By Laurence Heinen
Ask any chuckwagon driver about the secret to success and they’ll tell you it’s all about horsepower.
Reigning and two-time World Champion driver Chanse Vigen has undoubtedly put together one of the best barns full of horses over the past couple World Professional Chuckwagon Association seasons.
That being said, the veteran 40-year-old reinsman is always on the lookout for new talent to add to his stable.
“A lot of the analytics that I pay attention to stem from how I’m going to purchase (horses) in the off-season,” said Vigen, who ventured south to Kentucky following the 2024 season to acquire new prospects. “I’ve got seven new horses. They all came from Kentucky this year, so hopefully they pan out. In the past, we had good luck in California. It’s about who you’ve got a contact with. It’s not easy bringing stock up. Logistically, it’s very tough and it’s expensive.”
Vigen won’t be sure how they’ll fare for him until the season gets under way with the Grande Prairie Stompede taking place in his hometown from May 28 to June 1.
“It’s similar to an NHL Draft,” said Vigen, who compared acquiring new horses to professional hockey teams adding prospects to their franchises. “You can buy seven new horses and have seven draft picks and have none of them really turn out that great and the next year six out of seven are some of your key cogs. We’ll see how the spring plays out.”
Just because Vigen does a deep dive into analytics regarding the horses he buys, that doesn’t mean they all fit into his outfits where he thinks they will.
“That all changes as soon as we put a collar around their neck and we find out who’s who in the zoo and who wants to do what,” he said. “You can buy a really cheap horse that ends up being your best one and a really expensive one that doesn’t turn out, but usually the odds are in your favour when you buy class and class is where the analytics come from.”
Like Vigen, Kurt Bensmiller went south of the border to purchase new horses last fall. The four-time World Champion and four-time Rangeland Derby winner at the Calgary Stampede returned to a favourite spot of his in Columbus, Neb., to acquire nine new equine athletes.
“Yeah, we went there for years and then they changed their dates … probably the last four or five years where they were done in the middle of the season, but now they changed them back to the fall, so I was able to go back down there,” said the 41-year-old driver, who WPCA track announcer Les McIntyre often refers to as the ‘Duke of Dewberry.’
Despite snow still lingering on the ground up in Dewberry, Bensmiller started training his new horses in early April to get a handle on what he’s working with.
“The new horses have got a lot of work to do before they get in there,” said Bensmiller, while adding that he uses some of his veteran Percheron horses to show his new prospects the ropes. “Anything new, we start breaking them with a couple of big Percherons. That way, if they’re not quite sure what’s going on, the Percheron just shows them and it makes it a lot easier.”
After incorporating three or four new horses into his outfits, Bensmiller will test how they can handle turning around the barrels in the infield, all while deciding whether to slot them in as leaders or wheelers.
Whether any of his new horses are ready to get into racing action in Grande Prairie remains to be seen, but Bensmiller his high hopes for success this season.
“I really hope I’m competitive right out of the gate,” said Bensmiller, who finished seventh in the WPCA driver standings in 2024. “I mean, I’ve taken new horses there before and won the show with them, but then I’ve also taken new horses there and not done well, so it just depends. I’m hoping with the younger horses and the groups that started to do better the last half of the season last year and any new ones that I might fit in, that we can really find some nice outfits.”
After splitting time in 2024 driving on both the WPCA Pro Tour and on the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association circuit, where he won three shows, D.J. King has lofty aspirations once again this season.
“The goal is to be a full-time WPCA driver all year,” said King, who will be one of 12 permit drivers competing in Grande Prairie to kick off the 2025 campaign.
The 40-year-old reinsman from Meadow Lake, Sask., said he acquired several new horses in the off-season, mostly from Winnipeg but some from Ohio as well.
“I’ve been 10 years into this sport and I feel like I’ve been getting more and more horsepower every year,” said King, a former professional hockey player who played six seasons in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals. “I feel very comfortable with my horsepower. Obviously, you always try to get the next one and make it even better. If you’re not trying to get better, you’re not doing things right, so we’ll find out if the new ones help me out.”
