Dresden, ON — The third annual Mark Austin Pacing Series at Dresden Raceway is open for nominations.

The series will be a late closer for maiden pacers who are non-winners of one pari-mutuel race or C$5,000 lifetime (fillies C$6,000 lifetime) as of May 1, 2019, with no allowances.

Nominations must be received no later than May 15, 2019. Send nominations to Woodbine Entertainment, Attention Kim Neelands, 9430 Guelph Line, P.O. Box 160, Campbelleville, Ontario, L0P 1B0. For more information call Woodbine at 888.675.7223, ext. 4306.

Each division will race for a C$5,000 purse in the eliminations June 16 and June 23 with the final set to go on July 1 for C$12,000 added.

Mark Austin was a trainer who hailed from Chatham, Ontario, and got his start at Dresden Raceway in the early 1980s training for owners such as Graham Chambers. In 1988 his reputation of being great with young horses caught up with him as he was asked to break a yearling trotter named A Worthy Lad for Joe Johnston. A Worthy Lad never lost a race in North America.

Austin then moved his stable closer to Windsor and worked with Jack Darling during the 1990s when Darling Stables produced champions like Northern Luck and Gothic Dream.

When Windsor Raceway started to stumble Austin moved his operation to Fergus where horses like Spark Mark and Fool Me Once headlined his stable.

Austin died suddenly in 2014 and had a career average of .345 and more than C$9 million in earned purses thanks to 837 wins.

Austin wasn’t only a top notch trainer he was also a favorite around the track as he was described as a true gentleman and was one of the nicest guys in the business.

Austin was married to Julie, with two daughters, Paige and Paula.