YORKTON - When the thundering hooves of the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association hit the half-mile track at the Kelvington Fair Aug. 2-4, driver Logan Gorst will be among the riders to watch.
Gorst who hails from Meadow Lake said it will be a new experience to race in Kelvington.
“We raced a few times in Yorkton and had really good crowds,” he told Yorkton This Week, adding the CPCA hasn’t been able to arrange races in the east Saskatchewan city the last few years. “ . . . Kelvington has stepped up. It’s exciting.”
It will also be different for CPCA drivers as it will be a new track to run.
“Every track is different,” said Gorst, adding drivers will simply have to adapt more, or less on the fly.
“It will be a learning process for everyone,” he said, adding the track in Kelvington has usually been used for the smaller wagons, so they will need to find the best paths, especially around corner for their bigger rigs.
The drivers will have a short time to check things out, making the near seven-hour drive from Frog Lake, Alta. After racing there July 26-28.
“We want the horses to have a couple of days off so they ‘freshen’ up,” said Gorst. He would add later that a key to success is keeping the animals healthy. “. . . Having your horses feeling good is what helps you succeed.”
Gorst focuses on happy horses – hauling only 18 animals to races when most carry 19-20. Fewer horses mean more room for the animals to relax between races.
Keeping horses healthy makes sense from the business side of racing. Gorst said while he might be having success – top spot in the driver standings in mid July, he is always looking for the next fast team horse.
“You’re looking every year,” he said, adding he travels to Assiniboine Downs in Winnipeg looking for horses better suited to chuckwagons, as well as forays to Edmonton and Fort Erie and Phoenix – anywhere there might be a good wagon horse.
Of course Gorst should know a good wagon horse when he finds one given his years of experience, and that the sport is basically in his blood.
“My grandpa started in the 1970s so I’m third generation,” he said, adding his father drove until he was 63.
Gorst himself started outriding in 1997 and then moved into the driver’s seat in 2008.
Checking out his CPCA bio you find through his driving career in the CPCA, he has won three CPCA show championships and qualified for the championship dash at the finals in 2011. He also took home the CPCA Champion Outrider title four times and won the CPCA Rookie Driver Award in 2008. In 2012 Logan moved over to the WPCA where he qualified for the Championship driver 4 times and won the WPCA Chuckwagon Person of the Year in 2018. In 2019 Logan was the 2019 Calgary Stampede Champion.
Upon his return to the CPCA he finished the 2021 season in fourth place, winning the Dash for Cash at the Lloydminster finals that earned him the title of the 2021 CPCA Champion Driver. He earned top placings at North Battleford, Little Pine, and won the North Battleford dash.
