Fort Erie: Opening day Tuesday is all about family matters

When horse racing returns to Fort Erie on Tuesday, it will be as much a family reunion as it will be the season opener for the historic border oval.

Just ask horse trainer Kevin Buttigieg, who can’t think of a better place to call home.

“It’s the only place I want to train at,” he said. “I’ve been offered by a couple of owners that spend decent money to go to Woodbine, and it’s just not my cup of tea. I grew up in Mississauga, like borderline Oakville, and I liked it as a kid, but it’s just not for me. This kind of lifestyle is what I like to live.”

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Fort Erie opens its 2024 season Tuesday with nine races, each of which features at least eight horses. The first post is at 4:30 p.m. EDT with racing on most Mondays and Tuesdays until the end of the season Oct. 22. The track has four special noon EDT Sunday cards, the first of which lands June 16 on Father’s Day.

Buttigieg began training horses more than two decades ago and secured his first win with his first starter Frank’s Approval on Sept. 16, 2002. The trainer has won a handful of big races at the track, including two editions of the Puss ’n Boots Cup. He also met his wife Sarah at the track.

Sitting on the picnic bench outside their barn, Sarah Buttigieg reflected on how happenstance is really a natural measure of life circumstances.

“If you are here enough, you find somebody,” she said.

Sarah Buttigieg grew up in the Niagara region. In the late ’90s she walked hots and groomed horses for David Schmidt and Kim Dobson before eventually learning to gallop horses on the farm and then the track.

“I ran my first horse ever for Dave Schmidt. Stop the Hammer was her name,” recalled Sarah, who is easy to spot on a race day. Walking over to the frontside with their horses, Kevin and Sarah both sport hunter green shirts in tune with the Buttigiegs’ barn and brand.

They will have their hands full on opening day, when they have a horse in each of the two US$21,924 cup races. Ami’s Girl will race for the Summer Solstice Cup, and Follow Me Home will be in the Sprint Into Summer Cup.

Kevin and Sarah Buttigieg are always on the move, whether it’s getting horses ready to work, cleaning the shed, feeding or even tending to the fans secured above the horses’ stalls to ensure they stay cool. On a few occasions Sarah has kept cool by jumping into the infield pond as part of the tradition for winning the Puss ’n Boots Cup.

“I’ve done it twice now,” she said. “The first time was really gross. The water was really algae and murky. I hit the bottom, and it was mud. And this time (in 2023) it was a lot better. It felt cleaner, it looked cleaner, and it was refreshing. That day was hot.”

Sarah Buttigieg jumped in after securing last year’s Puss ’n Boots with Nikolaou and nine years prior when Catch the Luck won the race.

A life swept up by early mornings and long hours, racetrackers lead a unique lifestyle in stark contrast to the conventional 9-5 work grind. Some find themselves sucked in from an early age with family connected to the sport. Others just get sucked in.

“It’s like a magnet or something,” Sharon Ceccato said with a laugh when asked about why people keep coming back to the Fort.

Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., Ceccato stepped onto Fort Erie’s backside in 1975 to walk hots. She eventually found her way into the irons, galloping at Woodbine and race riding at several tracks in Florida and Japan before finding her way north of the border. During her time in the saddle Ceccato recalls a special moment, exercise riding a filly named Genuine Risk, who went on to win the 1980 Kentucky Derby.

“She had come into Payson Park as a youngster, and I was working for LeRoy Jolley,” Ceccato said, recalling the memories with ease. “She was one of the least expensive babies that were bought. I got on her and a Spruce Pine filly, and I got them out of the gate and got their first works into them, and then they went down to New York, and I went back down to Hialeah (in Florida). And all of a sudden here she is all over the map. Winner, winner.”

Ceccato began her training career at the Fort eight years ago. The multiple stakes-placed trainer has raced horses at Fort Erie, Woodbine and four U.S. tracks with 145 wins to date. Last year she won 18 races at the Fort.

“Everybody is good here. Everybody is pretty happy,” said Ceccato, who lives close to the track. “We have our trailer at Windmill Point, so it’s like a working vacation. We enjoy it.”

Ceccato’s daughter Brittney Parsons epitomizes someone who sleeps, eats and lives the horse racing game. Growing up on the track with her sister Laurie, she can attest to knowing a lot of people on the track.

“Pretty much everyone on the backside has babysat me. When I walk around town, people know me from babysitting me,” said Parsons, who spent her childhood on the backside in the ’90s.

Asked about her current job roles, Parsons recites a list, echoing the labor of love she’s been tied to since infancy.

“Groom, pony person, exercise rider,” Parsons said. “I guess one way or another a friend. All my horses are my buddies. They are not mine, but I treat them like my own.”

To Parsons, Fort Erie Race Track remains a tight-knit community.

“We are all in the same game, and there is some fun banter that goes on, but at the end of the day, everyone wants the best for one another,” Parsons said.