Life has been a moveable feast for Lance Giesbrecht, who has travelled smoothly from the meat and potatoes mess halls of his youth to centre stage of the Boulevard Casino for his induction into the B.C. Thoughbred Hall of Fame.

When he was slinging hash in the oil fields outside Fort Nelson he never dreamed he would one day set the record for most wins in a season by a trainer at Hastings Park. Or that he would win 15 stakes races in one nine month period.

Giesbrecht was leading trainer at Hastings four straight years, from 1994 through 1997. His record setting 76 victories in 1997 included 15 stakes, four with Horse of the Year Liberty Road. His 76 winners came from 255 starters which translated into a dazzling 29.8 winning percentage.

“To win a stakes race you first have to have a stakes horse,” says Giesbrecht, “and I was fortunate to have owners such as Peter Redekop, Cecil Peacock and John Gunther who supplied me with good horses.”

No one benefited more from Giesbrecht’s success than his regular rider Sam Krasner. Following the record breaking season Krasner offered these insights:

“When I walk into the paddock and I’m on one of Lance’s horses I have a lot of confidence. He always has his horses ready, especially first-time starters. He gets them fit in the spring and he keeps them going because he doesn’t overtrain. His biggest asset is that he runs them where they belong. He generally finds the right spot as quick as he can”.

“The amazing thing about this year is that he got most of his 76 wins with quality horses. How many races did he win below $10,000 claimers? Winning 15 stakes was incredible”.

The record of 76 may be broken one day, although it seems highly unlikely given that the season has shrivelled to 68 days. Giesbrecht set his mark in a 116-day season.

It certainly won’t be challenged by Giesbrecht, who has reduced his stable to a half dozen head. He turned 60 last September and is content to let his right hand man, John ‘Tea Bag’ Bracey do all the heavy lifting.

The star of the barn is Alabama Rain, who won the Ascot Graduation at two and the Canadian Derby at three, before falling on lean times last season. Giesbrecht purchased him privately from Peter Redekop.

Lance, second oldest of six children, grew up on a mixed farm in Rimbey, Alberta, not far from Red Deer. His mother took ill when he was 12 and he became the family’s sous chef. A few years later he was washing dishes at a camp in the oil fiields north of Fort Nelson when the cook quit, leaving a crew of 52 hungry hands to fend for themselves.

The foreman asked Lance if he could fill in and the crew loved his pork chops and mashed potatoes and his steak and onions. He cooked for 14 winters and made enough money to claim a few horses when he returned to the Alberta tracks in the summer. His brother Eugene was among the leading riders in Edmonton and Calgary.

“When I started out my attitude was that you went North to make money,” says Giesbrecht. “The racetrack was where you went to spend it. I was never at the track for money, I was there because it was fun,”

He spent his summers apprenticing as a hot walker, groom and gallop boy for five years and even tried being a jockey one summer.

In 1971 he took a half dozen culls from Alberta to Saskatchewan when he became second leading trainer. The next year he was back in Alberta and cobbled together a small stable which grew and prospered as the years went by.

In 1980 a dispute with the Calgary Exhibition Board resulted in him coming to Hastings Park and he had immediate success with the good filly Gray On Gray.

Giesbrecht had found a permanent home. One with a hall of fame in it.