by Frank Salive, for Western Fair Raceway

London, ON — When 5-year-old pacer Buckcorn turns to the starting gate on the Tuesday afternoon program of November 18 at Western Fair, there’s a strong possibility another inspiring winning chapter will be written for 62-year-old Jeffrey Bryan.

The beef cattle and cash crop farmer from the village of Granton, just north of London, refers to his prized homebred pacer simply as “Buck.”

“I can truthfully say I’ve waited most of my life, for close to 50 years, to have a horse like this,” Bryan says. “I was barely a teenager when I started going to Western Fair with my dad, Claire, when the track first opened in 1961. He had one of the first track record holders back then, her name was Dusty Lightning. It’s been a long, long wait for a time like this.”

On Tuesday, Buckcorn will start from post six in Western Fair’s fifth race. He’s won 10 of 11 starts to date and the Rambaran-Cryan gelding has banked over C$35,000 along the way.

Bryan was asked to explain the reasons that Buckcorn didn’t get to the races until he was five years old.

“For a long time I referred to him with the nickname of ‘two weeks’ instead of ‘Buck’ because he’d train down really well and then develop a problem or setback that pushed him back another two weeks from starting,” Bryan says. “The first time we started him at the end of June he made a break. Finally in July (driver) Alex Lilley stepped forward to help me get him qualified at Sarnia and you could see his attitude change. Up until then he was a like a six-foot-six kid at a young age. You knew eventually he’d make it to the NBA someday. Well ‘Buck’ finally made it and I could just tell that day in July at qualifying, with how he held his head and his ears perked up, that his attitude had changed and he was finally set to go. Some of the other local guys with opinions I really trust, like Chuck Windsor and Andy Hardy, saw him change too and they agreed he was looking like a really nice horse.”

In addition to the memories of his very early teens, dating to the start of extended pari-mutuel meets at Western Fair, Jeffrey also has vivid memories of the impact his father had on the careers of three well known Ontario horsemen.

“The village of Granton might not look like much when you pass through it but we’ve had our share of good people in the harness racing game come from here,” Jeffrey recalls. “I have clear memories of my Dad helping out Kevin Wallis and Don Beatson from here in Granton when they were just starting out. And when John Sullivan came to Ontario from PEI my Dad gave him a job and helped him get on his way too.”

Heading into Tuesday’s race Buckcorn is carrying a ten race win streak which Jeffrey acknowledges could end at any time.

“It’s been great to see him winning his way up through the ranks and it looks like this week will be his toughest challenge to date. Two horses starting inside, P J Lucky and Forpurposeintended both took lifetime marks recently. I hear he’s become quite a celebrity over in the nearby towns of Mitchell and St. Mary’s where word about him spread and they distributed pictures of him in the senior’s homes and he’ll have a lot of folks hoping he can run the win streak up to 11 on Tuesday. Really though, I guess people are generally glad to hear about a small village farmer waiting almost 50 years to have a good horse come his way and finally enjoying the ride more than ever.”

Womens’ Sport Fundraiser

Avid local Standardbred owner Terry Hudson of Strathroy spearheaded another hugely successful fundraiser at Western Fair on November 14 for the Canadian Women’s 7’s Rugby Team which trains from a home base at London’s University of Western Ontario.

Hudson, who races under the stable name of Danterra Standardbreds, amassed a huge collection of silent auction items which this year included signed hats from Ray Schnittker and Paul MacDonnell for the sport’s leading 2008 3-year-olds Deweycheatumnhowe and Somebeachsomewhere.

The fundraiser served to introduce many of the team’s members and entourage to an evening of racing for the first time and the fundraising total is expected to come in close to C$15,000 for a second straight year.

Through December, post time at Western Fair each Monday and Tuesday afternoon is 3:05 p.m. (EST) with Friday and Saturday evening post time at 7:05 p.m.