‘Till racing do we part

By Nicholas Oakes

Darla MacEachern was running up the Charlottetown backstretch to get to her horse Gentle Sam, who had pulled up just before the three-quarter pole and was standing on three-legs.
“Darla it’s not good. I think he broke his leg,” driver Walter Cheverie told her.
Gentle Sam had to be put down and even though she only had the horse for a month she couldn’t bear to watch.
“I was too upset,” she recalls, “but I did cut off a braid of his hair and I still have it. It was a pretty sad night.”
That was a definite bump in the road and made harder because she lost another horse (Donmar H) the year before when he broke a bone during a race in Summerside but it hasn’t been the norm for Darla.
She grew up in Tyne Valley in western P.E.I., with her father Duane who trains a small stable.
She remembers helping her father at just five-years old and getting a little too close to some of the horses.
“Sometimes dad would catch me underneath them brushing them off,” she grins.
When she was 12, William Companion (a friend of her father’s) had Woodbine Free-for-aller Scarlet And Gold on P.E.I., for the Gold Cup & Saucer and one day she got to jog him. Companion said the horse would jog fine as long as he was alone on the track but unluckily for Darla a horse came out onto the track to train, and Scarlet And Gold decided to do a training trip of his own the wrong way of the track.
“I thought I was going to die,” Darla remembers. “He was trying to train with them.”
She’s now 21 and works as a receptionist for a family doctor in Summerside, P.E.I.
“(I like) the interaction with the people,” Darla says. “They’re sick and you’re helping people and hopefully they’re better when they leave.”
Although she likes dealing with people, she loves dealing with horses and her favourite, hands down, is Invitational pacer Porthill Alf (1:53.1, 48 wins, $132,000)- trained by her father.
“I like watching him race because he’s always there. He can leave and he can finish.”
But there are some things not to like about the son of Largo.
“His mood swings. But if you have treats he’s always in a good mood,” she laughs. “He’s kicked me a few times but we’re good now.”
Lately, Darla has tried her hand driving on the P.E.I. matinee circuit, where she won her first race with Stagecoachgambler at her home track of Tyne Valley.
“It was exciting. I like the adrenaline rush behind the gate and during the race.”
When it comes to Darla and how much she loves horse racing you just have to look at her schedule next summer.
“I’m getting married in July, but it’s on a Friday so I can go to the races Saturday.”
But is there any chance of her honeymoon starting Saturday?
“Depends what’s racing,” she grins.
For her Fiancé Justin’s sake, he better hope Porthill Alf isn’t in to race with a good class and an inside post, because it means his wife won’t miss it for the world.