The 106th Millarville Races on Canada will offer fans a chance to lay down a wager.
“Historically, we have had a paint race of about 250 and five thoroughbred races,” said Dot Stein, manager of the Rocky Mountain Turf Club in Lethbridge. “The feature race, the Millarville Derby, is a mile and an eighth, which is approximately three times around the track.”
The other races will be around five to six furlongs in distance (a furlong is 220 yards) long. They will feature thoroughbreds.
“The majority of the horses are from Lethbridge and some are from Northlands in Edmonton,” Stein said. “These are very competitive horses. They will all have had starts in 2011.”
There won’t be any cut corners on the track or in regards to the equipment. A state of the art pari-mutuel tote board will be used to see the odds for the betting almost up to posttime.
Also, a racing program will be available. For beginning racing fans, a racing forum can look like an old logarithm book – just a bunch of numbers.
“I am not allowed to wager because I am a manager,” Stein said. “If I was, I would look at the (horse’s) last start and see how they finished.”
The schedule for the Millarville races on Canada Day is:
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.: Pancake breakfast
Noon: O Canada and Millarville Musical Ride
12:15 p.m.: Sidesaddle race
12:30 p.m.: Stock Horse race
1 p.m.: Thoroughbreds
End of day: Pack horse race
For information concerning the Millarville races go to www.millarvilleracetrack.com
