2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA
Executive Newsletter
A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond
Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor January 31, 2002
COLEMAN GROOM OF THE YEAR That total is substantial, for the Colemans have
long been a fixture on the British Columbia racing
Linda Coleman, who has spent her lifetime grooming
horses and managing a family stable in British formerly Cloverdale Raceway, in their home town
circuit, doing most of their racing at Fraser Downs,
Columbia, is the winner of the Harness Tracks of of Surrey. Mrs. Coleman’s charges have included
America/Hanover Shoe Farms Caretaker of the numerous claimers of the year and colt champions
Year award.
on that far western circuit, including Western
Shadow, Holdridge Frisco, Delta Duke and
Beverly Corky.
Mrs. Coleman cares for 8 to 10 horses in the family
stable she operates with her husband, trainer
and former driver Philip Coleman, and her daughter,
21-year-old driver Casie Coleman. The family
operates as a team, but it is Mrs. Coleman who
gets each and every horse ready for training each
day. As winner of the international award, she represents
caretakers everywhere in the sport, and
symbolizes their work ethic and devotion to their
horses.
She will receive an oil painting of herself and her
best known horse, the Western Canadian filly pacing
champion Fast Lane Cruizin, done by one of
HTA’s most popular equine artists, Andrea Harman
Steiner of Michigan.
Mrs. Coleman was nominated by her driver daughter
Casie, who wrote in part in her nominating letter,
“My mother has been grooming horses all her
life. She hardly ever takes a day off because she
misses her horses and they miss her. She has been
the main man (woman) and the unsung hero of the
Coleman Stable for the last 25 years.
"She knows where each and every pimple is on
each of our horses, and knows the personality of
each. Her horses are her babies, and when one is
a little sick or a little lame and my dad and I want
to jog it, she will let us know and insists on getting
the vet to check it before allowing us to take it out
on the track. Mom goes nuts when it’s time
to put our colts in a claimer for the first
time. If it were up to her, we would still
have every horse we ever owned.”
The Colemans’most outstanding horse, by far, was
Fast Lane Cruizin, the brilliantly fast filly that burst
on the scene two years ago and won nine straight
races, earned $490, and took a record of 1:51.3.
Mrs. Coleman groomed her from the time she was
a weanling, and traveled with her to Sandown Park
in Victoria; Northlands Park in Edmonton, Alberta;
Stampede Park in Calgary; and across Canada to
Mohawk Raceway in Ontario and Woodbine in
Toronto, where she took her record.
The filly was nominated for an O’Brien award,
Canada’s highest equine honor. Mrs. Coleman also
groomed the filly’s half-brother Fast Lane Phillips,
an invitational pacer that held the track record at
Fraser Downs.
In nominating her mother, Casie Coleman wrote,
“I believe this award is one of the biggest awards
in harness racing, because it is only about the
grooms who truly are the unsung heroes in our industry.”
Mrs. Coleman will be honored Thursday night,
February 21, at the Night of Stars, closing event
of the Harness Racing Congress at the Mirage in
Las Vegas, Nevada.
All grooms nominated in the annual competition,
which is judged by an HTA committee of former
caretakers who now hold responsible positions
in the sport, will receive handsome blue and
gold caretakers’ jackets from HTA and
Hanover Shoe Farms.