Phil Giesbrecht mourns.
Two weeks after his good friend Scott Knight, 52, died in a horse racing accident at Desert Park Raceway in Osoyoos B.C., harness driver/trainer Phil Giesbrecht won two of the four $90,000 Super Finals for Alberta-breds at Edmonton’s Century Mile.
“You have to move on,” said Giesbrecht, who struck with both Captain Tahiti and Somewhat Tipsy at The Mile.
“You couldn’t find a better person. Scott was the teammate you always wanted to have in sports.
“Scott was the kind of person who would help anyone. He had such a good heart, and losing him so suddenly is heartbreaking for everyone who knew him,” Giesbrecht said.
Knight won more than 1,400 races as a driver and 669 as a trainer. He is survived by his wife, Lindsey, two sons and three stepchildren.
“Terrible,” said Giesbrecht, who had been involved in a separate accident the previous day when his horse, Dusty Dragon, and CF Beat The Rain, driven by Kelly Hoerdt, hooked wheels near the finish line at Century Mile. Giesbrecht was thrown from his bike.
“I got lucky. Very lucky. You’re lucky to come out of any spill.”
Giesbrecht didn’t need any luck in the Super Finals: Captain Tahiti won the two-year-old fillies division by seven lengths; Somewhat Tipsy won the two-year-old colts and geldings division by five and a half lengths.
“They’re both very nice horses,” said Giesbrecht, the smooth-as-silk pilot, who has been the leading driver at Century Mile the last two years and is in a tight battle with Mike Hennessy again this year.
On a greasy track that was listed as sloppy, but firmed up as the night progressed and was running about a second slow, Captain Tahiti paced in 1:56 3/5 and paid $3.10 to win; Somewhat Tipsy, whom Giesbrecht also trains, won in 1:55 1/5 and returned $7.20 to win.
Co-owned by trainer Christopher Lancaster and Doug Bowers, Captain Tahiti let Outlaw Risk N Hope take the lead. But Captain Tahiti, who had drawn the rail, was quickly on the move recapturing the lead past a quarter in :28 2/5 and a half in :56 4/5.
It was over.
“She was a little hotter than usual,” said Lancaster of the daughter of Captain Deo, who was a steal at last year’s Alberta Yearling Sale, selling for just $2,000.
“But once the gates opened she was all business.”
Somewhat Tipsy, owned by J J J Stables and 4wracing, settled into fourth place, but he was on the move early, too.
“I didn’t want to be too far back,” said Giesbrecht, who made his move after half a mile in :58 3/5. “And I didn’t want to get looped.
“He’s a gentle giant,” continued Giesbrecht, who had his first million-dollar season in 2023 and has topped the million-dollar mark every year since.
“He’s very tall - especially for a two-year-old. He’s done everything asked and he’s getting better and better. I was very confident.”
By Vertical Horizon, Somewhat Tipsy is the first foal of Mrs Suhwiggins, a small but powerful mare who won 27 races.
“I was thinking of moving down the backstretch but I was confident enough to wait a little bit,” said Giesbrecht.
“He was getting faster at the end. Big strides. Very pleased.”
The fastest Super Finals performance belonged to favourite Lets Go Gals, who exploded to a crushing 11-length victory in the three-year-old fillies division in 1:53 2/5.
“The plan was definitely to go to the top but I didn’t expect her to win like that,” said Manitoba driver Blake Piwniuk. “I expected to see Mike Hennessy (driver of second favourite Terrible Custard) come at me. But I looked behind and nobody was coming.”
Lets Go Gals paced her third quarter in :27 4/5.
Owned by Trevor Williams, Aurel N Vodon and Morning Line Inc., and trained by Rebecca Kanak, Lets Go Gals is another daughter of Captain Deo.
The fourth and final Super Finals division, for three-year-old colts and geldings, went to Boleto A Mexico, who won wire-to-wire in 1:54 4/5.
Winning his third straight race, Boleto A Mexico, who also captured the Plainsman elimination and final, was driven by one of Canada’s top drivers, Doug McNair, and completed a rare 1-2-3 finish for trainer Jamie Gray. Stablemate Ruler of Dragons, driven by Giesbrecht, finished second by three-quarters of a length and was gaining at the finish; Mayhem N Madness, a 68-1 outsider driven by Gray, got up for third.
“Shortest way around,” said McNair, who recently surpassed $100 million in career purse earnings and has won more than 5,000 races.
“He was the best horse in the race going in. He’s a very nice horse,” added McNair, who flew into Edmonton from Ontario on Saturday afternoon before flying home at midnight to race at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Sunday, where he won four more races.
STOCK REPORT
A Celebration of Life for Knight will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 4, from 1 - 6 p.m. at the Northview Golf & Country Club in Surrey, B.C.
The Alberta Standardbred Horse Association (ASHA) launched a fundraising initiative with a GoFundMe page created in support of Knight's family, with donations reaching upwards of $52,000 as of press time.
For those who wish to contribute: https://gofund.me/e74ed1d57
Shark Week had his latest winning streak stopped when he finished second to Ernesto Delacruz in 1:52 2/5. Shark Week won his previous race by 10 1/2 lengths in 1:50 flat.
Shark Week, whose career-best time of 1:49 2/5 makes him the fastest horse in Western Canadian racing, has won 74 races.
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Inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.