A trip to watch the chuckwagon races in High River more than a decade ago has led to a Silvertip resident being in the box of a wagon just before the semifinals of the Rangeland Derby.
More importantly, it planted the seed for what has become a close friendship.
Doug McLaughlin, owner of High River Autoplex and RV, was helping with the reins as Colt Cosgrave pulled in front of the barrels for the semifinal at the Rangeland Derby on July 14. It was approximately 11 years after McLaughlin decided to buy a tarp for the then North American Chuckwagon championships in High River.
“Doug had decided he wanted to sponsor a driver in High River and he went through the list of drivers and saw I had bought a truck there (at the Autoplex) and 11 years later here we are,” Cosgrave said from the barns at the Calgary Stampede on July 15.
Cosgrave ended up getting much more than a sponsor.
McLaughlin spent his 2012 Calgary Stampede going to work in the morning and then heading out to the barns to help prepare the horses for the Rangeland Derby in the evening. His duties ranged from cleaning the stalls to hooking the wagon and rolling out in front of 30,000 fans before the races.
“He was just like me when we first started together — learning the ropes and figuring out what he wants to do in wagons,” Cosgrave said. “He started to become a bigger part. Now he is harnessing and hooking (up the horses) and he’s driving the lead team when we leave the races. He’s here first thing in the morning to help
walk horses.”
Not bad for a guy who once thought a Mustang was something built by Ford.
“I had never even seen a horse before until I was involved with wagons,” McLaughlin said with a laugh. “I just had a good feeling about the horses and getting to know them and working with them.
“These aren’t typical horses. They are thoroughbred horses that have attitude.”
The first time he got on a horse was during a branding session at the Cosgrave’s ranch in Hand Hills when Tom Glass, Colt’s uncle and a three-time Rangeland Derby champion, asked him to lend a hand.
“Tom asked me if I wanted to help bring up some of the cattle and I said sure,” McLaughlin said. “When we were done he asked me how many times I had ridden before and I told him this was the first time.
“He told me he never would have put me on that horse if he knew that.”
Although he has become an integral part of the barn squad, McLaughlin is still a key sponsor for the Cosgrave chuckwagon racing team.
He helped Cosgrave get over a major hump in his career when he assisted with the purchase of Graymor and Sonic, Cosgrave’s best lead horses in 2006.
Cosgrave was on the verge of having to re-qualify for the WPCA tour as he was sitting in 33rd place. He went on to win the Red Deer races and has since turned his career around.
He said Cosgrave’s shining moment came at this year’s Stampede, when he finished second in the aggregate, one spot shy of receiving the Richard Cosgrave Memorial Award, which is named after his father.
McLaughlin said he was most impressed with Cosgrave’s attitude after he knocked down a barrel in the Rangeland Derby semifinals on Saturday night.
“It was bad for him last night but he doesn’t beat himself up like he used to,” McLaughlin said. “I have seen a lot of maturity in the past 11 years.”
Although McLaughlin has sponsored Cosgrave for several years at High River and other stops on the World Professional Chuckwagon Association tour, he has only bought Cosgrave’s tarp once for the Stampede.
“It is just getting to be too much money,” McLaughlin said. “I was second this year and was beat by Tsuu T’ina for the tarp.”
He said that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as Tsuu T’ina was an excellent sponsor throughout the Stampede.
He admitted to feeling a bond with the Cosgrave and Glass families.
“I really felt close when Iris Glass (Colt’s grandmother) passed away a few years ago and Tom told me the family is getting together after the service,” McLaughlin said. “I was really touched to be invited.”
He’s even developed the touch with the reins in front of 25,000 people with Colt at the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.
“My job is to help Colt if there is a runaway or something and I will drive the lead team at the end of the race (back to the barns) if his arms are sore.
“I got to drive with him at the Calgary Stampede parade — it was quite a thrill.”
Almost as much of a thrill as helping Colt Cosgrave become one of the best chuckwagon drivers in the world.
