‘The right decision was made’: WPCA announces Medicine Hat event will conclude Sunday despite Thursday’s cancellation due to weather

By RYAN MCCRACKEN on June 15, 2019.

NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN - Curtis Morin (right) and Layne Flad battle for position around the final turn during a heat in the World Professional Chuckwagon Associaition on Thursday at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken

The battle for a berth into Sunday’s dash for cash just got a little more interesting.

After inclement weather forced the World Professional Chuckwagon Association to cancel its first of four days in Medicine Hat following eight heats Thursday, the event will continue as planned – though any completed races from Day 1 will not factor into the overall aggregate. As a result, only the top three from Friday and Saturday will find themselves in Sunday’s grand finale.

“I guess it puts a little more priority on (Friday and Saturday),” said Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede general manager Jim MacArthur. “With a bit of luck it should be very entertaining and exciting.”

Troy Dorchester, who drives the Eldorado Pressure wagon, says he’s proud to be part of an organization that makes safety a priority, as Thursday’s conditions ultimately proved too dangerous for drivers, outriders and horses when heavy winds kicked up dirt and brought in lightning.

“The right decision was made for the safety of the horses and the drivers and outriders,” he said. “Everybody is kind of fighting for points right now so it’s kind of crappy that it turned out the way it did, but definitely the right call was made not to go on with the races.”

The WPCA announced the scheduling update in a press release Friday afternoon, adding “drivers who did participate in (Thursday’s) races would still be compensated based on their standings at the time of the cancellation.” The release also stated that no aggregate points will be awarded, instead drivers will only receive day points through the weekend. Drivers also maintained their barrel positions for Friday’s races as though it were the opening night of competition.

MacArthur added the Stampede has systems in place to monitor and prepare for weather related issues, though Thursday’s sudden surge of wind created too much cause for concern on the track, prompting the cancellation of Day 1.

“We do have people back in-house monitoring on computers to see what the weather is like and what the storm movement is like. We did let people know, I guess in a cautious way,” said MacArthur. “We can accommodate a lot of people underneath too, so we were quite confident we could keep people safe – a little different story with horses and wagons. Of course they’re very exposed to the weather, so it just got to the point where the wind was just too strong to make it a fair competition, but that would be quite secondary to the safety part of it.”

On top of having protocols in place for weather-related issues, Dorchester says all horses are fitted with a microchip that is scanned prior to each race to ensure no animal is overworked.

“Most of us are packing enough that we don’t ever overrun them but it’s nice to stay on top of it to make sure everybody’s on the same page,” said Dorchester. “They can run three days in a row but then they have to have one off, or if they go four days in a row they have to have two off. We’ve followed the format the Calgary Stampede put in place and I’m proud of that system. I think it’s great for our sport.”

With Thursday’s results wiped from the official record and no aggregate points up for grabs, Dorchester says every remaining race this season becomes that much more crucial when it comes to securing one of the 12 spots available in the world finals at Calgary’s Century Downs Racetrack in August.

“We’ve got a new format so we battle it out all year,” said Dorchester. “The top 12 in points after the Rocky Mountain House show is over, they run on their own points system. There will still be all 36 wagons at Century Downs, everybody still has a shot at winning the average â€¦ then the top 12 will be seeded in their own three heats and they’ll have their own points system.”

Kurt Bensmiller finished with Friday’s unofficial top time and now leads the aggregate after winning Heat 12 in 1:02.65, while Vern Nolin barely settled for second in the same heat at 1:02.70 and Codey McCurrach holds third after winning Heat 11 in 1:02.98.