Putting together a winning outfit can be a source of pride for chuckwagon drivers. Read More
For Jamie Laboucane, what was even more special about his day money-winning outfit at Sunday night’s Rangeland Derby was the fact that his wife and two kids each named one of the horses.
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For Jamie Laboucane, what was even more special about his day money-winning outfit at Sunday night’s Rangeland Derby was the fact that his wife and two kids each named one of the horses.
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Putting together a winning outfit can be a source of pride for chuckwagon drivers.
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For Jamie Laboucane, what was even more special about his day money-winning Panorama Advisory Group outfit at Sunday night’s Rangeland Derby presented by Play Alberta was the fact that his wife and two kids each named one of the horses.
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His daughter Ella has widely been credited for giving Laboucane’s award-winning left wheeler a tasty name.
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“Ella named Marshmallow,” said Laboucane, while adding that his son and wife also helped him play the name game with his equine athletes. “Oliver named the right leader Bray, my wife Dana named Jovi and I guess I’ll take credit for naming Threescore.”
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Jovi ran alongside Marshmallow on the right wheel, while Threescore took his traditional spot on left lead as Laboucane completed the figure-eight pattern around the barrels cleanly and raced around the GMC Stadium track in Sunday’s quickest clocking of 1:13.79.
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Saving his best for the ninth and final heat, Laboucane beat the time that Chanse Vigen and his VisitLethbridge.com outfit had set three heats earlier by 44/100ths of a second.
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“I’ve just got to try to drive clean,” said the 38-year-old Laboucane from St. Walburg, Sask. “I know the horses are going to run for me. Honestly, I probably cut ’er a little bit too tight tonight. I rolled that top barrel, but I got away lucky. Some other drivers didn’t. It’s a long 10 days and sometimes you need a little luck to win.”
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The other drivers who weren’t so lucky were defending Calgary Stampede champion Jason Glass, who crunched a barrel in the seventh heat, as did Kurt Bensmiller — a four-time winner of the coveted chuckwagon championship — one race later.
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“I think (the track) was a little bit heavier today as I found out as well,” said Laboucane in regards to the afternoon rains that slowed the track down. “Guys probably just cut ’er a little bit too tight. I can’t judge them because I came darn close as well.”
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Driving a different outfit, Laboucane finished second in the ninth heat behind Vigen in a time of 1:11.89, which stood up as Monday’s fourth fastest time.
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After finishing in second spot on each of the first three nights of racing, Vigen recorded Monday’s top time of 1:11.39 (the fastest clocking of the meet so far) and maintained his spot atop the leaderboard with a three-night total of 4:50.18.
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“Chanse Vigen, he’s rocking it,” said Laboucane, who’s sitting in second spot, 73/100ths of a second behind his rival heading into Tuesday’s fifth night of racing action.
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Laboucane was also oh-so close to recording Saturday’s fastest time but had to settle for tying for second spot with Vigen, a mere 1/100ths of a second behind Obrey Motowylo’s Dynamic Energy Group rig.
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“We hung in there,” said Laboucane, who was set to line up next to the No. 1 barrel on Monday with almost the same outfit he used on Sunday except for one horse. “A lot of guys off the No. 1 never came close to winning the race, so I’m happy.”
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While Marshmallow had Saturday night off, Laboucane went with one of his younger horses instead.
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“The left wheel was a second-year horse out of Oklahoma named Crook,” said Laboucane, who subsequently gave Crook a rest on Monday. “He’s awesome. He’s becoming one of the mainstays.”
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After the adrenaline rush of racing in front of a packed crowd at GMC Stadium, Laboucane said he typically gets to sleep around midnight
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“We get up usually around 6:30 a.m.,” said the reinsman in regards to his busy schedule. “We go down and feed morning oats to the horses and have a couple cups of coffee until the crew arrives at 8 a.m. Then we do chores. We’ve got to walk horses, clean stalls, wash harnesses, wash horse’s legs, do all the stuff that we need to do. Then we give them noon oats and we’re off until usually right around 4 p.m. We try to squeeze a nap in there if we can.”
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Then it’s all about more chores to get the barn looking pristine for a tour for sponsors and their guests that usually starts around 5 p.m.
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“We wash all the horses that are going that night, walk all the ones that are not and clean the stalls again,” said Laboucane, who’s been coming to the Calgary Stampede since he was a kid when his dad Brian was a driver. “Then we wash the floor and I check the horses just before 5 p.m. Then at 5 p.m., I do a barn tour, pictures and stuff outside.”
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Since he doesn’t race until the last heat, Laboucane likes to watch the early races from his vantage point on the backstretch so he can get a sense of the track conditions.
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“Absolutely, we like to watch the races … I’m still a fan of wagon racing,” he said, while noting he and his crew still have work to do to get the horses hooked up to his wagon. “In Heat 3 we harness, in Heat 5 we bridle. Right when Heat 7 goes onto the track, that’s when we hook.”
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At race time, Laboucane heads out on the track with his wife by his side.
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“She rides with me in the box,” he said. “I do a lot of visualizing. Then right before we go on the track, I tell my wife, ‘Ok, let’s go have some fun.’ Then we go race.”
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After crossing the finish line, Laboucane turns his horses around and his wife jumps back in the wagon to drive the outfit past the fans in the stands once again.
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“She drives them by the grandstand and turns them around and drives them back,” he said. “Usually around the first corner I take over again.”
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But the work isn’t quite finished just yet.
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“We get into the back, we unhook, we unharness the horses, we bath them and walk them to cool them out,” Laboucane said. “After that, it’s mudding horses legs and doctoring and feeding them all their night feed. Then, of course, we’ve got to stick around a little bit and do night waters, which is usually around 11 p.m. or midnight and then get to bed.”
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AROUND THE BARRELS
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Aboard his Graf Mechanical Ltd. wagon, Kris Molle won Monday’s seventh heat in 1:11.43, which stood up as the second-fastest time of the night and moved him into third place in the cumulative standings with a total time of 4:54.74 … Darcy Flad (Ternan Farms) finished just 29/100ths of a second behind Molle in Heat 6 and wound up in third spot for the evening. He moved into fifth spot in the standings (4:56.82) … Rae Croteau Jr. (Warren Valve) actually crossed the finish line in second spot behind Vigen in the ninth heat but was assessed a one-second penalty for his wagon starting ahead of the horn. He dropped from third to fourth in the aggregate standings and is currently 73/100ths of a second behind Molle.
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|
Day 4 Results |
|||
|
Rank |
Driver |
Sponsor |
Total Time |
|
1 |
Chanse Vigen |
visitlethbridge.com |
1:11.39 |
|
2 |
Kris Molle |
Graf Mechanical Ltd. |
1:11.43 |
|
3 |
Darcy Flad |
Turnan Farms |
1:11.72 |
|
4 |
Jamie Laboucane |
Panorama Advisory Group |
1:11.89 |
|
5 |
Cody Ridsdale |
Summit Fleet |
1:12.09 |
|
6 |
Obrey Motowylo |
Shel-Bar Electronic Industries Ltd. |
1:12.23 |
|
7 |
Kurt Bensmiller |
Grey Eagle Resort and Casino |
1:12.44 |
|
8 |
Jason Glass |
Birchcliff Energy Ltd. |
1:12.72 |
|
9 |
Rae Croteau Jr. |
Warren Valve |
1:12.84 |
|
10 |
Mitch Sutherland |
Marlin Resources Ltd. |
1:13.04 |
|
11 |
Logan Gorst |
Thermo Design Engineering |
1:13.15 |
|
12 |
Chance Flad |
Dilawri Auto |
1:13.40 |
|
13 |
Troy Dorchester* |
PBA Group Of Companies |
1:13.54 |
|
14 |
Evan Salmond |
De Havilland Twin Otter |
1:13.56 |
|
15 |
D.J. King |
DK Skills Hockey Development |
1:13.70 |
|
16 |
Preston Faithful |
De Havilland WaterBomber |
1:13.81 |
|
17 |
Wade Salmond |
De Havilland Sherpa |
1:13.96 |
|
18 |
Layne MacGillivray |
Shady Creek Ranch |
1:14.11 |
|
19 |
Dayton Sutherland |
Truman Homes |
1:14.16 |
|
20 |
Dustin Gorst |
Arbiter Completions & Controls |
1:14.27 |
|
21 |
Todd Baptiste |
Coding For Veterans |
1:14.36 |
|
22 |
Ross Knight |
MobSquad |
1:14.51 |
|
23 |
Chance Thomson |
Ranger Inspection |
1:14.58 |
|
24 |
Chance Bensmiller |
EllisDon |
1:14.97 |
|
25 |
Chad Fike |
Steelhaus Tryton |
1:15.46 |
|
26 |
Dallas Dyck |
Stoney Nakoda Resort & Casino |
1:20.81 |
|
27 |
Danny Ringuette |
Canteen Canada |
1:24.85 |
|
* Roger Moore is driving Troy Dorchester’s Chuckwagon |
|||
|
4 Day Aggregate Standings |
|||
|
Rank |
Driver |
Sponsor |
4 Day Total |
|
1 |
Chanse Vigen |
Lethbridge Lodging Association |
4:50.18 |
|
2 |
Jamie Laboucane |
Panorama Advisory Group |
4:50.91 |
|
3 |
Kris Molle |
Graf Mechanical Ltd. |
4:54.74 |
|
4 |
Rae Croteau Jr. |
Bar L-5 Ranch |
4:55.47 |
|
5 |
Darcy Flad |
Vista Properties Limited |
4:56.82 |
|
6 |
Logan Gorst |
International Petroleum Corp. |
4:56.85 |
|
7 |
Evan Salmond |
De Havilland Twin Otter |
4:56.97 |
|
7 |
Mitch Sutherland |
Marlin Resources Ltd. |
4:56.97 |
|
9 |
Obrey Motowylo |
Shel-Bar Electronic Industries Ltd. |
4:57.89 |
|
10 |
Troy Dorchester |
MobSquad |
4:57.97 |
|
11 |
Preston Faithful |
Steelhaus Tryton |
4:58.09 |
|
12 |
Jason Glass |
Birchcliff Energy Ltd. |
4:58.30 |
|
13 |
Layne MacGillivray |
Shady Creek Ranch |
4:58.66 |
|
14 |
Chad Fike |
Steelhaus Tryton |
4:58.91 |
|
15 |
Dayton Sutherland |
Truman Homes |
4:59.75 |
|
16 |
Ross Knight |
MobSquad |
5:00.60 |
|
17 |
Wade Salmond |
De Havilland Sherpa |
5:00.65 |
|
18 |
Todd Baptiste |
MobSquad |
5:00.76 |
|
19 |
Kurt Bensmiller |
Grey Eagle Resort and Casino |
5:00.93 |
|
20 |
Chance Thomson |
VIP YYC |
5:01.36 |
|
21 |
Chance Bensmiller |
EllisDon |
5:02.05 |
|
22 |
Dustin Gorst |
International Petroleum Corp. |
5:03.69 |
|
23 |
D.J. King |
Valentine Volvo |
5:04.92 |
|
24 |
Chance Flad |
Meguinis Enterprises Business Ranch |
5:10.44 |
|
25 |
Danny Ringuette |
The Brakeman Foundation |
5:11.46 |
|
26 |
Cody Ridsdale |
Shaw GMC Chevrolet Buick |
5:16.05 |
|
27 |
Dallas Dyck |
Stoney Nakoda Nations |
5:16.24 |
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