Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Trotting Filly Helps Cancer Cause

July 6, 2005

When Pink Ribbons goes postward in the Delvin Miller Memorial eliminations on Friday night at the Meadowlands, she will be racing for more than a trip to the winner's circle. In every start, she races for another victory - over breast cancer. Best friends and cancer survivors Nancy Greenfield of Perrysburg, Ohio, and June White of Monroe, Michigan, the owners of Pink Ribbons, have pledged 10 percent of the trotting filly's earnings to The
Victory Center, a support facility for cancer patients in Toledo, Ohio.

Pink Ribbons is bidding to be among the 10 trotting fillies, advancing from three $25,000 elimination races, to the $350,000 Del Miller Memorial on Friday, July 15. The daughter of Mr Vic will start from post one, with David Miller driving, and is rated 8-1 in the morning line in Friday's eighth race, the first of the three elims.

"This filly's very special for June and I," Greenfield explained. "She's three this year, and we've had her since our cancer treatment and surgeries. We were diagnosed close to the same time. I was diagnosed about six months after June. The diagnosis was very much a surprise to both of us. Neither one of us has a family history of breast cancer. June was very surprised - she is younger than I am. We were not expecting to hear that we had cancer."

Greenfield is thankful for the support that The Victory Center in Toledo, Ohio, provided as she underwent chemotherapy and surgery. The Victory Center [www.thevictorycenter.org] offers a variety of services for cancer patients, including massage, yoga, support groups
and counseling.

"We were trying to live with the chemo, surgeries, nausea, vomiting, no energy, everything that's involved, and The Victory Center was very helpful to me during that time," she said. "They use reflexology to help with the nausea and vomiting, and massage therapy. They try to pamper you a little bit. All of a sudden you go though surgeries and treatment, and everyone treats you differently. Your friends and family aren't sure how to act around you. The Victory Center almost becomes a family to you because they know what you need and understand what you are going through. They help you feel good about yourself."

Greenfield, a nurse, and White, a busy mother of three children, have been friends for 14 years and met through their husbands. Kevin Greenfield is one of the owners of Hickory Lane Horse Farm in Finlay, Ohio, and Mike White is the general manager of Raceway Park near Toledo.

"As we progressed through that, our husbands thought it would help take our minds off of it," said Greenfield, who is the mother of an 18-year-old Stephen. "Mike came up with the idea and thought to name her Pink Ribbons. This is our way of giving back to the community. This is a small facility in Toledo, and they are in need of funds. All the massage therapists donate their time to the center. It was a haven for me, where people understand what you're going through and help you feel comfortable. Although it was a little far for her to drive to, June agreed to donate to it."

Pink Ribbons, who was bred and trained by Jim Arledge, has finished first or second in three of her five starts this season and has already earned $22,175, 10 percent of which will be donated to The Victory Center. Last year, Pink Ribbons had one win and two thirds,
which helped raise nearly $2,400 for the center. .

"The people from the Victory Center came out to see her first race [on July 21, 2004]," Greenfield recalled. "They had never seen a race before and it was a fun way of getting people involved. She happened to win and they all got to go down to the winner's circle and have their picture taken. A local television station came out to interview them."

In her most recent start on June 17, the filly, who wears two pink ribbons braided in her mane and a pink Buxton martingale, wired the field in the Elegantimage consolation at Woodbine in 1:56. Pink Ribbons is also eligible to the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks
on August 6 at the Meadowlands.