Hastings: Trainer Melanie Walters dies in training accident

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Hastings-based trainer Melanie Walters died Thursday as a result of injuries received in a training accident at her parent’s farm in Langley, British Columbia.

Walters, 37, was coming off a strong year at Hastings, where she finished in the top 10 in the trainer standings with 15 wins from 58 starts. It was Walters’s second year as a trainer. Her main client was her father, Dr. Ken Walters, a prominent horse owner at Hastings for many years.

Walters also exercised horses for trainer Dino Condilenios, who was the second-leading trainer at Hastings last year.

“Everyone in the backstretch at Hastings is in shock,” Condilenios said. “She was a great person. She would show up at my barn every day with a big smile. Everybody here loved her.”

Walters is survived by two young children, Caden, 7, and Laurel, 8