On Tuesday, August 2 at Tir Prince Raceway in Wales, UK, the fastest dirt track in all the UK & Ireland will play host to the Breeders Crown UK & Ireland.
Featured on the race card will be many of the best two, three and four-year-old pacing fillies, mares and horses bred in both the UK and Ireland and it will also be the tenth anniversary of the Breeders Crown UK & Ireland. Tir Prince is one of the premier half mile, night time hard tracks in all of the UK and Ireland.
But who is the man behind the organization that has setup and run the Breeders Crown UK & Ireland since its inception? That honor goes to none other than Dave Wilson of West Linton, Scotland.
Wilson, who has been involved in harness racing for more than 60 years, owns www.davewilsonharness.com, which is the premier on-line harness and horse supply tack shop throughout the UK and Ireland and also sells worldwide.
Before venturing into the tack shop business in 1979, Dave Wilson got his training in harness racing as a youngster.
“I first got into it when I was a child around 1952.” Wilson explained, “Mucked out stalls, groomed and walked and jogged horses for a year at a local track called Stenhouse Stadium in Edinburgh, before I was allowed to drive in a race. I think I was about 11 or 12 when I first drove in a race and went on to win a lot of races up until 1965.
“My father, a self-made man,” Wilson explained. “started out as a horse dealer and later ended up with three quarries, a transport business and a fleet of vehicles. His grandfather was a horse dealer and my grandfather on my mother’s side were horse dealers, so it was inevitable I would end up doing something with horses. I learned a lot at Stenhouse Stadium by watching the old professionals like Jim Young whose brother Rab Young was a famous driver in New Zealand.
“My grandmothers brother was the top trainer of trotting and pacing horses,” Wilson said. “He also raced horses guideless (tacked up with overcheck and turned and let loose to race against other horses round the track) and his name was Baker Waldie, this would be in the mid-1800s.
So when did Dave Wilson end up with Dave Wilson Harness/Tack business?”
“Around 1979, after I first got back in to harness racing after a long break.” Wilson said. “I quit racing horses in 1965 after winning a heat and the final of the famous Musselburgh Trot on an imported German stallion called Calif by Scotland’s Comet (USA). I had quit to concentrate on the family business.
Over the years Dave Wilson has owned, bred and raced a goodly amount of horses.
“You can say I've owned a lot, bred a lot, and raced a lot.” Wilson explained. “When I got back into it in 1979, I bought three yearlings in the USA which were bred in Pennsylvania by the Amish man Levi Stoltzfus at Conestoga Farms right next to Hanover Shoe Farm.
“They were sent to Hawkensville to get broken in.” Wilson said. “We brought the three back to Scotland but only one made it to the races. He was called Battle Cry by Battleground (Meadow Skipper oo Belle Acton). Out of a very consistent mare who raced until she was 12. The filly was Conestoga Starlite (changed to Meadow Starlite) and she was big and beautiful but her legs let her down. She did breed some good winners for us including Meadow Reba, who won a heat and final of the Dave Finlayson Memorial at Musselburgh as a 3-year-old.
“This was in 1986,” Wilson added, “and we still have her here, she is now 33 and looking good! I've also had a few stallions here, namely Skippers Subject, who is bred by Meadow Skipper oo Timely Subject, and he produced some good offspring in USA and here, also Fame (Albatross oo Passing Glance), who won half million as a 2-year-old but flipped a palate in the Woodrow Wilson or would have won over a million at age 2. He too bred some good ones and we still have a few retired here who won some great races for us.”
How did Dave Wilson get from racing horses to harness and tack shop owner, to president of the Breeders Crown UK & Ireland?
“After coming back from this long absence from racing I felt a bit ashamed knowing I could have made a better effort in promoting, breeding and racing the sport in the UK,” Wilson said. “Noel Simpson made a big impression on me in the early '60s when he opened Prestayn Raceway with the help of Roosevelt Raceway’s George Morton Levy, along with some other New Zealand and Australian investors.
“Apart from the raceway, Simpson used Prestayne as a quarantine country for stallions coming from the USA and going to AU and NZ.” Wilson explained. “These were all stallions with records which were used in the UK while in quarantine and they had a big impact on breeding of Standardbreds in UK. The progeny of these stallions in later years were exported to Canada and the USA.
“That was an industry created overnight.” Wilson said. “Years later after the quarantine regulations were eased, the UK went back into breeding unraced imported stallions, although reasonably well-bred, they produced very little, with the odd minor stallion proving himself worthwhile. It was then in 1980 at a BHRC meeting, I suggested horses of better quality should be bred and proven stallions should be used.
“This fell upon deaf ears, Wilson explained, “and only one committee member acknowledged the merit in it. I later drew up papers for a proposed Sire Stakes and Arthur Slack a well-known breeder of Standardbreds, submitted on my behalf, which initiated the British Harness Racing Club’s Sire Stakes program. For various reasons this was never the success I wanted it to be. After drawing up the papers I had no further input into the Sire Stakes other than entering horses.
“Now fast forward to 26 years later,” Wilson said, “and I had some mares I hadn't bred for years as the stallions here were not attractive enough to me. Then low and behold out of the blue along came Alabar Stud with frozen semen from some top stallions. I took the opportunity to breed three mares using the frozen semen from Safely Kept, and Village Jasper.
“I wanted to enter them in the Sire Stakes program, but was refused,” Wilson added, “and that is how the Breeders Crown UK and Ireland came about. I looked at the Sire Stakes program and could see why it was on the wane and not flourishing like it should have.
“I took this refusal as a negative view for breeding going forward,” Wilson said, “and consequently got in touch with Alabar, who got me started by entering all of their stallions so the foals would be eligible to race in the BC, which moved from track to track and got people and breeders interested who had not really raced 2-year-olds before. The BC has never looked back since and gets more popular each year with prize money increasing along with numbers of horses entering.
The Breeders Crown UK & Ireland’s motto is to promote, to support and to improve the quality of breeding and harness racing throughout Great Britain and Ireland.
“We strive to encourage and expand the positive image of harness racing through media and marketing.” Wilson added. “We support current owners and those interested in harness racing by providing comprehensive information about our series and how people can get involved in breeding, owning and racing horses. And we strongly advocate the use of only proven stallions and mares in our breeding in order to continually improve the quality of our horses.”
Wilson is supported by a lot of suppliers who either give products to raise funds or sponsor us, or from people who also believe in what I am doing. Without them the Breeders Crown UK & Ireland would not exist.
"I also have to say," Wilson added, "that I have a right hand man (woman), who has been with me for many years and is a superb help in both departments and keeps me on the straight and narrow. Jacqui Mann is the General Manager of Dave Wilson Harness and she is secretary for the Breeders Crown and she is a major help in making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible."
Just a year ago Wilson commissioned a professional graphic artists and a webmaster to re-create and polish off their website, www.breederscrownuk&ireland.com with great success.
“We are very proud of our website,” Wilson said. “It’s top notch, easy to navigate, super photos and all the information and contacts everyone needs to stay abreast of what is happening.”
“David Wilson is a pleasure to work with his experience in harness racing is second to none,” said Eric Witherspoon, Director of Racing at Tir Prince. “He is committed to taking the sport forward in the UK. The Breeders Crown is a truly top juvenile event and we are delighted to be holding it at Tir Prince for the next three years.”
So what is Dave Wilson excited the most about for this year’s Breeders Crown night?
“I would say getting the news that New Zealand driving star, Dexter Dunn, will be driving at Tir Prince on Breeders Crown night.” Wilson beamed. “Having Dexter coming to drive is just fabulous. He showed everyone at Portmarnock (Ireland) last year of his great ability to drive a horse and I know his services will be in much demand from trainers and owners alike.
“I’m also excited that we are able to add the inaugural All American-bred Filly Pace for two-year-olds this year,” Wilson added, “plus a bumper crop of horses eligible for the Breeders Crown. And we have a large tour group from Australia, Harness Racing TravelWorld, engineered by a long term friend of mine, Bill Hutchison, which will not only take in the Breeders Crown in Wales but also the Edinburgh Festival and the Vincent Delaney Memorial in Dublin Ireland.
“It’s all top notch great news,” Wilson smiled.
By Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink