L’Heureux nets first best wagon in trailblazing effort

By Tyler Marr, battlefordsNOW

The dust has settled on three days of wagon racing in North Battleford and Brad McMann walked away with the top prize.

The fourth-year Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association (CPCA) driver notched times of 1:04.39, 1:02.71 and 1:02.43 for a show total of 3:08.44, edging Todd Baptiste by just 31 milliseconds for the buckle.

But the driver eliciting the loudest reaction from the grandstand as she crossed the finish line Sunday was Amber L’Heureux, who made history two nights prior by becoming the first female in the circuit’s six-decade history to navigate the barrels.

L’Heureux launched off barrel one and held the lead throughout, though it was no greater than a horse’s head at times. Coming into corner three ahead, L’Heureux hoped she wouldn’t be overtook on the outside by Randall Stanley or Mervin McCallum coming home.

“The horses felt really good tonight. My horses, I work with them so much that they really feed off of me. If I am on my game they are on their game,” she said.

Despite being first across the line, L’Heureux’s time suffered as one of her outriders was tied up among the barrels for a majority of the race. She didn’t notice until late in the half-mile as she was dialled in, she said.

She admitted “things happen,” and said it is all part of the game.

“We are a team,” she said, acknowledging a talk was in store.

L’Heureux clocked 1:07.02 her opening night and 1:10.73 on Saturday. Contemplation and analyzation of these runs filled her time before arriving at the track Sunday, she said.

“I wanted to stay clean but I knew that my driving capability was a little better than that and I was letting nerves get the best of me,” she said.

Finding a healthier mindset, she said, weighed heavily on Sunday’s outcome.

“Driving wagon for me is 20 per cent physical … and the other 80 per cent is mindset going into it,” she said. “Races are won and lost on that.”