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Fort Erie Track Announcer Frank Salive Retiring

Frank Salive, Fort Erie's track announcer, is retiring from his commanding post in the announcer's booth at the border oval on Tuesday. Salive has been the voice of horse racing for over three decades, calling races at several thoroughbred and harness tracks including Fort Erie Race Track, Woodbine, Western Fair, and Pompano Park.

In the mid-70s, the Leamington native was a star junior goalie for the Peterborough Petes. After hanging up his skates, he seamlessly transitioned into the world of mainstream sports broadcasting, working for various networks including CTV, CBC as well as TSN. In 1976, at the age of 21, Salive's first network assignment was covering five events a day at the Montreal Summer Olympics for CTV.

In 1990 he stepped into the world of horse racing at Woodbine Racetrack. Salive worked at Woodbine for a decade and a half before heading west to London, Ontario to call races at Western Fair for four years from 2005 to 2009. His next venture would be Pompano Park in Florida where his voiced filled the atmosphere and racing apron until 2012. As he developed his craft calling races, Salive credits several announcers that impacted his career in the announcer's booth.

“I would say Stan Bergstein was a foundation announcer that I really patterned myself after for harness racing. Certainly, Dan Loiselle (thoroughbred racing) helped me a lot in my years at Woodbine. I went a lot by his example – to transform a race from just the look of horses going on an oval into a little bit of a story,” said Salive.

In 2016, the venerable track announcer landed his feet at Fort Erie Race Track. He's called the border oval home for the last six racing seasons.

Narrating a fleet of horses as they move from gate to wire jockeying for top spot might seem like a fairly straightforward task, but Salive knows there's a lot more to it than that.

“You really don't know how your body and mind are going to react, but its kind counterintuitive to the crowd. The crowd is excited, and they are all cheering, and you have to be exactly the opposite. Before The Prince of Wales – a live national tv broadcast, you challenge yourself on how far you can slow down your heart rate and breathing because you can't be out of control with excitement from gate to wire. You have to build it up to the finish. So, it's different than being in the crowd as a race fan, you have to go the opposite direction and stay calm.”

Asked to recall career highlights at the border oval, the track announcer is quick to respond.

“I came from a strong Standardbred past so to get to cross over and do six of the Canadian Triple Crown races in my tenure here.”

To date, Salive has called close to 200,000 races during his illustrious career. Salive will call his last card at Fort Erie Race Track this afternoon.

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Sinkhole Horse Mr. Changue Retired, Seeking New Career

If you remember the name of 8-year-old claiming veteran Mr. Changue, it's probably because of one of the strangest days of his life. The Fort Erie mainstay was peacefully eating grass on the backstretch of the racetrack in the summer of 2019 when the ground gave way and swallowed him in a six-foot hole. A broken water main had created a sinkhole just where the chestnut was standing, and the next hour or so was a frantic race by trainer Ken Albu, his fellow trainers, and the Fort Erie Fire Department to get him out again.

Now, Albu is hoping he can become famous for something a little less harrowing.

After 65 starts, nine wins, 17 seconds and eight thirds, Albu and owner Sam Passero have decided to call it a day with Mr. Changue. The barn favorite won a claimer this summer but Albu said in recent weeks he could tell the horse's heart just wasn't in his job anymore.

“He just doesn't want to do it no more,” said Albu. “And I'm not going to hurt him to do it. Even though he's at the barn and wants to train every day, he goes out there and he's not performing to the top of his game. I know.”

Albu is now in the process of screening potential new homes for Mr. Changue. He said he has always made an effort to find new vocations for horses retiring from his barn, but this horse is special. He plans to create a sale or adoption contract that will give him first right of refusal if a new home doesn't work out. If he has to, Mr. Changue can live out his days with his old friend, but Albu thinks the horse may prefer to keep busy.

“He's a gentleman,” Albu said. “Anyone can feed him. He has a lovely disposition. He's an 8-year-old stallion and he's got a great disposition.

“I've had a lot of contacts — Long Run Retirement showed some interest in him. I've had so many calls. I just want him to go to a good home, a forever home. It's not really about the money for me; I don't even really want money for him, I want to make sure he has a good home for the rest of his life. Long Run is willing to accept him, but they're not able to accept a stallion. If I can find someone who can accommodate him and enjoy him, then that would be great.”

Mr. Changue during his sinkhole rescue. Photo courtesy Ken Albu

Albu has trained the horse since 2018 and admitted it will be hard not to see him in the barn every day — especially after that awful day two years ago.

“He's a resilient old bugger,” said Albu. “We got a back hoe to dig him out and then pretty much turned him around and walked him out. But he was in the ground for an hour or so. He handled it pretty well because he's a sensible guy. He didn't panic. He came out pretty much unscathed.”

In fact, 12 days later, Mr. Changue was tearing the barn down, ready to run, so Albu put him in the entries — and he won.

“He's kind of a special horse in my heart,” said Albu. “I thought we were going to lose him that day [he fell in the hole]. By the grace of God we didn't, and he was able to go on and have a great career here … I've been training for 22 years and he's one of the closest horses to my heart that I've ever had.”

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Woodbine Community Mourns Loss Of Trainer Ashlee Brnjas

Woodbine Entertainment and the entire Woodbine racing community is saddened to learn of the passing of Thoroughbred trainer Ashlee Brnjas.

Brnjas' final entry, Hit This Town, won the seventh race on Monday at Fort Erie.

After starting her equine career with hunters and jumpers, Brnjas took the advice of her father, John, and moved over to training Thoroughbreds for his Colebrook Farms. Brnjas made her official training debut in 2007, earned her first of 11 stakes victory in 2009 and conditioned the winners of 317 races and $10.6 million during her career.

Brnjas notably campaigned two-time Grade 1 Northern Dancer Stakes winner Johnny Bear.

Woodbine would like to extend its sincerest condolences to all the family and friends of Ashlee Brnjas.

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Fort Erie Race Track Will Require Spectators To Be Fully Vaccinated

On Sept. 22, the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium (FELRC) will require all spectators to be fully vaccinated to attend live or simulcast racing at Fort Erie Race Track. Provincial regulations outlined in the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, require that all spectators be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend horse racing venues across Ontario.

“Following suit with the provincial government regulations, all our fans must be fully vaccinated if they intend to come and watch live racing at our venue,” said Tom Valiquette, FELRC's chief financial officer. “This will also apply to anyone who intends to watch simulcast racing at the Racebook throughout the week as well as the weekend.”

Government regulations stipulate that a fully vaccinated person is one that has received a full series of the vaccine authorized by Health Canada. This would include any combination of the vaccines. A person is also considered fully vaccinated if they have received one or two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine not authorized by Health Canada, followed by one dose of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine authorized by Health Canada. Additionally, a person is fully vaccinated if they received three doses of the vaccine not authorized by Health Canada and received their final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine 14 days before providing proof.

Proof of vaccination includes a paper or emailed receipt provided by the Ontario government. Individuals can print or download their vaccine receipt from the provincial booking portal. Additionally, individuals needing support in obtaining their vaccination receipt can also call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900.

Spectators that are 18 years old or younger are exempt from the government's mandate to be fully vaccinated to attend live racing.

Medical exemptions will be allowed for a multitude of reasons and as outlined by Ontario's Ministry of Health. One valid exemption is if the individual suffered an allergic reaction related to a component in the vaccine. The second valid exemption is if the individual suffers a heart condition after the first dose of the vaccine. Individuals must provide written documentation completed by a physician or registered nurse stating the medical reason for not being full vaccinated as well as the effective time-period for the medical reason.

All Fort Erie Race Track employees, contractors and horsepeople will be required to be fully vaccinated, or they must enter into an enhanced screening program for the foreseeable future.

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