Fort Erie finished up its 2023 Thoroughbred season on October 17 with another $1 million-plus wagering day and, from early reports, it appears the plucky border track had a banner season.
In a recent article at Niagara This Week by Sarah Ferguson, Fort Erie’s corporate communications manager James Culic said wagering up over a year ago.
“The big story from this season is that our wagering numbers continued to climb steadily all year, and we’re currently up 48 per cent from last year,” Culic said, and added that with the exception of a couple of very rainy days, every race date this season has seen wagering grow over last year.
Through the end of August last year, the track had done a combined $19.7 million in wagering, while this year they had already topped $29.2 million by Aug. 28.
Prince of Wales day, the second jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown, had a new record day of betting at $3.4 million.
CHRISTOPHER HUSBANDS won his third straight riding title with 40 victories (209) and earnings of $469,719. Melanie Pinto had 31 wins and Kirk Johnson won 25 races.
JULIE MATHES captured her fourth consecutive training title with 29 wins at the meeting and she is in the midst of a career year with 45 wins overall in 2023. Joshua Robillard was second with 29 wins and John Simms and Sharon Ceccato each had 18 victories.
BRUNO SCHICKEDANZ was the leading owner with 23 wins and also led all owners by purses with $312,001. It was Schickedanz’ third straight owner’s title by wins. Radcliffe Racing had 16 victories and earnings of $195,253.
STRIKING MOON, a six-year-old gelding by Palace Malice, won five races at Fort Erie in 2023 and was the winningest horse. He won four of those races for owner and trainer Nick Mileni, Jr. Striking Moon was named the Male Sprinter of the Year by the HBPA Ontario.
The 2023 Fort Erie Horse of the Year was DOT’S VISION, who was four-for-four at Fort Erie for Bermuda Blue Stable and trainer Anthony Adamo. The eight-year-old Ontario-bred by Court Vision was also named Best Claim of the Year and Turf Male.
The complete list of award winners is below:
WINNERS 2023 AWARDS
Male Claimer of the Year
FAFA FOOEY (S. Ceccato)
Female Claimer of the Year
JMR GEMMA (J. Simms)
Male Sprinter of the Year
STRIKING MOON (N. Mileni)
Female Sprinter of the Year
SHEBATOWN (S. Pion)
Distance Male of the Year
FEELING (J. Robillard)
Distance Female of the Year
TRISH THE DISH (L. Capi)
Turf Male
DOT’S VISION (A. Adamo)
Turf Female
CRUMLIN BIRD (G. Chudobiak)
Best Claim of the Year
DOT’S VISION (A. Adamo)
Horse of the Year
DOT’S VISION
Nominations for 2023 Horsepeople
Leading Trainer
Julie Mathes
Leading Owner
Bruno Schickedanz
Outstanding Trainer of the Year
Kevin Buttigieg (voted by peers)
Leading Rider
Christopher Husbands
Leading Apprentice
Amanda Vandermeersh
Outstanding Rider of the Year
Melanie Pinto (voted by peers)
Exercise Rider of the Year
Jenelle McMahon
Groom of the Year
Judy Adams
Assistant Trainer of the Year
Kristi Roberts
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
