Page 14 - April 2009 The Game

14 The Game, April 2009
Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Horsemen Exchange Boots For Blades By Jackie Humber The Richmond Olympic Oval played host
but there was no clubs where I lived then,”
she recalled. Pepin joined the Burnaby Haida Speed Skating Club in 2003 and has had an easy transition from riding to racing. “I found that horseracing actually helped me in my positioning for skating, “she explained.
to this year’s Masters International Canadian Open Championships February 21 and 22.
Skaters from the U.S.A., Germany, Romania and Canada gathered together to compete in skating various distances around the 400 meter oval.
Pepin has proved that her competitive spirit
for raceriding has transitioned well over to her competitive spirit for speedskating winning many gold medals and sitting as current leader in her division “I love to win and push myself. The competition is such a rush, like horseracing. That quietness just before the starting gun goes off
for skating and you can feel your heart pounding and then BANG! The gun goes off and there’s nothing like it,” she said.
Three of the 87 competitors were horsemen from the Canadian Thoroughbred Industry: current Woodbine Jockey, Constant Montpellier; former Hastings Jockey, Michelle Pepin
and myself, a licensed Trainer at Hastings Racecourse.
Although our backgrounds are varied we found ourselves with a commonality through the love of sport and a dedication to succeed.
Montpellier is a person some would refer to as a “late bloomer”. He began his Jockey career later in life than most would dare to try. “I was 28 when I started but that’s what I wanted to
do after visiting a farm,” he said. Montpellier had been athletic as a child and he always enjoyed good competition, explaining, “I had done soccer and hockey and I really loved the competition and my family was so supportive of all my choices.”
As for myself, I decided to leave a comfortable of ce job in 1993 and follow my passion to work with horses. That is when I truly found myself, at the time when I didn’t know I was lost.
I began working for Trainer, Ed Thompson at Hastings Racecourse. I worked for ve seasons under his critical eye to detail and it was during that time that Thompson would instill in me the art of horsemanship. I began as a hotwalker,
like most people do. Then I started grooming thoroughbreds and I was promoted to barn foreman, before eventually acquiring my Trainers License, which I still carry in my pocket today.
I began short track speed skating when I was a child. My father and mother had both been speed skaters and I followed in the family tradition. I began with the Burnaby Haida Speed Skating Club and have remained there since. Some seasons I didn’t skate but I was always drawn back because of the competitiveness of the sport.
It is still very exciting today, lining up on the ice and waiting for the gun to explode.
Skating has always kept me in great shape and I enjoy the camaraderie amongst all of the skaters.
I have been very fortunate to be coached by Ariana Van Der Starre, the coach for Burnaby. She is so helpful and such a great motivator.
In the past six weeks Montpellier, Pepin
and myself decided to switch from short track speedskating to Long track (totally different discipline) because of the new Olympic Oval and the chance to compete on it. Pepin and myself
were fortunate to skate in the B.C. Long Track Competition in January. Pepin nished rst in her division winning the Gold medal and I nished second in my division winning the Silver medal.
A remarkable accomplishment for such a short
time skating Long Track. During this year’s 2nd Masters Canadian International Speedskating
Event, Montpellier proved that six weeks was long enough to train on Long track. He nished third in his division and won the Bronze medal. Pepin again nished top of her division and won the Gold medal. I nished fourth in my division competing against
a U.S.A. skater and also a experienced Long Track skater. I proved to myself that I indeed can skate a 3000 meters and survive.
Montpellier, Pepin and myself represented the Thoroughbred Industry well as we proved that with hard work and strong determination, success will surely follow.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Bough Photography
His natural light-weight of 110
pounds together with his compact muscular body frame of 5’2 inches made him the perfect size for the racing industry. Montpellier proved that his hard work and determination would take him to the top of the sport in 1993. He was chosen as the winner of the Sovereign Award as Canada’s Top Apprentice Rider. Since then he has accomplished many more successes in racing, including winning the Prince of Wales twice and riding in the Queen’s Plate. His face brightens up and a smile stretches from ear to ear as he gets up and stands as if mounted on
a horse, carrying a whip as he recalls those
past glorious races. “I won the Prince of Wales on Win City and again on a nice lly named Gandria, we were 70 to 1, but we won it,” he joyously recalls.
Clockwise from top left:
Jackie Humber, Michelle Pepin & Constant Montpellier
Jackie Humber, Constant Montpellier & Michelle Pepin
It is easy to see that Montpellier’s passion is
racing thoroughbreds and it is that competitive
spirit that led him to the sport of competitive short track speedskating. “I’ve been short tracking for only two years but I love it,” he explains. Two years ago he was thinking about retiring from being a jockey but he believes skating brought him back. “I was going to retire but then speedskating is what made me want to come back and ride. I’m not done riding yet,” he said rmly. Montpellier believes this could be a good racing year. “I think I am going to have a great season,” he con dently predicts.
He strong determination to be a jockey led her to the Interior Circuit of racing. “I went to Kamloops where trainers give new riders a chance to race,”
she said. In 2001 Pepin found herself in the saddle straddling a horse in the starting gate. She was in her rst race and that was her dream come true. “The horse’s name was Manila Girl and it was a lot of fun, it was exhilarating ,” she recounts.
Michelle Pepin stands about 4’11” and has a muscular frame built to be a Thoroughbred Jockey.
The next season Pepin returned to the Interior Circuit and kept racing and improving with each race, visiting the winners circle on many occasions. “I loved being a jockey and I really loved the starting gate,” she recalled. “It’s like just before the gate pops open you can feel your heart beating and the horse and its so quiet just for a moment and then the gate opens, it’s so exciting.”
She began her career in 2000 while still in her early 20s. She arrived outside the gates of Hastings Racecourse after leaving the family farm in Ontario. She believed she was ready to jump in the saddle and ride a race. “I had worked at Sudbury Downs a bit with my Uncle Charlie as a youngster,” she said.
That season would bring an end to Pepin’s short career as a jockey. In July 2002, Pepin was involved in a serious spill during a race. “The doctors told me I had a rare condition of blood clotting in my lungs and I had a pulmonary embolism, so I had to take medication for a whole year. I hated that,” she said rmly.
Hanging around the track and being close to
the horses is when Pepin rst had aspirations of raceriding. “I must have been only about 6 years-old but I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she recalled.
The following year Michelle took an active interest in speed skating. “My dad had once told me that because I was such a fast hockey skater when I was
a kid that he would have put me into speedskating,
Her small compact frame and cheerful disposition is what made her attractive to Hastings trainers as
a gallop person, but Pepin was not satis ed with simply galloping horses, she wanted to raceride.
The Game April 2009.indd 14
3/25/09 11:19:13 PM