By Brady Ratzlaff

Fraser looks to end racing career on a high note with Calgary Stampede title

Jul 6, 2018 | 12:28 PM

Veteran chuckwagon racer Rick Fraser will be hanging up the horse reins and cowboy hat after nearly 20 years of racing.

Fraser says this year has gone better than planned.

“The horses have run well. We’ve been near the top all the time even when we were running our new outfits. We’re still doing well. I’m pretty happy with everything. The new horses, how they have worked out. The old boys seem to be running better than they were before.”

The Grande Prairie native now prepares for the Calgary Stampede, an event he has never won before but says it would be the perfect way to end his racing career.

He feels this year’s racing spectacle is wide open once again, a race where he will have nothing to lose.

“It’s always an open competition. We have no pressure on ourselves because it’s our last one. We are going to take the time to enjoy it. Whatever happens, happens,” said Fraser.

Fraser adds that next Saturday (July 19) they will hold an auction sale for the horses.

He doesn’t have his post-retirement plans mapped out and says he will “go with the flow.”

Chuckwagon races begin nightly at 7:45 today until July 15.