Auction items and donations continue to roll in for Casie Coleman’s special day on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 11 – BC Breeders Classic Day at Fraser Downs.

“Everyone I approach has been anxious to contribute,” Casie told Norm Borg on the Trot Radio national network this week. She credits the staff at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria for saving her life 10 years ago following an accident in the barns at Sandown Park when she was a 19-year-old groom. Casie, born and raised in Surrey and a grad of Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, was mixing an alcohol-based liniment to warm her horse’s feet when flames ignited and left her with third-degree burns to her legs and right arm as well as first-degree burns to her cheeks and neck.

“Those people at the hospital in Victoria put me back together,” she says. “Now I have the opportunity to give something back to them.”

Proceeds from a silent auction in the Atrium at Fraser Downs on Nov. 11 will go to the Burn Unit at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. Casie herself has been collecting donations from her travels on the Eastern harness racing circuit where she has been recognized with two O’Brien Awards (2005 and 2006) as Canada’s Trainer of the Year.

Anyone wishing to get involved by contributing auction prizes or cash donations can contact Kelly Hudon at kelhud@shaw.ca

From Mike Heads’ HorseRacing Central Newsletter – October 30, 2009