Kerri Raven got into horse racing by “finding horses in her hometown,” Fergus, Ontartio. Her parents worked normal trade jobs, so Raven found horses on her own.
She attended the jockey program at Humber College near Woodbine Racecourse before starting to travel and training endurance horses in France.
“I didn’t really like racing at first just because you’re not on a horse for very long,” Raven said.
Endurance horse racing includes controlled long-distance races, and the distance can range between 100 km (62 mi) to 200 km (124 mi).
“I was training for the shiekhs from Dubai and another shiekh in France at 20 horses,” Raven said.
Raven’s stable at Canterbury Park now holds 11 horses and despite all her training with endurance horses, she claims the fast sprinters.
“I really like sprinters; I like the style,” Raven said. “I don’t like a deep closer.”
After stock market success, Raven was put into a position where she “didn’t have to work,” but continued to put money and time into her horses.
“What am I if I didn’t do this,” Raven said. “It is all I ever wanted to do.”
Raven continues to gallop her horses along with training them.
“I don’t ever have a plan,” Raven said about her training schedule. “I get on them and kind of feel them out and then make a decision on what I’m doing from there.”
She has never trained a horse from the ground and will keep training as long as she can gallop. She isn’t sure if she could continue training without galloping.
“Would I still want to do it?” Raven asked.
This is Raven’s third season at Canterbury Park and she loves the track here.
“I like the backside,” Raven said. “I think they treat us really well here and they like us and the horses.”
Raven’s best horse she’s trained is Chess Master. “He’s just a really, really cool one,” Raven said.
Chess Master is racing in the Dark Star Turf Sprint at the Mystic Lake Northern Stars Turf Festival.
