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Gordon J. McCann
Gordon J. "Pete" McCann (1908 – January 18, 2000) was a Canadians, Canadian Thoroughbred horse trainer. He was born in East York, now part of the city of Toronto. Known to his family as Gordon, in racing circles he was nicknamed Pete. Pete McCann began his career as a jockey. He raced at Oriental Park Racetrack in Havana, Cuba where he was a leading jockey in 1926. He rode with success in Toronto then in 1940 took out his trainer's license and won his first King's Plate that same year with Willie the Kid. McCann was hired by E. P. Taylor as head trainer at Windfields Farm in 1950 where he would spend the next twenty-one years. During his training career, McCann conditioned seven Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, Canadian Hall of Fame horses and six horses that won Canadian Horse of the Year honours including Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing#Canada, Canadian Triple Crown winners New Providence (horse), New Providence in 1959 and Canebora in 1963. He also trained six win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jockey
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual who rode horses in racing. They must be light, typically around a weight of 100-120 lb., and physically fit. They are typically self-employed and are paid a small fee from the horse trainer and a percentage of the horse's winnings. Jockeys are mainly male, though there are some well-known female jockeys too. The job has a very high risk of debilitating or life-threatening injuries. Etymology The word is by origin a diminutive of ''jock'', the Northern English or Scots colloquial equivalent of the first name ''John'', which is also used generically for "boy" or "fellow" (compare ''Jack'', ''Dick''), at least since 1529. A familiar instance of the use of the word as a name is in "Jockey of Norfolk" in Shakespeare's ''Richard III''. v. 3, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Stakes
The Victoria Stakes is a thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Held in mid June, it has been raced on Polytrack since 2006 over a distance of five furlongs. In 2015 it was changed to six furlongs. Open to two-year-old horses, it currently offers a purse of $96,363. Named in honor of Queen Victoria who had died in 1901, the Victoria Stakes was first run in 1903 at the Old Woodbine Racetrack. Following that facility's closure, the race was moved in 1956 to the new Woodbine race track. For 1979 only, it was raced on turf. Since inception, the Victoria Stakes has been competed over various distances: * 5 furlongs : 1903-1955 * furlongs : 1956-1978 * About 5 furlongs : 1979 * 1980 to 2014 : 5 furlongs * 2015 : 6 furlongs Historical notes A number of notable North American horses have won this race including George Smith who won the next year's Kentucky Derby, Belair Stud's colt Faireno in 1931 who was the first horse to break the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen's Own (horse)
Queen's Own is a term meaning that the "crown" (currently the queen) personally sponsored/created something. It may refer to: Military Groups *Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment *Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders *Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) *The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada *Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment *Queen's Own Yeomanry *Queen's Royal Hussars, see also Queen's Own Hussars *Each division of the Royal Gurkha Rifles The Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR) is a rifle regiment of the British Army, forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas. Unlike other regiments in the British Army, RGR soldiers are recruited from Nepal, which is neither a dependent territory of the Unite ... Other * The Queen's Own Hussars Museum {{mil-unit-dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bunty Lawless
Bunty Lawless (1935–1956) was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse who in 1951 was voted Canada's "Horse of the Half-Century". Racing career Racing during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Bunty Lawless competed for purse money that was very small. At age two, he finished first or second in all but one of his ten races. The one time he was out of the money that year was in the Cup and Saucer Stakes, when his equipment broke. In 1938, the horse was the top 3-year-old in Canada, and his victory in the King's Plate, his country's most prestigious race, was enormously popular with the public. In an era when millionaires still dominated Thoroughbred horse racing, the owner and breeder of Bunty Lawless was the opposite. The working man's hero, Willie Morrissey grew up penniless in the poorest section of Toronto, worked as a newsboy, then became a successful hotel owner and boxing promoter. At the race track, he sat in the cheap grandstand seats with the rest of the crowd and was fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie The Kid
Willie the Kid (foaled 1937 in Ontario) was a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse best known for winning the eighty-first running of the King's Plate, Canada's most important race. Bred by William F. Morrissey, Willie Morrissey, Willie the Kid got his owner's nickname. He was out of the mare Mintwina, who was also the dam of Morrissey's Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Bunty Lawless. He was sired by Roselyon who had sired the 1930 King's Plate winner, Aymond. Roselyon was a son of the 1911 Epsom Derby winner and British Horseracing Hall of Fame inductee, Sunstar (racehorse), Sunstar. Willie the Kid raced under the name of Willie Morrissey's girlfriend, Miss Mildred A. Kane. Trained by Gordon J. McCann, Gordon McCann, the oft-injured colt did not race at age two but as a three-year-old won three times in ten starts. In the May 18, 1940 King's Plate he beat a field that included Curwen, the Harry C. Hatch, Harry Hatch-owned colt who had been sent off as the Par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Horse Racing Hall Of Fame
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 to honour those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and Thoroughbred horse racing in Canada. It is located at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. The Hall of Fame annually inducts Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses, sulky drivers, jockeys, trainers and the horse racing industry's builders. Background Although the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (CHRHF) was founded in 1976, it was not until 1997 that it had a physical location. At that time, the Ontario Jockey Club granted a permanent site located at the West Entrance to Woodbine Racetrack. The Hall now includes information on each of the inductees plus related memorabilia, including trophies, silks, old racing programs and bronzed horseshoes. Each year, special displays are created to honour some of racing's greats, such as jockey Ron Turcotte or pacer Cam Fella. In 2014, the Hall commemorated the 50th anniversary of Northern Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oriental Park Racetrack
Oriental Park Racetrack in Marianao, Havana, Cuba, was a thoroughbred horse-racing facility operated during the winter by the Havana-American Jockey Club of Cuba. Founded in 1915, Oriental Park was the only race track in Cuba in the days before Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. History In its heyday, American owners brought their horses to race at Oriental Park Racetrack during the winter, and future Hall of Fame jockey Laverne Fator rode there in 1918, as did Alfred Robertson in the mid-1920s and Cuban-born Avelino Gomez. With American racetracks closed, jockey Joe Culmone, contract rider for Brookmeade Stable, won three races at Oriental Park on December 31, 1950, tying Bill Shoemaker for most wins that year by an American jockey. Shoemaker won on the same day at Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico. Oriental Park is also famous for hosting the April 5, 1915 boxing match between Jack Johnson and Jess Willard. Many American celebrities on vacation or who were perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breeders' Stakes
The Breeders' Stakes is a stakes race for Thoroughbred race horses foaled in Canada, first run in 1889. Since 1959, it has been the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown for three-year-olds. Held annually in August at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, the Breeders' Stakes follows the June running of the King's Plate and the July running of the Prince of Wales Stakes. At a distance of one-and-a-half miles, the Breeders' Stakes is the longest of the three Triple Crown races and is the only jewel raced on turf (the King's Plate is raced on Tapeta synthetic dirt and the Prince of Wales on a traditional dirt track). History In 1959, the Canadian Triple Crown was created and then won by New Providence. Six more three-year-olds, including the filly Dance Smartly, have since equalled the feat, with four of them doing so in a five-year period from 1989 to 1993. Six horses have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown but lost on the grass in the Breeders' Stakes. They are: *1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Of Wales Stakes
The Prince of Wales Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Fort Erie Race Track in Fort Erie, Ontario. Restricted to only three-year-old horses bred in Canada, it is contested on dirt over a distance of miles (1.9 km; furlongs). In 1959, the Prince of Wales Stakes became the second race in the Canadian Triple Crown series. It follows the June running of the King's Plate and precedes the Breeders' Stakes in August. The race was inaugurated in 1929 at the now defunct Thorncliffe Park Raceway in today's Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood of central east Toronto. Historical notes In 1959, the E.P. Taylor colt New Providence emerged as a Triple Crown champion in its first year of existence. In the ensuing years, six more three-year-olds have equaled the feat. In 2014, it was decided to grandfather the five horses who had won the series prior to 1959 as well. According to the racetrack's website, for fans, the most popular winner of the race was the Canadian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen's Plate
The King's Plate (known as the Queen's Plate between 1860 to 1901 and 1952 to 2022) is Canada's oldest Thoroughbred horse race, having been founded in 1860. It is also the oldest continuously run race in North America. It is run at a distance of for a maximum of 17 three-year-old Thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer at Woodbine Racetrack in Etobicoke, Ontario. It is the first race in the Canadian Triple Crown. The King's Plate has typically been held in June or July, but in 2020 the race was postponed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Woodbine then elected to run the 2021 and 2022 editions of the race in August. Historically, the race has been named in honour of the reigning monarch. The Woodbine Entertainment Group, which owns and operates the event, announced in December 2022 the race will again be renamed the King's Plate as a result of the September 2022 accession of King Charles III. History In 1859, when Canada West w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Classic Races
The Canadian Triple Crown (branded as the OLG Canadian Triple Crown for sponsorship reasons) is a series of three Thoroughbred horse races run annually in Canada which is open to three-year-old horses foaled in Canada. Established in 1959, the series is unique in that it shares the same distances as its American counterpart but is contested on three different track surfaces. The first leg, the King's Plate in August, is contested at 1¼ miles on Tapeta at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, whereas the Prince of Wales Stakes in September is a 1³/16 mile event run on dirt at Fort Erie Race Track in Fort Erie, Ontario. The final leg is the 1½ mile Breeders' Stakes in October, which is run on turf over one full lap of the E. P. Taylor Turf Course at Woodbine. The Canadian Triple Crown shares another characteristic with its American counterpart – all of the races in both series are open to geldings. This differs from the situation in Europe, where many important flat races, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seagram Cup Stakes
The Chinese Cultural Centre Seagram Cup Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the last week of July/first week of August at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A Grade III event, it is open to horses Three years old and up. Raced over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles, the race currently offers a purse of $115,065. The Seagram Cup was inaugurated at the Old Woodbine Racetrack in 1903. A race on dirt, it was named in honor of owner/breeder Joseph E. Seagram whose Seagram Stables dominated Canadian racing at the time and who had won Canada's most prestigious race, the Queen's Plate, eight consecutive times between 1891 and 1898. With the cessation of Thoroughbred racing at Old Woodbine Racetrack, the Seagram Cup was moved to the new Woodbine Racetrack and in 1959 became a race on turf. In 1998 the Seagram Cup reverted to being run permanently on dirt with the 2007 edition marking the first time it would be raced on the new synthetic Polytrack s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
