Ken's racing career has .been unusual because he had his good luck in the first couple of years with Napal Dew and now he is having what he calls "average racing luck'. He .looks at the cost of machinery and the capital investment required to farm' and thinks he's, better off .in the racing business. "Everything in farming is mechanized toylay," he says, `but the only thing mechanized out in my barn is me." Lancer Fella hasa bath, following his morning 'exercise on the track at Ken's farm. Todd McGlyne, Teeswater, washes down Lancer Fella while Ken watches. ALSO 1 x 4 Hemlock Strapping Spiral Lead Head Nails Ardox Nails 8 ft. Ribbed Plastic Shoats ST. LAWRENCE CEMENT PORTLAND AND MASONRY IN STOCK Ken's Dew pride in his stable is his filly, Sports Event, which he purchased at the Lexington Yearling Sales In Kentueky. It takes five to„ six months to train a horbe for racing and Ken plans to take the filly to Windsor to race this fall. ilfith Ken is his daughter, Amy.