Page 17 - May 2009 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper Hastings Opening Day April 18 The Game, May 2009 17 Photos By Jim Reynolds
Lauren Praill seen here with her grandma Darlene has been featured in The Game on opening day since she was a toddler
Trainers Pat Gormley and Troy Taylor dis- cuss horses and their chances
Owner George GIlbert with daughter Hayley
Hall of Famer Chris Loseth chats with Jock- eys’ Guild representative Robert King
First aid attendant Annie Killoran is a fallen jockeys best friend
Former jockey and avid Game reader Former English Bobby Eric Dudley now works secu- rity at Hastings Millne never misses an issue
1st Race winner Kula Girl with owner Jeff Sangara and son
and trainer Steve Henson
Gillian Campbell (aka Klondike Kate) always dresses for the races
They’re off as the gate swings open for the first race of the 2009 season won by Kula Girl giving Frank Fuentes his first of four wins on the day
Former jockey and avid Game reader Mau- rice Millne never misses an issue
change and I didn’t know it.” mused Shawn, “I started helping the Chaplain there and lling in.
called back to the horses in 2003.
“I got involved with a farm called
Chaplaincy at Woodbine from Chaplain Les who introduced the Race Track Chaplaincy of Canada, a “cousin to” the Race Track Chaplaincy of the United States.
Monday. The Centre is also home to the Employee Assistance Counseling of ce which offers counseling services throughout the summer months.
“My second year in Cleveland I had 14 horses and only 4 wins and the racetrack went through 3 Chaplains which meant I was “ lling in” more and more.”
Stonecrest in Missouri where I helped them breaking babies. The highlight of that time was when Meaghan and I traveled with the owner of Stonecrest to Churchill Downs and watched his horse Perfect Drift win the Stephen Foster Handicap beating Mine Shaft. Pat Day rode.” said Shawn with a big smile.
Including Shawn, there are currently four race track Chaplains in Canada: Ken Carter, Standardbred Chaplain at Woodbine; Lani Zostie at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg; and Jim Hagen in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Chaplaincy hosts a monthly BBQ from May to September as well as a Christmas luncheon for dorm residents in December.
In 1986 he had no horses left and felt that he was being called to the Chaplaincy. Returning to Winnipeg Shawn attended seminary school and started as a volunteer Chaplain “to get his feet wet” while galloping horses to make a living.
Shawn had caught the racing bug back and he contacted Yvette Hoek at Adena Springs and began working in Ocala that winter and into the spring of 2004.
As part of the Race Track Chaplaincy Mandate, Shawn hosts a non- denominational chapel service every Tuesday at 6:30pm in the Recreation Room on the backstretch at Woodbine. Shawn also hosts Soul Survivors on Wednesdays at noon. “We have bible studies and sometimes movies with
Chaplain Shawn also performs prayer services in the jocks’ room at both Woodbine and Fort Erie as well as performing weddings, funerals and memorials, baptisms and hospital visitations for race track employees.
During this time he rode also as an amateur jockey, riding across Canada as well as in Poland, Switzerland, Germany and England. He also rode “behind the Iron Curtain” in Russia with fellow jockeys Renee Keirens and Pam McDonald.
During that time, trainer Danny
Vella had suggested to Shawn that it would be great to have a Chaplaincy
at Woodbine which coincidentally was already in the works with the HBPA. Shawn and his family moved to Toronto and Shawn applied for the Chaplain position while galloping for Danny. Wife Joanne, a vet technician, took a position with Dr. Candace Allen, and daughter Meaghan, was galloping horses and ponying while nishing up school.
a spiritual theme.” says Shawn who boasts about a new aspect of Soul Survivors, Banking 101, how to save and get out of debt etc.
The Chaplaincy also hosts an
annual fund raising golf tournament, which is scheduled for Monday, July 13 at Glen Eagle Golf Course. This year’s celebrity guest is Kerry Joseph, Quarterback for the Toronto Argonauts.
Upon his return to Manitoba, Shawn became a youth pastor at a local church until a “very inviting” position came up in Kansas in 1999. Shawn and his wife, Joanne, and their two daughters, Meaghan and Rebecca moved to Kansas where Shawn became a pastor of a church for 4 years before being
And at the Jake Howard Centre, the new home of the Chaplaincy Of ce which also has a library and community room, there are literacy classes for reading and writing skills every Monday at 1pm, plus a computer studies class at 5pm every
Under the guidance of Shawn, the Chaplaincy has come a long way and with his impressive work load, it may have to expand and take on another Chaplain.
In 2004 Shawn took over the
“Sometimes you have to follow the journey that you were meant to take.” says Shawn, “This is where I was meant to be.”