Page 10 - December 2007 The Game
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10 The Game, December 2007
May the Peace and Beauty of the
Christmas Season Bring You Happiness Nowand Throughout the NewYear
Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Muriel Bowes Remembered
By Jim Reynolds
The tack shop next
to the track kitchen at
Hastings has always
been a focal point for
backstretch social life
and for the past ten
years or so it has been
presided over by Mrs.
Muriel Bowes who
worked six days a week
dispensing horseshoes, tack, bandages, various horse care products, and jellybeans. Muriel was known as the ‘jellybean lady’ because there was always a bowl of the chewy little treats on the counter for her customers and those who just stopped by for a chat.
ways be snatched up by mid-morning.
Muriel’s unsel sh nature made her a popu- lar  xture on the back- stretch coupled with her work with young people at the Learning Centre, she earned the ‘Back- stretch Person of the
Year’ award in 2004. The Learning Centre, is a back-
Thank you to all of our Clients, Staff & Associates for a Wonderful Year!
Gail Wood & Dan Steeves Woodlands Farm
After Wilf passed away Muriel went to work in the Turf and Horseman’s Supply tack shop, a job that kept her in the game she loved and in contact with the many friends who would drop by for a friendly hello and a jellybean. She also kept a supply of apples and oranges on hand for hungry grooms and hotwalkers, along with batches of homebaked cookies that would al-
“I don’t do anything,” she once said. “I just do what I can. I love tutoring. You meet these great people. They’re fantastic, just wonderful and you feel good at the end of the year to see that they’ve learned something from your efforts.”
Muriel had worked at a bank for most of her life and  rst came around the backstretch in the early 1970’s working alongside her husband Wilf, a longtime trainer who taught her to muck stalls, walk horses and do tack.
stretch school sponsored by the HBPA and Hastings Racecourse and when it opened, Muriel, one of the  rst to vol- unteer, and immediately began help- ing out at functions and teaching ESL courses to those who needed them. She felt it was important to give something back to the racing community.
It was that attitude of caring and effort to help others that endeared her to all who knew her.
Muriel Etheldra Frances Bowes passed away October 16, 2007 at age 76. She was an important part of back- stretch life and we will all miss her.
Love Peace Happiness
May all these be yours at Christmas
Thank You to our owners & staff for our successes this season.
Michael & Josie De Paulo
The Game December 2007.indd
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