The Agony and the Ecstasy of Horseracing
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KEN McMANUS
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By CATHOLINE BUTLER
EDMONTON - Ken McManus of Edmonton loves to race thoroughbred horses. He was born and raised on a farm in an area known as "the McBride settlement," which is in the St. Paul area of Alberta.
He spoke to The Celtic Connection recently and said, "I have been going to race tracks for the past 51 years, it's more than just about racing, it's also a social place as most of my friends are at the track. For me Northlands Race Track in Edmonton is holy ground.
"The thing about the racetrack is that there are all kinds of people, you can find a multi- millionaire standing alongside someone who doesn't know where his next meal is coming from. Race or religion mean nothing at the race track."
Both Ken's parents were born in Northern Ireland and they emigrated to Canada in 1927. His passion for horses developed while watching his father, who was an excellent horseman, as he worked around the horses.
Thoroughbred horse racing isn't all about the exhilarating adrenalin rush when the horses surge out of the starting gate, there is another darker side which can be filled with tears and heartbreak.
The sorrow is not only if your horse doesn't win, Ken has learned there is always the danger of actually losing your horse in the practice known as "claiming races."
He described the different types of races to a greenhorn like myself, explaining the difference between "claiming races" and "stake races."
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FATHER JONES is shown above coming in first in a race at Northlands Park in Edmonton last September.
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"Parity is important when the horses are running," he said. In other words there must be equality. The horses competing must be evenly matched. You can't have a stakes horse racing against a claims horse as the purses are different.
"When horses run at the stakes, you can't claim that horse," explains Ken. "One of my horses, Father Jones, who is in training in Calgary runs at that level and he can't be claimed.
"If you have 1,200 horses at the race track, there might only be 40 to 50 horses in the stakes group. Claiming races are the norm and on a racing day it might be all claiming races with just one stakes race a week. Purses for the stakes race are around $50,000."
Before the claiming races forms are filled out by anyone interested in a horse and put in a claim box, which is something like a certified cheque. The result is that even if a horse wins in that race, the owner can lose his or her horse.
Ken lost one of his horses called Tantoo in one of those races, and he still speaks with sorrow about the loss of his beloved horse. Another treasured horse that he lost in the same manner was Griffin's Wake. He was named after his deceased friend Kevin Griffin, a well-known sportsman and a valued member of the Edmonton Irish community.
"The bottom line is that you have to know where your horse is competitive" said Ken. "You have to know where your horse can win and that you're not going to lose it on a claim, and that's a very fine line.
"I've seen grown men and women break down and cry, especially ladies who have lost their horse in a claiming race. It's very hard to lose a horse that you may have had for a couple of years and then watch someone else lead it away after the race.
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GRIFFIN'S WAKE is shown above in a 2004 race at Northlands Park in Edmonton.
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"That's the tough part, the heartbreak side of the racing business. I call it 'involuntary selling'. What you have to do is get a good horse that will stay up the stakes category and not in the claiming. In the horse racing business it's quality not quantity that counts."
McManus knows very well about quality and he doesn't raise thoroughbreds himself, but rather goes to Kentucky to purchase his racehorses.
Ken is also proud of his Irish heritage and when Ken isn't at the track he can be found at the Edmonton Irish Club where he has served for many years as treasurer and member- at-large with the Irish Sports and Social Society Edmonton.
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