Jerri Robertson of Edmonton has been coming to Osoyoos and the Desert Park racetrack facility for the past six years over the late winter and early spring to train a large stable of horses for Alberta horse owners. Robertson will be heading back to Alberta later this week after spending more than two months in Osoyoos with her crew and stable of 22 horses. Robertson is seen here with a horse she owns called Commander Sue. (Keith Lacey photo)
Many people come to Osoyoos during the winter months to get away from work, enjoy the nice weather and relax.
For the past six winters, Jerri Robertson has been coming to Osoyoos between January and April, but it’s certainly not to get away from work and relax, but it most certainly is because of the nice weather.
Robertson is a horse trainer and owner who has been coming to Osoyoos to use the Desert Park racetrack facility to train dozens of horses for various Alberta horse owners who want to get their animals ready for the racing season at Northlands Racetrack in Edmonton.
“This is all about getting the horses ready to race at Northlands,” said Robertson, who has owned and trained horses since she was a little girl. “I’ve been living and racing at Northlands since 1996.
“It’s nice to get away from the bitter cold of Alberta and come out to Osoyoos, where the horses can get in shape and get ready for a busy season of racing.”
Robertson has spent the past several weeks in Osoyoos with the three horses she owns as well as training another 19 horses from owners she knows in Alberta.
While horses can handle training in brutal cold weather, most of the people who work in the industry in Alberta, including jockeys, trainers and grooms, much prefer to train over the winter in a warmer weather climate like Osoyoos and that’s the reason so many come west to train at Desert Park, said Robertson.
“The horses don’t mind the cold weather, but it’s almost impossible to train in the winter because of the cold,” she said. “We can come here and start training right in January or February and the racetrack has great footing and there isn’t frozen ground, which can be hard on the horses.
“They have a very good surface at this facility, which is great for spring training.”
With the spring sessions at Northlands ready to begin in early May, Robertson and her small crew will start shipping horses back to Alberta in the next week or so.
There are a lot of costs involved in transporting, feeding and housing almost two dozen horses at Desert Park for 10 to 12 weeks, but there is a financial payoff to coming here, she said.
“The bottom line is we’ve had very good success with the horses we bring here to Osoyoos,” she said. “These horses that train during the winter are much further ahead of the other horses who don’t start training until the spring in Alberta.
“Last year, we had 21 winners from the horses we brought to Osoyoos, so it all paid off.”
There were more than 100 horses from Alberta that trained at Desert Park and more than 60 owners, trainers, jockeys and grooms who spent some time here this past winter session, she said.
Robertson loves the fact that Osoyoos is a small and friendly town where she can concentrate on doing her job without any major distractions.
“I know I like the town and so do the members of my crew,” she said. “The town is kind of a quiet place during the winter, but the people are very friendly and the people running the hotels and restaurants really appreciate our business.
“The horse people from the track are very well received and that’s why we keep coming back.”
Robertson is looking forward to spending several more winters in Osoyoos training horses at Desert Park.
“I sure hope so,” she said. “It’s nice to get away to some decent weather in the winter months. I know I plan on being back next year for sure.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
