Indian Relay racing highlights RMTC weekend
One of the most highly anticipated events of the year at Rocky Mountain Turf Club is back Saturday and Sunday. The Indian Relay races, which were a huge hit in the spring, are back even bigger and better.
In June, the Indian Relay Races were held at Rocky Mountain Turf Club and for the first time in the world, there was parimutuel wagering allowed on the races. The response was a record handle at Rocky Mountain Turf Club.
This weekend when the Indian Relay Racing rolls into town, there will be double the teams there were in the spring. The Blackfoot Canadian Cultural Society, along with Rocky Mountain Turf Club, are presenting two days of Indian Relay Racing, powwow demonstrations and an official Blackfoot naming for Shirley McLelland, the retired boss of Horse Racing Alberta. Shirley was instrumental in achieving parimutuel racing and wagering for Indian Relay Racing, along with spearheading the opening of two new race tracks in Alberta, which are Century Downs in Calgary and the in-construction Century Mile in Edmonton.
The opening ceremony takes place at noon each day, followed by two Indian Relay Races beginning at 1 p.m. After that, there will be six live thoroughbred races, followed by another Indian Relay Race.
Tonight will also feature seven live thoroughbred races, with post time at 6 p.m.
Rusty Smith is truly one of the good guys in the horse racing world and is proud of his aboriginal roots.
Rusty was surrounded by horses at a very young age. Horses were his family’s transportation when he was a child and they were used to fetch water and wood, among other necessities of life. Rusty was soon involved in breaking horses for his family. His parents passed away when Rusty was young. His grandfather was Tom Yellow Horn, who was heavily involved in the horse world at the time.
Rusty’s father was a rodeo rider and Rusty followed his father’s background and began training horses for team penning. Rusty also rode buffalo at the Calgary Stampede as a young man. He claims buffalo make Brahma bulls look like nothing to ride in comparison.
Rusty soon began apprenticing in training thoroughbreds at the race track. After a few years of that, Rusty went on his own as a full-time trainer.
Rusty says today at his age he is focusing on helping young native people get involved in horse racing and it’s working out well.
Cody Eagle Bear is one of Rusty’s prized pupils and Rusty says with great pride that Cody has a horse that has qualified for a big race at Los Alamitos. Rusty thinks Cody will carry on to have great success.
Rusty also takes pride in helping out young riders who come to the track. Corrine Andrus is one example of a young rider that Rusty has helped out and she later went on to Woodbine race track in Ontario as a rider.
Rusty says he’s not here to say, “I do this and I did that, I’m just hear to help people.” Rusty prefers to stay in the background and if someone needs help, he’s there to provide it.
Rusty plans to train horses and help young people the rest of his life. Rusty will do whatever he can to help motivate young people. When someone asks Rusty why his horses do so well, he explains that horses are like people, if you treat people good they will treat you good and the same goes for horses, if you treat them good, they will treat you good.
Rusty likes to pick up horses that have problems and figuring them out and turning them into good race horses.
One of Rusty’s horses, Wirebound came to him with problems and Rusty was able to get to the root of it and go on to have some wins with Wirebound this year. Rusty talks about some of the nice horses he’s had such as Cherokee’s Glory’ and ‘EightyEight’. He is proud that he retired Cherokee’s Glory as a sound horse and this is the last year Eighty-Eight will be running.
Rusty takes pride in the fact that Eighty-Eight has been used for the Indian Relay Races and then returns to being a race horse. Rusty’s goal for EightyEight is the same as for all of his horses that are retired, and that is finding a good home for him.
Rusty will be looking for a couple of new horses next year. He looks for horses that have a few problems because he loves to figure them out and turn them into good race horses.
Rusty says he has never claimed a horse in his entire racing career and doesn’t think he ever will. Rusty feels if he likes a horse, he will go and ask how much the person wants for the horse. Rusty feels that way there is no animosity with anyone. Rusty feels he has enough of his own problems to take care of and doesn’t need to add to anything.
Rusty keeps to himself at the track and if anyone needs help, he’s there. Rusty says there lots of people who helped him along the way and they know who they are. Rusty loves to have a reason to get up in the morning and hopes are that reason for the rest of his life. Rusty stands about sixfoot-three and you could probably add another two or three inches with the cowboy had that is part of his anatomy.
In spirit, Rusty stands 10 feet tall as a quality human being.