Former Hastings racing director, HBPA head Debbie Peebles dead at 68

Debbie Peebles, the former racing director at Hastings Racecourse and a past president of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association of British Columbia, died on Aug. 10 after being struck by a motor vehicle near her home in North Burnaby, B.C. She was 68.

According to Helen Jewell, a former Hastings clocker, and several others familiar with the situation, Peebles was struck while crossing an intersection on foot within a block of her home after fetching a milkshake at a nearby Dairy Queen for her husband, Jim McEwan.

"She was the first female racing secretary in Canada," said Jewell, whose husband, Ian, trained horses at Hastings before relocating to Emerald Downs for the current racing season. "Debbie and I were best friends for 47 years. Her devotion to her friends, especially at the racetrack, was never-ending and her greatest achievement was her love of horse racing and doing everything she could for it at her home of Hastings Park."

"Debbie was always just around, poured her heart into the business and the backstretch," said another Hastings and Emerald trainer, Steve Henson. "She's going to be missed. Any time you needed anything from her, she was always there."

The current president of the B.C. HBPA, David Milburn, released a statement crediting Peebles for being "a driving force" behind the successful effort to bring slot machines to Hastings, which, ironically, went dark this year after the provincial government pulled the plug on its gambling subsidies. Efforts are afoot to hold a short meet at the track in the near future while also attempting to find a location where a new racetrack might be built in British Columbia.

"Debbie was taken from us far too soon, and her contribution to British Columbia racing will not be forgotten," read Milburn's statement. "On behalf of the HBPA of B.C., I extend our deepest condolences to Debbie's husband, Jim McEwan, her family, and the legions of friends she made throughout her life, both within racing and outside it. We have lost a remarkable woman and a great friend of racing. She will be deeply missed."

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