September 8th, 1987 - A Chronicle of Past Glories at Border Town Oval. Amherst Raceway - One Of The First In N.S. The town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, was named after Jefferey Amherst (1717 - 1797), leader of the successful Louisbourg expedition in 1758 and the ultimate conqueror of Canada in the Seven Years War......
October 27th, 1987 - A Mini History Of Truro Raceway. October 6th, 1875 - Grand opening of the Truro Driving Park with J.C. Mahon as first race secretary. September 26th, 1877 - Frank Allison driven by A. Slipp, sets a trotting record of 2:36 and captures hirstoric nine-heat duel that features two heats....
July 3rd, 1990 - Time Table - First Monctonian Winner. The Quebec Invader of 1947. Time Table - a multiple track record holder, winner of the first Monctonian, five-mile winner, successful sire, winner of 104 heats and co-world record holder, was a model of consistency......
January 6th, 1995 - Blue Acres Set New Standards During Short, Spectacular History....It was 1946, the Second World War was finally over and all Atlantic Canadians like everyone else were trying to put their lives back in some sort of order.......
February 7th, 1996 - Maritime Free For All Champ Frank Patch Enjoyed Success on the Grand Circuit. From Indiana to Halifax to the Grand Circuit and back, Frank Patch (2:06 1/4) electrified his loyal fans from 1989 to 1918......
February 21st, 1996 - Achille - Our First Trot-Bred Stallion. The first standardbred trotting sire to stand in stud at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College was the bay trotter Achille.....
April 2nd, 1997 - Josie The Great and Johnny Conroy Blazed The Way Into Maritime Record Books With 2:06 1/2 Win. As early as 1896 the Maritime Provinces had by its' limited breeding program almost produces a 2:10 pacing mare!......
April 23rd, 1997 - Chesley H. Searcy, The Fredericton Club Horse, Proved An Able Rival For John R. Braden. The Mooseleuk Driving Club of Presque Isle, Maine, purchased the legendary John R Braden, 2:02 3/4, a Tennessee - bred pacing stallion in 1921......
July 30th, 1997 - PEI's First Sub 2:10 Trot Mile Turned In By Heatherbell and Col. Dan MacKinnon. The first Maritime 2:10 trot mile in a race took place at Chatham, New Brunswick in 1919. "The Exposer", a trotting son (he was later gelded) of The Exponent has that honor......
May 13th, 1998 - First To Beat 2:10 In Nova Scotia. He was an old castoff from The Grand Circuit where he had raced brilliantly against some of the best paces in the world for three years. He only had one start in Nova Scotia that went three heats. One of those heats would produce the first mile under 2:10 in a race on a half mile oval in Nova Scotia. His name was Tarzan Grattan......
May 20th, 1998 - Star-Studded Career, 163 Official Wins. The amazing story about a trotter that raced until he was 18. He set two provincial trotting records for Nova Scotia when at 16 years of age; and 7 individual track records also at the same age......
May 27th, 1998 - The First Maritime Bred Trotting Mare To Beat 2:10 In Atlantic Canada. "The Charlottetown Express". The first Maritime bred trotting mare to ever beat 2:10 in a race in Atlantic Canada, Millie Kalmuck......
June 10th, 1998 - Hollyrood Lee's Name In History Book As First Trotter To Smash 2:10 In Nova Scotia. This story is about an American-bred trotter who became the first trotter to break the 2:10 speed barrier in Nova Scotia......
February 2nd, 2000 - Maritime-Bred Mare Hilda S Sets Records At At Least A Dozen Maritime Racetracks. Hilda S, a black pacing daughter of Commodore Ledyard, was a foal of 1905. Her dam was Lady Hilda by All Right and according to official Wallace Year Book records, her breeder was Alfred A. S. Sweet of Southport, PEI......
November 29th, 2000 - Andy's Son: A Stallion A Decade Ahead Of His Time. Our first 2:00 pacer in Atlantic Canada. This short story is respectively dedicated to the memory of the late Eric Whebby, who passed away at the age of 86......
April 24th, 2001 - Saskatchewan's Mystery Mare. Who was this mysterious mare that came out of Saskatchewan and "carried the brand mark of the Canadian Prairies on her right front shoulder?". In spite of uncertain pedigree and age, she would register over 112 wins, a dozen or more pacing records and a world record at Fredericton, New Brunswick......
May 23rd, 2001 - Abbeland - The Chatham Ironhorse. Abbeland, 2:07 2/5h, was a bay pacing son of Bert Abbe, 1:59, out of the good mare Peggy Jane by Highland Scott, 1:59. He began his racing career as a two-year-old in 1948 at Collinsville, Illinois, on June 9th, in a $3000 freshman test......
November 7th, 2001 - John R Braden's Brilliant Career Earns Iron Horse Spot In Canadian Hall Of Fame. John R Braden, 2:02 3/4, came right out of the hills of Tennessee where for several years he had done the menial but necessary work of a farm horse, being used to plow, harrow, and pull a farm wagon among other things......
December 5th, 2001 - Island Native's Work Recognized. Leslie MacLeod was a brilliant turf writer, a pioneer turf historian, a standardbred pedigree expert, associate editor of "The Wallace Monthly", "The Trotter and Pacer".................
Year End 1989 - Literally dozens of small matinee racetracks came and went and passed into history in the "Kentucky of Canada", as the tiny pastorial province of Prince Edward Island is sometimes called..........
Year End 1993 - Conflicting Dates For Track Openings. In doing research on the age of racetracks it is sometimes difficult establishing opening and closing dates. Many papers are missing from various archives and people don't always agree on the term "opening date".......
Year End 1995 - The Riverside Track Attracted 2,500 To Its Opening Card. When one mentions the "Cathedral Town" of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, many thoughts flash into your mind: home of the West River Stock Farm and its founder, the late and legendary Ed Haley and his daughter Clare MacDonald and her numerous Maritime track records......
Year End 1999 - Remembering 100 Years At Sydney. Her record at Sydney stood the test of time for 23 years. Her pacing record for an aged mare lasted 25 years at the Steel City oval. Simassie is the only female equine to ever hold the all ages pacing standard at Sydney in the last 94 years!......
Year End 2000 - The Saga Of Lambert Todd, 2:02 1/4. This story, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Truro Raceway, is dedicated to Carl MacKenzie of Bible Hill, N.S....
Year End 2001 - Happy L - Saint John's First 2:10 Pacer. August 30th, 2001 has come and gone and is now part of history. On that same date 130 years ago the Moosepath Trotting Park opened in the old Loyalist city of Saint John, N.B. It has undergone many name changes over the past 130 years and was even completely rebuilt and turned around in its physical location in 1948. It is still however the same historic half mile oval we now call Exhibition Park Raceway.....
