by Victoria Howard

Amy O’Toole, the manager of equine programming at The Raceway at The Western Fair District is no stranger to the sport. Her maternal grandparents were involved in harness racing. Thus, when Amy’s father met her mother, Kim Bakker, he was bitten by the bug and jumped on board.

“Growing up, my family had a small stable with my mother as the trainer,” Amy said. “My mom doesn’t train anymore. She works at The Raceway as the assistant paddock judge.

“My fondest memories growing up were going to the track in London with my dad. It’s funny but some of the mutuel tellers that are still working there tell me stories about me running around as a little girl, so I guess you can say it’s come to a full circle.”

Currently, Amy does not own any racehorses, but will always remember her first one: Ideal Assault.

“He wasn’t the fastest or best racehorse, but I will never forget that feeling when he won at Woodstock Raceway under my name,” Amy said. “After Ideal we owned some homebreds out of our broodmares. We still have one horse out of that mare — Justalittleluck — who is now retired and the family pet.”

The Raceway at The Western Fair District is a popular track that is located in downtown London, ON. It is the #2 wagering harness track in Canada and was the first to introduce nighttime racing in the province in the 1960s. The Raceway is not a fair track, but a signature track, and it is there that the sport’s Hall of Fame driver, John Campbell, got his first of many winning drives.

The Raceway is part of the larger Western Fair Association that operates a four-rink sports center, an agri-business hub called the Grove, a Farmers

Market and a multipurpose Agriplex, where the London Classic Yearling Sale is held.

While attending high school, Amy got a job cleaning and distributing saddle pads the horses wear in a race.

“My mom was working at the track and I was at the right place at the right time when they were looking for someone to fill in distributing the saddle pads,” Amy said. “I then learned how to time the races and did that for a couple years. When we weren’t racing in the summer months, I worked in the simulcast [department] as one of the floor mutuel managers, and later I was running the social media and marketing.

“On Friday nights, I would work in the dining room teaching newcomers how to bet and also ran the on-track promotions. I feel very lucky for if I hadn’t been at the races that night, I might not have gotten that first job. I still remember Ian Fleming, who was the manager of the Raceway at the time, telling me very early on in my career never turn down an opportunity to learn a new job.”

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, lockdown slowed everything down.

“I had been away from The Raceway for two years during the pandemic and during that time I worked at an insurance company,” Amy said. “When a job opened for manager of equine programming, it was too tempting not to apply. Given my previous job history and having so much knowledge at the racetrack, I applied, and was offered the position.

“My job involves working closely with Greg Blanchard — the director of equine programming — with the daily operations of the racetrack, as well as planning and operating the London Classic Yearling Sale that we host in October.”

According to Amy her first three months back at the Raceway has been a very smooth transition thanks to the help and guidance from Blanchard and track announcer Shannon Doyle.

“I really enjoy working closely [with them] and am learning so much from them,” she said. “We have a great team and just finished up our racing season on a high note with a very successful Camluck Classic night. I’m excited to jump into the planning of the yearling sale and learning more about the background details that go into it.”