It’s off to the races as 30th season begins at Lethbridge’s Rocky Mountain Turf Club

Southern Alberta Newspapers Photo by Alexandra Noad. SEASON BEGAN: Max Gibb, chief executive officer of Rocky Mountain Turf Club, welcomes media partners, horsemen and jockeys on Thursday prior to the 30th season opener on May 3.

By Alexandra Noad
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The horses were off to the races as Lethbridge’s Rocky Mountain Turf Club celebrated their 30th year beginning on May 3.

Max Gibb, chief executive officer for Rocky Mountain Turf Club, says that he was retiring from the Alberta Sport Council when he was talked into reopening the track as it was closed due to economic reasons. Back then almost all of the towns in Southern Alberta had their own racetrack, so it was important that Lethbridge had one as well.

Their first season ran for 30 days with the purse for each race being $600. Thirty years later, their season will have 32 days and the purse of each race averaging $7,000 and the derby being $12,000.

Gibb says the racetrack substantially contributes to the economy in Lethbridge and southern Alberta.

“We’re a $240-million economic benefit to Lethbridge and southern Alberta, when you count the hay purchases, grain purchases, transportation, tourists coming in, hotel rooms, trailer parks and everything.”

He adds that more importantly, horse racing has been a part of Alberta’s history for as long as it’s been a province.

Historically, two of the greatest jockeys came out of southern Alberta, George Woolf and Johnny Longden, who both won Kentucky Derby Triple Crowns.

Today horse racing brings jockeys from Jamaica and Mexico, but the horsemen come from around Alberta and Montana, with 35 per cent of the horsemen being Indigenous.

The Rocky Mountain Turf Club also hosts Warrior Relay Races, traditional to the Blackfoot people, which Gibb says is one of the strongest tracks in the world to host both thoroughbred and Warrior Relay races.

Starting this week races run all weekend long during May and June and then in September and October. Along with the horse racing there are candy scrambles, stick horse racing as well as a petting zoo, so there’s something for the entire family to enjoy.