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Aug 18, 2023

Layne MacGillivray claims top chuckwagon racing prize at Century Downs

Layne MacGillivray put an exclamation point on a great chuckwagon driving season on Sunday. Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Subscribe now to read the latest news

Layne MacGillivray put an exclamation point on a great chuckwagon driving season on Sunday.

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MacGillivray finished the World Professional Chuckwagon Association schedule in fine fashion by winning the 2023 Century Downs Winners’ Zone Championship Dash.

“It’s definitely a good way to finish off,” said the 48-year-old reinsman from Halkirk, Alta., who also won the 2023 Cowboys Rangeland Derby at the Calgary Stampede on July 16. “I can’t say enough about all of our support crew — my family, our barn crew, our sponsors, our outriders. We’ve had an amazing year and to top it off with this, it’s an amazing feeling for sure.”

Prior to Sunday afternoon’s races at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino, MacGillivray was awarded a cheque for $5,000 for finishing atop the aggregate standings with a total time of 5:25.10 through the first four nights of racing at the Century Downs World Finals just north of Calgary.

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“It’s been a long stretch and we’ve got one more piece of business to take care of and hopefully we can get ’er done,” said MacGillivray upon accepting his aggregate prize. “We’ve got three pretty tough competitors to deal with. We’ll see how the horses make out.”

MacGillivray did, in fact, get ’er done and his horses made out just fine.

Off barrel No. 1 aboard his Spray Lakes Sawmills wagon, MacGillivray actually crossed the finish line in second spot behind Jamie Laboucane and his Pidherney’s outfit. Because Laboucane was assessed a two-second penalty for causing a false start, MacGillivray’s clocking of 1:18.86 stood up as the winning time, while he also set a track record in the process.

“You take your wins when you can get ’em around here,” said MacGillivray, who commended his lead team of Willy and Mer along with his wheelers Champ and Joe for helping him win the show’s $30,000 top prize. “Everything just came together. The horses ran their hearts out again for us. I can’t say enough about the job they’ve done for us this year.”

Although Nolan Cameron served as an outrider for MacGillivray during the first four nights of competition, he was double booked for the championship final and chose to work for Laboucane. Chance Flad stepped up to help out the Winners’ Zone champion with outriding duties on Sunday alongside Brendan Nolin.

“The outriders did an amazing job for us,” MacGillivray said. “Brendan Nolin and our son Trey (MacGillivray) did all the outriding at the start. Trey got hurt on the last night of the Strathmore Stampede, so Chance Flad pinch-hit for Trey that night as well and then here tonight and then Nolan Cameron the rest of the way (until the final).”

Chad Fike guided his West Land Livestock outfit to a second-place showing in a time of 1:19.01, which was just 15/100ths of a second behind MacGillivray. For his efforts, Fike added $22,500 to his bank account, while Laboucane took home a cheque for $15,000 for placing third.

Meanwhile, Chanse Vigen had to settle for a $7,500 payday for finishing fourth in the final championship dash of the WPCA season aboard his Banks Family Auto rig.

Just one night earlier, Vigen wrapped up his first-ever WPCA season-long driving title by a slim margin of just three points over Laboucane.

“It’s an unreal experience,” said Vigen, whose total of 1573 points earned him the title of World Champion Chuckwagon Driver along with a cheque for $10,000 and a one-year lease on a new GMC pickup truck. “To come this far, it’s pretty cool. I’m proud of the team and how far we’ve come.”

Vigen’s right leader Max was named to the 2023 WPCA Equine Outfit of Excellence along with Fike’s right wheeler Rocco and Laboucane’s left wheeler Marshmallow. The rest of the all-star outfit was made up of Kris Molle’s left leader Wildcat along with outriding horses Ed and Runner from Jason Glass and Obrey Motowylo, respectively.

The top 12 drivers in the WPCA standings earned the right to compete in the Winners’ Zone Playoff Round. Based on points they received for daily running and aggregate times through the first four nights of action at Century Downs, MacGillivray, Laboucane, Vigen and Fike earned the four spots into the final dash.

“I can’t say enough about this Century Downs show,” MacGillivray said. “I’ll tell you, it’s an amazing place. It’s a big show for us, for sure. It’s really good for the horses, a great track and the committee’s amazing. I hope we’re back here next year.”

AROUND THE BARRELS

Each of the first eight heats on Sunday was its own dash for cash. Other winners (with their respective prize amounts) were Motowylo ($2,000), Rae Croteau Jr. ($2,500), Chance Thomson ($3,000), Jordie Fike ($3,500), Mitch Sutherland ($4,000), Glass ($4,500), Kurt Bensmilller ($5,000) and Kirk Sutherland ($5,500) … Ethan Motowylo took home his first World Champion Outrider award by compiling 9,356 points throughout the season, which was just 55.5 points ahead of Rory Gervais … Team Strathmore Stampede/Lammle’s Western Wear won the inaugural season-long Elite Team Series Championship. Made up of Fike, Molle, Glass and Chance Bensmiller, the winning team compiled 2721.5 points, which was 81.5 points ahead of Team Century Downs (Dustin Gorst, MacGillivray, Jordie Fike and Vigen).

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