Mississauga, ON — It’s a summer camp unlike any ever seen in this country!

The first Harness Horse Youth Foundation Summer Camp to be held in Canada gets underway this Sunday (July 7) at Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville, ON.

A dozen young people between the ages of 11 and 12 will experience harness racing from a “hands-on” perspective at the five day Camp.

From their base at the north end of Mohawk’s Barn 8, Camp participants will perform daily barn chores, feed and jog horses and work closely with local trainers, drivers, veterinarians and farriers. They will also tour Argyle Farms, attend a night at the races at Flamboro Downs, ride in the starting gate at Mohawk during the Tuesday morning qualifiers and meet the judges as well as the race office staff.

Camp organizers have also scheduled plenty of social activities including a Fishing Derby at the Orton, ON farm of Ian Dow, dinner and playtime at Playdium, a picnic and crafts.

The Camp culminates on Thursday (July 11) at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack with a race between Campers using trotting-bred ponies hitched to two-seated jog carts. Each Camp racer will be accompanied by a professional driver.

The Harness Horse Youth Foundation (HHYF) has been operating youth summer camps in the United States since 1999.

“We have had 150 kids attend the camps since we started,” Ellen Taylor, the executive director of the HHYF recently told Harness Racing Communications. “More than 50 per cent of them have stuck with racing in some way, whether it’s actually getting their family involved in buying horses, going to the races more, or deciding that they want to work in racing when they grow up.”

Taylor, who lives in Indiana, says that when race night arrives there’s lots of cheering from the grandstand.

“A really great thing happened at Hoosier Park (where the last Summer Camp was held) and that was the number of people, family, but friends too, who turned out to support the kids on race day. There were hundreds of them; so many we lost count! Most of them had not been to the track before, so we hope we made their day a fun one.”

To be eligible to participate, Campers had to write a 250 word essay entitled “The Wind in My Hair, The Pounding of Hooves–Why I Want to Feel the Thrill of Driving a Race Horse.” The winning essays were chosen by Taylor.

The participants in the Mohawk/Woodbine HHYF Summer Camp are:

*Sharleen MacDonald, 11, Tara, ON

*Jason O’Reilly, 11, Kemble, ON

Christopher Pavelic, 12, Morriston, ON

Jennifer Emann, 12, Scarborough, ON

Samantha Emann, 12, Scarborough, ON

Morgan Hay, 11, Kitchener, ON

*Hailey Van Sickle, 11, Ancaster, ON

Alicia Lee, 11, Waterloo, ON

*Cassandra Chornoboy,11, Rockwood, ON

Erin Thompson, 11, Kitchener, ON

Tyler Campbell, 12, London, ON

*Michaela Grahame, 12, Tara, ON

*Denotes 4-H Member

There are many sponsors assisting in the Summer Camp. They include the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association, the Ontario Sires Stakes, 4-H Ontario, Woodbine Entertainment Group, the Ontario Harness Horse Association, Flamboro Downs, Argyle Farms, Racetracks of Canada, The Canadian Sportsman and numerous volunteers, trainers, drivers and grooms.