Cloverdale’s larger-than-life horse trainer Ray Gemmill will be remembered at a celebration of life Sept. 21.
The veteran Fraser Downs horseman passed away July 31 at Surrey Memorial Hospital after a short illness.
Gemmill retired from training in 2014 after a nearly 40-year career as part of horse racing at Fraser Downs/Cloverdale Raceway.
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In 2014, the Cloverdale Reporter noted, “Gemmill drove the racetrack’s first winner – a horse named Guy Dominion owned by nine members of the Vancouver Canucks.”
Gemmill was born in Cobden, Ontario in 1930 and came west in the mid-’70s with other investors to found the Cloverdale Raceway. Gemmill raced for more than a decade before retiring from driving in 1991. Gemmill then trained horses until he retired from that in 2014, closing a six-decade career in horses.
Gemmill’s celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. at the Homestretch overlooking Fraser Downs at Elements Casino.
He will be buried at Cobden Union Cemetery in Cobden, Ontario Oct. 5.
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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