Croteau pushing towards world title

By Scott Fisher

Rae Croteau Jr. has been keeping his barrels upright all season. That’s a winning strategy in chuckwagon racing. But ‘leaving them standing’ is not so great on the alley.

Croteau took advantage of a rare break in the WPCA schedule to take his family and barn crew bowling in Olds. The champion had yet to be crowned, but the 43-year-old driver could tell who was going to be lifting the five-pin hardware. “Not me,” he said with a laugh. “My oldest daughter (Cora Lynn) likes it quite a bit, which was kind of a surprise to me. “The rest of us are eating hotdogs, wingin’ balls and having fun.”

At the end of a largely successful Calgary Stampede, Croteau put the horses out in pasture for some rest and relaxation at his daughter’s place just outside of Sundre.

And then the whole crew settled down for a 10-day breather before the wagons roll into High River for the Battle of the Foothills (July 24-27).

Croteau is anxious to get back on the track.

“With Ponoka and Calgary, there were 16 races over 18 nights,” he says. “It’s funny how your body becomes accustomed to the grind and adrenaline and competition.

“You think ‘I’m looking forward to a break for me and the crew and the horses.’ But then we got settled (by Sundre) and two three days go by and we’re all bored.

“You miss the racing and the competition, and the horses are feeling pretty good, running around, bucking and playing. So you know it’s on their minds as well.”

There’s another reason the Rapid View, Sask., reinsman is eager to get back to work.

He’s sitting No. 1 in the world with as deep a stable of horses as he’s had in years.

“It’s been steady,” Croteau said. “We’ve been rotating through the herd. We’ve been getting new horses into races and just trying to stay competitive.

“It’s just consistency. Maybe over the past few years, we didn’t have the best outfits, but maybe you make the least (amount of) errors. We also had some new horses that have jumped in and made a difference.

“That’s the biggest thing over the past two years. Making the least errors, and then breaking new horses and getting them to work.”

Costly outriding penalties kept Croteau out of the Ponoka Stampede’s Tommy Dorchester Dash For Cash, and then again at last week’s Rangeland Derby Dash For Cash, where he was forced to settle for fourth, just 2.16 seconds out of the third and final qualifying spot.

Now he’s hoping for a strong second-half push from his well-rested horses.

“This break has helped a lot to rejuvenate them,” he said. “Now we’re going to keep the bench short here and execute every race until the end of the season.

“It’s going to be tough. The points are tight and there are some nice wagons up there.

“We’ll see how everybody comes back after Calgary.”

Croteau finished fifth in the world in 2022 and jumped to third last year.

He’d love to become the first in three generations of drivers (including dad Bert and grandfather Ray) to bring home a world title.

“There would be some fulfillment,” he said. “Up until the past few years, I didn’t feel like a competitor who could contend.

“But those old, tough drivers retired and that opened up opportunities for us to take over.

“You spend you whole life doing this game, so win something like that would be be fulfillment and achievement in its own.”

ON THE AIR: Day 1 of the Battle of the Foothills can be heard on The Ranch at 96.5 FM (7 p.m.). Streaming options are also available through the WPCA website at wpca.com, iHeart Radio website/app or the RadioPlayer Canada website/app.