Canadian Hall of Fame jockey and racetrack superintendent Irwin Driedger was awarded the Racetrack Superintendent's Innovator Award during the 2024 Track Superintendent's Field Day. Irwin passed away on May 20, 2023.
The award represents accomplishments from the period of 2006 to 2018 when Irwin was the Director of Thoroughbred Racing Surfaces at Woodbine Racetrack.
The Racetrack Superintendent's Innovator Award is given to recognize the critical professionals who maintain the racing surfaces for safety and fairness.
Previous recipients of the Racetrack Superintendent's Innovator Award includes Joe King, Leif Dickinson and Dennis
Moore. The most recent recipient was Roy Smith who also launched the Track Superintendent Field Day in 2001.
Irwin began his career as a professional jockey
in Manitoba. He was named 1979 Manitoba Athlete of the Year, a record which still stands for the greatest number of wins (214) in one year at Assiniboia Downs. He was also recognized in 1981 as the Sovereign Award winner as Canada's outstanding jockey.
Irwin also represented jockeys across Canada as President of the Jockeys' Benefit Association of Canada, from 1990-2006 and 2019-2021. In 2023, Irwin was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in the Jockey Category.
A wall of fame will be designated where recipients will be recognized. The innovator award is one part of the formal recognition of the critical role played by racetrack superintendents in industry efforts to protect the safety of the horse and rider.
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