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Thursday, 05 August 2021 10:55

BUSY MONTH OF AUGUST AT EVERGREEN

The Horses At Evergreen Park continue every Saturday and Sunday during the month of August with 1:15 p.m. first posts.

Every weekend there are featured races highlighted by the Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association Stakes on Sunday, August 22 and Mr. Mike’s Paint The Park Purple – Race For the Cure on Sunday, August 29 to wrap up the racing season.

August 22 is also Dino Derby Day. Dinosaurs will be trying to outrace extinction on the J.D.A. Track looking to be Fast, Faster or Fastest.Paint The Park Purple is a fundraiser for the fight against pancreatic cancer. Mascot Mania will be part of the day as local mascots compete against each other and for the public’s attention.

Grande Sunset Theatre outdoor movies continue Saturdays during August. On the 14th there is a special movie night. The movie Jurassic Park will be shown and proceeds will go toward PARDS, STARS, Cystic Fibrosis Canada and The Salvation Army. You can purchase tickets for that fundraiser here.

The Co-op Community Disc Golf Course is one of three being used for the Alberta Disc Golf Championship on August 14-15. Visit the local association page here for details.

A Livestock Music Festival was scheduled for the 20-21 but was cancelled because of COVID concerns.

The award-winning Alberta Food & Beverage Expo is back!

It goes Saturday, August 28 from 4-10 p.m. in Evaskevich Hall in the TARA Centre. Tickets are available at Moxie’s Bar & Grill, Royal Spirts Liquor Store (Southgate) and at the Evergreen Park admin offices in the TARA Centre.

Anyone attending, or organizing, an event at Evergreen Park is eligible for the special Evergreen Park discount at the Evergreen Park Preferred Accommodations - Holloway Lodging. Grande Prairie hotels included are the Best Western, Holiday Inn, Quality Inn and Super 8.

You can order online here or advise when calling to book you are taking part in an event at Evergreen Park.

The Horses At Evergreen Park go Saturdays and Sundays with a 1:15 p.m. post time. There were to be races Friday, July 23 and 30, but those have been cancelled.

Feature events in August include Bacon Fest on Sunday the 8th; the GPRTA Stakes and Dino Derby on Sunday, August 22 and Mr. Mike's Paint The Park Purple - Race For The Cure on Sunday, August 29 to wrap up the season.

There is no admission fee to watch the races. There is a beverage tent available on lots of room for social distancing and two smoking areas. The MNP Pony Express Mobile Concession is located at the north end of the grandstand.

Wild Horse Casino & Lounge (10 a.m. - a.m.) and the Pines Family Restaurant (10 a.m. - 8 p.m.) are part of the racing complex, which also includes the MNP Concourse where betting stations are located.

Fans have the option of betting in person at the betting stations or doing so online through HPIBet or ExpressBet.

Holloway Lodging Corporation is now the preferred hospitality provider for Evergreen Park.

Holloway and Evergreen Park signed an agreement recently that will begin, what both feel, will be a great partnership moving forward.

“Evergreen Park is excited to announce its partnership with Holloway Lodging Corp, as its preferred hotel (hospitality) provider,” said Evergreen Park General Manager Dan Gorman. “Holloway Lodging Corp has four very well-known and respected Grande Prairie hotel properties that will serve well the many visitors who attend Evergreen Park’s year-round events and activities.”

Evergreen Park visitors are being encouraged to stay at one of the four Holloway Lodging Corporation facilities in Grande Prairie – Holiday Inn & Suites, Best Western Hotel & Suites, Quality Inn & Suites and Super 8.

“Holloway Lodging Corp is extremely pleased with our long-term relationship with Evergreen Park,” said Holloway Chief Operating Officer Felix Seiler. “Our partnership with this great all-year round facility fits us perfectly and we look forward to be the preferred hospitality provider.

“Our four Grande Prairie hotels are well known for their service and great staff and we welcome all visitors to the many events and functions at Evergreen Park.”

Guests that stay at one of the four hotels will receive a discount at the Wild Horse Casino & Lounge and Pines Family Restaurant when they visit the Park.

Evergreen Park will also serve as the meeting and events venue for the Holloway hotels if their facilities are booked or not able to handle larger events that could be facilitated in the TARA Centre or other Evergreen Park buildings.

Holloway and the Park will be creating various Stay & Play promotions with the idea that visitors stay at Holloway hotels and come out to the Park to play – whether it be to watch horse racing; take a spin on the slots in the casino; hike on the Evergreen Ridge trails; take part in a baseball or archery tournament; compete in horse events through gymkhana and the local horse club; try out the community disc golf course; or take in an outdoor movie at Grande Sunset Theatre.

Anyone taking part in an event at the Park will be offered a discount at all four hotels.

Holloway Lodging Corporation is a Canadian-owned hotel company specializing in operating select and limited service hotels in secondary, tertiary and suburban markets across Canada.

Evergreen Park, under the umbrella of the Grande Prairie Regional Agricultural & Exhibition Society, is a registered charitable non-profit. The Ag Society has been a part of the Grande Prairie landscape since 1911.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Horses At Evergreen Park Stakes Schedule and the Stall Application form for 2021 have been released by Racing Manager Pat Hill.

Click HERE for the stake schedule and application form.

Racing kicks off on July 10 and some of the feature races over the summer are the Grande Prairie Sprint, ACTRA Alberta Bred Stakes, GP Distance, John Deere Juvenile Challenge, Adequan Distaff, GP Distaff, Marathon Series, Spring Series, Sales Stakes Futurity, Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association Stakes and the Mr. Mike's Steakhouse Paint The Park Purple Stakes.

JDA Raceway at Gordon Badger Stadium will be hosting 18 race days in 2021- three more than in 2020. Racing will be held on two Fridays (July 23 and 30), eight Saturdays and eight Sundays. Post time Fridays is 5:15 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 1:15 p.m.

Racing fans are asked to check the news in regards to attendance restrictions for outdoor events as those numbers could change as the summer racing season approaches. For the complete summer racing schedule click here.

Please click here to read the minutes from the horseman's conference call held on March 30.



There will not be a Foster's Peace Country Classic Agri-Show in 2021.

The 36th edition that was set for March 11 to 13 has been cancelled.

Evergreen Park general manager Dan Gorman says this is because of COVID-19.

“There’s just too much going on, still too many cases and too many restrictions, understandably so, that would really preclude us from having a significant crowd come in and also make it difficult for a lot of our vendors to come up from down south and other areas.”

He adds at this time, there is nothing planned to take its place.

“We’ll play that by ear. If any real, real small things come in, then we’ll look at that. There is still a possibility that the bull sale might go ahead in the Lewis Hawkes (Pavilion), but we’ll know about that as we get closer.”

Gorman adds planning is already underway for the 2022 edition.

The 2020 edition was cancelled after Day 1 because of the unfolding pandemic.

- by Curtis Galbraith, Everything GP

PIGEAU, STEWART & MASTER'S BLUFF ALL WINNERS

Grande Prairie’s Nellie Pigeau was the busiest trainer at The Horses At Evergreen Park at JDA Raceway this summer.

She was also the winningest.

Fifty-one times Pigeau watched horses she trains leave the gates and 13 times they won; 12 times they finished second; and 10 times they ended up third. That means 69% of the time they were a win, place or show and 25% of her starts were victories. CLICK HER FOR COMPLETE STORY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, 24 August 2020 10:55

DERBY DAY, STOJAN HORSES HIGHLIGHT

DERBY DAY AND STOJAN HORSES HIGHLIGHT WEEKEND

 There were lots of happy people at JDA Raceway at Evergreen Park on the weekend, but likely none more delighted than Don Danard, Don Knight and Chuck Stojan.

Those three were the winners of the biggest races on Days 11 and 12 of the 14-day season of The Horses At Evergreen Park. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

 

Thursday, 30 July 2020 09:09

HENSON BACK ABOVE TRACK

The hoof beats of horses aren’t the only familiar sounds at JDA Raceway at Evergreen Park this summer.
 
Wafting through the grandstand and around the Gordon Badger Stadium is the voice of veteran announcer Jeff Henson.
 
After a two-year break, Henson is back calling the races.
 
“I am very excited to be returning this summer as track announcer for The Horses at Evergreen Park,” said Henson, who was in the booth for the 2016 and 2017 seasons o pari-mutuel racing before taking that two-year hiatus.
 
Born and raised in Manitoba, Jeff moved to Grande Prairie in the summer of 2007 to become the play-by-play broadcaster of the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Grande Prairie Storm. He recently agreed to come back for a 14th season with the club in that position.
 
When not at the race track or the arena, Jeff can be heard Saturday and Sunday mornings as the weekend news anchor for both Big Country 93.1 FM and Q99 FM (98.9) in Grande Prairie.
 
“I’m looking forward to seeing many familiar faces this summer at Gordon Badger stadium,” he said.
 
And race fans, both at the track and across the world on the racing Livestream, have enjoyed his return.
 
You can hear Henson in action again every Saturday and Sunday (1:15 p.m. post) and Friday, July 31 (5:15 p.m. post) until August 23.
 
Those unable to attend in person can watch and listen through the racing Livestream. It can be found by going to www.evergreenpark.ca . Fans wanting to bet on the races from home can do so by signing up at Xpressbet.com or HPIbet.com.
 
All the races will also be shown on the screens in the Evergreen Park Casino, both live and replay, throughout the summer. There are also betting machines in the Casino – which is open 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily.
 
There is also a You Tube channel at The Horses At Evergreen Park 2020. It is free to subscribe to.
Wednesday, 22 July 2020 16:07

HORSES BACK ON TRACK

HORSE RACING, CASINO BACK

The Horses At Evergreen Park returned to JDA Raceway at Evergreen Park on the weekend

It opened with six races on Saturday and continued Sunday with seven races.

All of the races are live-streamed and betting is available online through Expressbet and HPI Bet. Click on the logo to choose the link to the betting service you prefer.

There is also a You Tube called The Horses At Evergreen Park 2020 channel where entries, results, video, stories and photos will appear updated weekly through the racing season.

The race meet continues until Sunday, August 23.

A limited number of spectators are allowed as the race meet opens. Click on the banner above to order your free tickets online for the weekend races.

Race days are  Saturdays and Sundays between July 11 with one Friday on the schedule – July 31. All of the Saturday-Sunday races will have a 1:15 p.m. first post time while the July 31 post will be 5:15 p.m.

Also, with AHS Phase 2 protocols now in place Evergreen Park will be able to offer its facilities for weddings - both outdoor and inside. The Park has a variety of buildings able to support with ease the maximum attendance allowed by AHS.

Meeting rooms, again with a large-capacity availability, are also available for companies and others.

The Evergreen Park TARA Centre Kitchen, as restaurants around the city have opened, is now back to its normal outside and inside catering program. Anyone interested in having their event catered, whether it is at their building or the TARA Centre, can phone 780-532-3279 or email alana@evergreenpark.ca to order or go online here to place an order.

Other parts of the Park are also open including the archery range and horse club venues – all following AHS guidelines.

The Grande Sunset Theatre is offering weekend outdoor movies from the TARA Centre Parking Lot A all summer long. A permanent 40-foot screen was erected in the lot and up to 700 vehicles can be accommodated.

The slot machines, VLTs and off track betting kiosks are all open at the Evergreen Park Casino.

And the Casino Restaurant as well as the Pines Family Restaurant are welcoming customers as well at JDA Raceway.

There are eight screens showing races from across North America, two betting kiosks and race track programs for those who like to play the ponies

Temperature checks are in effect and face masks will be mandatory for all Casino slot/VLT customers. Hand sanitizers are available at the entrance/exit. All Alberta Health Services safety protocols are in place in both the Casino and restaurants. Social distancing is in effect in the Casino and restaurants (masks not mandatory) so all guests can feel safe when they play the slots or sit in the restaurants and enjoy a meal.

Check out the new Casino restaurant menu here.

Wednesday, 22 July 2020 16:01

TEAGUE NEW RACE SECRETARY

The Horses At Evergreen Park has a new race secretary.

Jason Teague is now responsible for putting together the entries for the 15-day summer season of pari-mutuel horse racing at JDA Raceway.

Teague was born and raised in Edmonton, where he still resides. He and his wife, Christian, have two children – Braden and Jaleigh.

The sport has been part of his life for decades.

“I was introduced to horse racing over 40 years ago when my parents, Ruth and Chester, owned and raced horses,” he says. “I bought my first horse in 1993.”

He raced and bred horses until taking a racing officials’ position at Northlands Park in Edmonton in 1999.

“I started out as the clerk of scales and patrol judge until 2001 when I took on the position of paddock judge and assistant race secretary,” he says.

His first race secretary role was in 2009 at Northlands.

“I became the race secretary at Northlands park for the thoroughbreds and in 2011 I also became the race secretary for the Standardbreds,” he says. “I worked at Northlands Park until December of 2018 when racing ended after a lengthy history at Northlands.

In 2016, he was elected into the Jockey Club of Canada, “which I consider a great honor”.

He loves the work.

“Horse racing is my passion and I enjoy the people involved. The long hours of work that comes along with the job is not for everyone, but when it is your passion its worth it.  Even after these many years I continue to learn something new every day.”

The job, in some ways, is like being a referee. Tough decisions have to be made and you aren’t going to please everyone.

“If I have learned one thing in this industry, as much as you want to you cannot make everyone happy.”

Teague says he would like to thank Evergreen Park General Manager Dan Gorman and Racing Manager Pat Hill for the opportunity to come to Evergreen Park and to do “something I love”.

Racing fans have an opportunity to check out Teague’s work on entries when The Horses At Evergreen Park continue this Saturday and Sunday at JDA Raceway with 1:15 p.m. posts each day. Racing continues until Sunday, August 23 every Saturday and Sunday with the exception of a Friday, July 31 race card at 5:15 p.m.

Admission is free (visit www.evergreenpark.ca to get tickets, but there will be some walk-up available) and masks are mandatory.

If you are unable to attend there is a Lifestream of the racing available through the Park website and you can also sign up to bet online through Xpressbet.com and HPIbet.com.

All of the races will also be shown on the screens in the Evergreen Park Casino. There are betting kiosks in the Casino.

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