Cal Expo Harness Racing

                   Went for a walk in a grass field nearby with my two buddies and met a guy walking his horse who liked my dogs. I complimented  his horse "Goose" and then laughed while "Goose" continued to grab John Walker's jacket and throw it on the ground. (That's his name, Johnny Walker, how cool!)Then Goose would grab Johns sweater and do the same thing, over and over again. This horse was the epitome of our typical teenagers of today...very feisty.

I gathered Johnny Walker was "Goose's" trainer, he talked about Goose "breaking" the last two races and he would ride him in the upcoming one. Johnny Walker also invited Donna and I to come to the race on Friday night and he would put us in the start car.

             Being that this was our first time at a harness race we found the betting crowd to be a grade or two below poker players...don't tell Johnny I said that, but it's true. Riding in the start car was awesome, Donna got the premium seat looking back on the horses as she shot the video of the whole race. Unfortunaly, I am having trouble uploading the vidoe so until such time I learn to upload the stills will have to do.

These horses are beautiful and powerful but very different from horse racing thoroughbreds. They are bred because of their trotting ability which requires longer bodies and shorter legs. In a harness race a "break" means a horse broke out of the trot to a full stride and that immediately disqualifies the horse from that race.

On a sad note..while Goose did not break, he did end up 5th out of the six horses in the race but I still love him.