Life is a puzzle. (Just ask me).
But Rebecca Kanak has figured it out. Quickly.
The 27-year-old standardbred trainer - in just her fourth year of training - led all conditioners at Calgary/Balzac’s Century Downs. She won 24 races at the Downs summer meet which was a startling 11 more than runner-up Matthew Howlett.
Kanak is also the leading trainer in the province this year with 84 wins from 356 starts - eight more than multiple leading trainer Brandon Campbell.
Kanak has won seven races to date at The Mile in Edmonton/Nisku; 24 at Track on 2 outside of Lacombe and 53 at The Downs.
And yet, she is taking her meteoric rise almost matter-of-factly.
“Everything is a puzzle,” said the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native, who now calls home wherever her horses are whether that’s living in a trailer in Edmonton, Calgary, Lacombe or Osoyoos. B.C. where she has a stable of eight horses.
Flying back and forth from B.C. to Alberta, in Edmonton she has 14 horses with more coming in over the next few days.
“I live wherever there is racing; I go where the horses go,” said Kanak, who recently went over the $1-million mark in race earnings with Avas Angel Baby, who recently won five races in a row.
“If you have patience. If you have an eye for it, understanding, the proper diet and the right equipment then you figure out the puzzle and you’ve got good race horses.
“A lot of it just makes common sense.
“Some people are not happy to see a newcomer do well. But the industry needs new people.
“I’m not new to horses; I’m new to harness racing.”
Just four years ago, Kanak started as an owner of three horses - her first win was with Sparkthedragon in 2022.
As her horses performed well, more horses kept arriving.
Her barn now totals 25 horses.
Kanak’s first foray into horse racing- seven years ago - was with thoroughbreds in Saskatoon.
But when Covid struck the thoroughbred meet ended and a 10-day harness meet in 2021 started. It immediately changed her life.
“I fell in love with the sport,” she said.
Originally planning on being a veterinarian, she obtained her Bachelor of Science classes at the University of Saskatchewan with a major in Animal Science.
In January of 2022 - while going to University - she took out her groom’s license so she could help on the occasional race day.
Remarkably she was also working full time in a small animal clinic - equine specific - in Saskatoon.
If that wasn’t enough she also taught quilting classes and worked retail in a quilt shop.
“I like being hands on so I went to the track and took out my groom and owner’s license.
“No one in my family was really into horse racing but my dad raced chuckwagon ponies as a hobby. And I rode horses all the time - since I was 12 in Saskatoon at a lessons boarding school.
“Whatever I was going to do with my life was going to be horse based. I love them.
“Now, my goal is simple: to win as many races as I can.”
In September of 2023 Kanak got her trainer’s license. She had just three horses winning with one of her 12 starts while finishing second three times and third twice.
The win came with Run and Buck on November 10, 2023.
Getting a perfect trip, Mike Hennessy got a two-hole trip, tipped out and won by two lengths over the odds-on-favourite YV Larceny in 1:57 4/5.
“Rebecca sends the horses ready to race,” said Hennessy. “She obviously knows what she is doing.”
“I was busy. It was pretty crazy.”
But not too busy to learn and figure out the puzzle.
“I asked questions all the time.”
Two instrumental people Kanak went to for advice were Trevor Williams and Travis Ellis.
Williams, a prominent Canadian harness racing trainer and former bank manager, reached great success in both Alberta and Manitoba. At the latter he was named the Ron Waples Award recipient in 2024 which is given to a person who goes above and beyond the call of duty to better the harness industry in Manitoba according to ‘Harnesslink.’
Ellis was Manitoba’s trainer of the year in 2024. He started racing 17 years ago in Nova Scotia but ended up working for Williams in Manitoba. Ellis once won five races on an 11-race card at Miami Fair before moving to Alberta.
Kanak worked for Travis as a groom and Trevor trained the horses before she got into the industry.
Kanak has had several very nice horses. But one of her favourites was West Coast Beach.
“I was warming him up and he wasn’t sound,” she recalled of a day in August 2023.
“I rehabbed him for seven months and - a full year after the injury - he came back to win the Open several times at B.C.’s Fraser Downs.
“It was very pleasing and remarkable.”
Meant to be a good horse, West Coast Beach won an elimination of the Western Canada Pacing Derby at Century Mile in 2020 with Kelly Hoerdt in the bike.
West Coast Beach retired last year with 35 wins and $242,000 in earnings.
“I still have him. We went riding in the mountains this year.”
Another steady hitter, Tahuya Velocious, has won 12 of 29 races for Kanak. At one point she won 10 of 13 starts.
She is entered Wednesday at Century Mile where racing returned this past weekend.
Another top performer for Kanak is Outlaw Playmymovie, who won five in a row and six out of seven starts.
Then there is Blue Powder, who has won 20 of 145 races.
All of them are different.
“Like I said: horse racing is a puzzle,” said Kanak.
“Every day is a different piece of it.”
STOCK REPORT
The recent Thoroughbred Yearling Sale in Red Deer was very successful with increases in gross sales, median, average and topped by a $110,000 Alberta-bred purchase - Hip No. 12 - a filly by Olympiad out of the Violence mare Buy Me a Rose.
Olympiad is a stakes winner of eight races; his first foals are two-year-olds this year.
Consigned by Highfield Investment Group the yearling was purchased after a spirited bidding duel between the eventual buyer - New York’s Newton Anner Stud Farm - the Alberta-based Stetson contingent and Everblack Cattle Company.
Last year Newton Anner campaigned the majestic three-year-old filly Playful, who won the $100,000 Century Casino Oaks for her fourth straight victory, in Alberta.
Speaking to Hanzly Albina, GM of Newton Anner Stud Farm, Lindsay Ward, Communications Coordinator for CTHS Alberta, quoted Albina as saying “We’re hearing good things about what’s happening with racing here in Alberta and really loved our experience with Playful last year, so we thought we’d buy a filly and be part of an exciting new future in Alberta.”
Ward said Newton Anner’s plans are to race the sales topper in Alberta.
“The future of racing looks very promising in Alberta and we are very excited to participate,” said Albina.
Ward also reported that a total of 74 yearlings sold for $1,119,200 with gross sales up 10 per cent over last year for an average of $15,151 - an increase of eight per cent.
The median price was $11,750 - an increase of 17.5 per cent.
The five highest-priced yearlings represented five different consigning connections said Ward.
“The second-highest price of $62,500 went to Hip 89, Shae’s Hope, a filly by Knicks Go out of Fiera Nocturna, consigned by Doug Oberg. Hip 32, Zero In, a gelding by Knicks Go out of High Fair consigned by C.W. and Shirley Matier, followed at $45,500.”
Follow me on X (Twitter) and on Facebook.
Inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.