Gary BANNERMAN

. open Hines ¢:

ONE OF Canada’ s sport superstars, along with his wife of
almost 20 years, recently walked anonymously through the
arriving multitudes at Vancouver Airport’s international
arrivals level. He was recognized by no one and few would
have known the name: Michel Lachance.

At 39, his competitive earnings
this year have surpassed $7 mil-
lion, and one of his astonishing
achievements last spring went into
the Guinaess Book of World Re-
cords.

Michel who?

The Montreal native is one of
the finest harness racing drivers
who has ever entered competition.
He, along with fellow Quebecer
— hyperactive and dominantly
successful at age SO — Herve
Filion, the late legendary Joe
O’Brien and currently active Bill
O’ Donnell of Prince Edward
Island, and the accomplished
Waples family of Ontario, stand
on Gretzky-like pedestals among
those who race the standardbreds.

Lachance has won 5,700 races
and $46 million in a career which is
just now reaching its prime.

No Canadian thoroughbred
jockey — not even adopted son the
late Avalino Gomez of Toronto —
has ever come close to the giant
footprints these harness drivers
have placed upon the racetracks of
North America.

Michel Lachance was on the
west coast for a routine day’s work
as the guest of James Keeling Jr.,
general manager of Cloverdale
Raceway. As he worked 11 races
Dec. 16, his wife sat in the
clubhouse with the guests of
honor, Vancouver Mayer Gordon
Campbell and his wife Nancy.
Despite total unfamiliarity with the
horses and the track, and heavy
fog during the first half of the
card, Lachance counted three
wins, and a respectable number of
seconds and thirds.

Three of his drives were clear
favorites, but the others required
work and skill.

Mayor Campbell was on hand to
present the trophy at one of the
year’s major stakes races, the
“*Mr. Vancouver.’’ Lachance’s
horse was not in the class of the
winner, Bradner Gallant, a four-
year-old gelding owned, trained

and driven by British Columbia’s
best: Joe Hudon. Most observers
believe Hudon could compete
favorably with the famous drivers
of the sport. This day, he was able
to do it on his home track.

But, when New Year's Eve rolls
around, Michel Lachance, his
wife, and three teen-aged children
will have much to reflect upon. He
has been the regular driver of the
greatest horse alive today, Matt’s
Scooter, and together they won the
rich Breeder’s Crown champion-
ship.

On another occasion they
achieved the fastest time ever re-
corded, 1:48.2. This year he won
his sport’s Kentucky Derby, the
Little Brown Jug, behind three-
year-old Goalie Jeff. One of these
will be chosen ‘‘horse of the year’
for 1989,

l asked Lachance what keeps
him going at such a gruelling pace.
He replied that he is taking it easi-
er these days: he only raced 2,500
times in 1989. Apparently, he used
to average 3,500, sometimes being
picked up at a racetrack parking
lot by helicopter after an afternoon
card, to be flown elsewhere for a
dozen races under the lights.

“I love it,’’ he said. ‘And it’s
really all I know how to do.”’

“But I miss Canada. It’s so dif-
ferent. Cleaner ... less tense.”’

He plans to sell his Long Island
house. The heart is pulling him
back toward Montreal, but it may
be more practical to move to New
Jersey, nearer the Meadowlands,
where much of his work is focus-
ed.

anak

Harness racing is enigmatic.

This marvelious word implies
import, puzzlement, charm and
even a little intrigue. It is
predominantly used in a positive
context, and usually in personality
profiles.

Yet the quiet, almost unnoticed
power of harness racing — fre-
quently surpassing the more

publicized thoroughbreds — is dif-
ficult to explain. The sport of
kings has a midget bouncing on a
horse. The sport of everyman re-
quires intelligence and strength
from a tactician in a sully.

The reason the harness industry
has a lower profile is not measured
in dollars. The key executives in
the business are simply not skilled
at public relations. Country people
at heart — if not in fact — they
don’t like the phoniness sports
promotion seems to require.

hen

The comparison is more com-
plex in British Columbia. From a
standing start in 1975, the Keelings
— father and son — built Clover-
dale and Sandown raceways. There
are now at least 2,500 horses
dependent upon the two tracks.
But they built in an area where
neither tradition nor nearby tracks
could assist. Their fans had to be
educated one at a time.

The thriving enterprise, 15 years
later, is now just less than half the
size of the B.C. Jockey Club
operation at Exhibition Park.

The sport is steadily gaining
prominence. This year, a parade of
dignitaries have been making pres-
entations at Cloverdale.

Jim Keeling Jr., a lav'yer, does
not view himself in competition
with the thoroughbreds, but he has
made it clear to the authorities,
that if Exhibition Park were to
become available after a new track
is built, his group would consider
moving. With a substantial in-
vestment in facilities, the locale
could feature as fine a harness rac-
ing venue as exists anywhere.

If the move doesn’t take piace,
substantial investment will be
made at Cloverdale.

awe

As a final word this week, my
partner, co-author, artist and wife
Patricia, and I want to wish all of
our North Shore neighbors the
warmest regards for the holiday
season. For those of you .
celebrating Christmas, or other
religious events, we depart with
Jean Jacques Rousseau’s question:

“What wisdom can you find that
is greater than kindness?"’®

9 — Sunday, December 24, 1989 — North Shore News
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