Paul Ryneveld is the man at the helm of Alberta’s racing circuit as it looks to grow with the addition of Century Mile later this year. Ryneveld, who works as the general manager of Century Downs in Calgary, is currently overseeing the development of the new track just south of Edmonton.

For Ryneveld, the journey to the top tier of the province’s racing spectrum was not a hop, skip and a jump away, but rather a steady process of working in various industry positions over the last three decades. He first stepped into the industry when his high school best friend’s dad suggested a job change.

“We were both working at Dairy Queen and he told us, ‘You guys are fools. You need to go down to the racetrack and get jobs,’” said Ryneveld.

Ryneveld heeded that advice and landed himself a job in concessions at Longacres in Seattle. Completely new to the game, he vividly recalls his first experience at the racetrack.

“The very first day of racing that year at Longacres — which was April 1 1987 — that was the very first horse race I ever witnessed live, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Also the energy at the racetrack really appealed to me.”

The following year, Ryneveld worked as a runner for the stewards and photo finish. “To me, it was a like a paid day at the races. I did that for two summers and just tried to absorb everything I could about the racetrack.”

Not long after, he decided that he wanted to carve out a career in the industry.

In 1992, he obtained a bachelors degree in business administration from the University of Washington. Two years later, Ryneveld decided to take the racetrack industry program at the University of Arizona, believing it would better inform him about the ins and outs of the horse racing industry.

“A lot of people obviously get exposed to racing because their family is involved with it, or somehow somebody brought them to the track. My family had nothing to do with horse racing in any way, shape or form. So I thought going to the racetrack program would be a good opportunity to set me up to have a career, to meet people, to network and all that.”

While he was in Arizona, he secured a job with the Arizona Department of Racing working at the test barn and also filling in as a greyhound steward at the dog tracks.

Balancing education and his love for racing, Ryneveld has continued to climb the ladder for the last two decades. In 2001, he became director of racetrack operations at Sunland Park, holding that position for the next two years and a bit before transitioning to Emerald Downs, where he worked as the director of racing from 2004 to 2007. Coinciding with his career at Emerald, Ryneveld obtained a masters degree in business administration from the University of Washington. In the spring of 2007, he assumed the role of equine manager at Fairplex. In December, 2008, Ryneveld found himself at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver, where he took the lead as the director of racing for the next five years. In 2013, he began working with Century Casinos and has maintained the general manager role for the last five years at Century Downs.

Given his decorated resume, Ryneveld is quick to admit that he’s pretty well travelled when it comes to the horse racing circuit.

“The cliché is well-rounded. I got to see a lot of different places. Working in different jurisdictions there’s different subtleties to those places. When I was down in the southwest of the U.S. there was a lot more quarter horse racing, so getting exposed to that.”

The opening of Century Downs in 2015 marked a new era for horse racing in the city of Calgary. Offering a new entertainment choice just north of the city limits (in Rocky View County), for both racing fans and newbies to the sport.

Aside from Northlands Park in Edmonton, Century Downs operates as the premiere racing facility in Calgary, featuring both standardbred and thoroughbred racing. Last year marked the return of thoroughbred racing to the Calgary circuit since the closure of Stampede Park in 2008.

Ryneveld said he is looking forward to this year’s thoroughbred meet, which will be held over a 21-day period between September and October. “Northlands will start the season for thoroughbreds this year on May 5th and they go into August. We take about a week in between; they come down (to Calgary) and finish the year down here. So total thoroughbred dates in Alberta is about 75, more or less. We would like to get that back up to 100, but with the last decade of turmoil with tracks closing, tracks opening, tracks announcing they’re closing, its been tough on the horse population.”

Ryneveld believes the new track, Century Mile, located just south of Edmonton will help improve the state of the industry in the province, offering horsemen another venue for thoroughbred racing.

“Alberta has 4 million people and most are congregated in Edmonton and Calgary. It just makes sense to have both breeds in both markets to try to expose that to the most people directly and then also, these are all potential horse owners.”

Ryneveld projects thoroughbreds will commence racing on the mile track in April, 2019.

While his plate remains full preparing for the upcoming season at Century Downs and the highly anticipated opening of Century Mile, Ryneveld hasn’t lost sight of the simple pleasures, which led him to love the sport in the first place.

“As I’ve worked in the industry it’s always remained a constant that I still love to go to the races, I love to go to new racetracks and see what they’re like, but on a race day as employees start to arrive and you start to get ready for the day of racing, there’s like this build up of energy that I still see and feel even 30 years later.”