Ontario Sires Stakes memories roll in as province-wide 50th anniversary celebrations roll on

The OSS 50^th anniversary tour will chug into Clinton a week after this Sunday’s huge Legends Day card.

by Matthew Lomon

When the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) program was first established in 1974, its paramount purpose was clear: promote the breeding of standardbred horses in Ontario and provide breeders with economic incentives to improve the quality of horses sired in Canada’s most populous province.

Half a century later, the bottom line remains the same. Over the years, however, the OSS has steadily evolved from a plan designed to enhance the appeal of Ontario’s standardbred product into a celebration of the sport’s most cherished contributors.

The program’s allure has been on full display throughout the 2024 campaign, which will also be remembered as the Ontario Sires Stakes’ 50th season.

As part of its half-centennial celebration, the OSS will be making stops at 11 racetracks around the province.

The festivities officially kicked off on May 19 at Flamboro Downs before moving to Woodbine Mohawk Park (May 25), The Raceway at Western Fair District (May 31), and most recently, Rideau Carleton Raceway (June 23).

With seven stops still left on the celebration tour, one of the OSS program’s leading visionaries, Sandra Snyder, took a moment to reflect on how far the legacy event has come.

“I’ve said over the course of our anniversary tour that when Lloyd Chisholm was criss-crossing Ontario trying to put this thing together back in the late 1960s, early 1970s, I am fairly confident he and his other organizers would never have been able to envision where we’re at today, with Bulldog Hanover being the fastest horse and Nijinsky winning the North American Cup,” Snyder said. “We’ve had multiple North America Cup winners; it’s become a regular thing. It’s not a surprise, it’s not a big deal anymore. We expect to be there and we expect to be able to win it.

“The quality of the breed, the way that breeders have elevated their game, and what that’s meant to the standardbred industry in Ontario, I’m not sure it can be overstated.”

Snyder, who holds the title of senior manager, Horse Improvement Program administration and governance at Ontario Racing, has been involved with the program in some way, shape, or form for the majority of her adult life.

While she has several fond memories of her time with the program, the simple joy of meeting different people at racetracks around the province and sharing stories always stands out.

“The opportunity to hear other people’s memories of the Ontario Sires Stakes and why it’s important to them has been the best part of it for us,” Snyder said. “We’ve asked people, ‘If you want to write them down and throw them in our memory box, we’ll amalgamate that and put together some kind of a commemorative piece at the end with everyone’s memories.’”

The OSS’ role as a pseudo-time capsule has given supporters a chance to connect with the athletes, both human and horse, beyond win, loss, and earnings totals.

As Snyder put it, “It’s been about great horses but it’s also about the horses they love the most.”

That rings true, even for someone who knows a thing or two about winning big races.

“[Champion driver] James McDonald was joking about it,” Snyder said. “The drivers were signing autographs on Sunday, and I can’t remember which horse it was, but he said, ‘I see this horse didn’t make the grade.’ We’ve got this 30-foot banner that’s broken down by decade, and it’s got histories, pictures, and little tidbits on horses and people that have had a huge impact on the Ontario Sires Stakes program.

“The horse he was talking about was never going to get his picture up there, but he was a horse that was important to James.”

Snyder shared a similar story of a conversation she had with a man at Flamboro on the first night of the OSS 50th anniversary tour.

“Like James’ story, this one wasn’t about a horse that broke records or anything,” Snyder said. “It was the horse that he took care of as a young man getting him started in the industry, who worked his way into his heart. That’s the story and the memory that he wanted to share.”

Whether the one sharing their story is a champion driver or a horseman fondly remembering his early days, it all circles back to Chisholm and Co’s. mission some 50 years ago.

For Snyder, who continues to play a significant role in championing the sport, the OSS is an opportunity to uplift and embrace the literal lifeblood of Ontario’s harness racing business.

“Regardless of where you’re located in North America, your provincial or state breeding program is basically the foundation on which you build everything else,” she said. “The horses that are produced here in Ontario are the ones that are fueling our racing economy in almost every way. Breeders have made great investments in their breeding stock, they’ve made investments in stallions, they’ve attracted good stallions here for people to breed to.

“That means you produce a good horse, you get a good price, and then that horse goes on to compete in the Sires Stakes and hopefully stays here to compete in overnight races throughout its career. Ontario-sired horses are also ridiculously attractive investments for folks across the border. They are racing everywhere, and they are succeeding everywhere. But that breeding program is essential.

“You don’t have a thriving horse racing industry if you don’t have that solid foundation of Ontario bred and sired stock.”

Ahead of the tour’s next stop at Dresden on Canada Day (Monday, July 1), Snyder also discussed some of the exciting giveaways her team has planned.

The bounty, which will also be available to patrons at the remaining seven tour destinations, includes two season-long draws, each rewarding the winner a dinner for four at Mohawk, individual draws on the night of each OSS event where the winner will score OSS branded wine glasses, and a selection of prizes for the kids in attendance.

Those who enter the wine glass draw will also receive a commemorative OSS 50th anniversary hat while supplies last (all 200 available hats were given out last weekend at Rideau).

After a stop in Dresden, the OSS tour is off to Clinton on Sunday (July 7). For Snyder, that stop will be her second at the half-mile oval in as many weeks.

Her first visit to Clinton is scheduled for Sunday (June 30) for Legends Day.

LEGENDS DAY ON TAP THIS SUNDAY

“It’s always a great day,” Snyder said of Legends Day. “One of our pop-up banners for our anniversary tour is all of the Ontario-sired horses that are in the Hall of Fame, and because Clinton partnered with the Hall of Fame this year, we’re taking that pop-up down there to display as part of their party, too.”

The 12th edition of Clinton’s title event is sure to be, as Snyder put it, a party.

This year’s running of the HPIbet $15,000 Legends Trot features an all-star cast of drivers in Carl Jamieson, Randy Waples, Doug Brown, Wally Hennessey, Sylvain Fillion, Chris Christoforou, Paul MacDonell, and Steve Condren.

Also in attendance, but not competing, are John Campbell, Ron Waples, Trevor Ritchie, Bill O’Donnell, and Dave Wall.

One of the leaders working behind the scenes to make Legends Day possible is Clinton’s marketing manager Jessica Carnochan.

A native of the town of 3,200, Carnochan praised the who’s who band of drivers for always making Legends Day a priority on their busy schedules.

“They’re always so willing to come here,” Carnochan said. “We’re not really big, we aren’t necessarily in the middle of everything, but it says something about Clinton’s appeal.

“Legends Day has such a homecoming feel and that’s really what our track’s about on any given day. It’s a down-home atmosphere and that’s why I think they enjoy coming here.”

The special day will be jam-packed with a bevy of on- and off-track entertainment.

This includes the 50/50 Legends Day Raffle in support of the Clinton Public Hospital Foundation, two food trucks, free Legends Day pens with the first 300 programs sold on site, a virtual reality driving experience presented by the Bill Galvin Racing Alliance, the fan favorite barbecue chicken dinner, and a VIP meet-and-greet with the drivers during the Hall of Fame Reunion.

Kin Pace eliminations also begin that day, and as Carnochan noted, it serves as a visual representation of the game’s greats passing the baton to the next generation of reinsmen.

“At the end of the day when it’s all come together, you can take a step back and see all the people that have taken the time to come here and celebrate the horses, the heroes, and the history,” Carnochan said. “That’s a very special feeling.”