Plenty to consider for Canada racing hall

As usual, Canada's racing hall has plenty to consider

Such is the stable – almost literally – of deserving horse racing talent in this country that when the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame holds its induction dinner come Aug. 19, a number of its new arrivals will be wondering why it took so long to crack the club.

There are 29 nominees on this year’s list: 15 from the thoroughbred side and 14 from the standardbred world, and a pair of multiple classics-winning trainers – one from each sport – are front and centre among the hopefuls.

Mark Frostad, four-time Queen’s Plate winer, is nominated in the jockey/trainer category, along with award-winning jockey Mickey Walls and B.C. standout trainer Frank Barroby, himself s a former jockey. In the harness trainer/driver category, four-time trainer of the year Bob McIntosh is nominated, along with his pal, veteran trainer-driver Dave Wall, and Maritimes-born star Wally Hennessey.

Thoroughbred owners nominated are Tammy Samuel-Balaz, Mel Lawson and Aubrey Minshall and thoroughbred horses on the ballot in various categories are the great broodmares Lady Angela, Loudrangle and Square Angel; sprint star Play the King; 1960s multiple stakes winner Victorian Era; Belmont Stakes winners Touch Gold and Victory Gallop; the powerful Formal Gold and excellent sprinter Apelia.

Trotter Westgate Crown, millionaire pacer Astreos and hard-hitting Mr. Big form the Male Horse category among the standardbreds, with broodmare Classic Wish in the Female division, along with Burning Point and Invitro, each multiple millionaires. In the veterans division, the nominees are A Worthy Lad and Rumpus Hanover.

Standardbred owners under consideration in the builders’ category are Ontario owner-breeders Bob Burgess and Peter Heffering and Ted Clarke, GM of Grand River Raceway.

There are two 20-person election committees that will consider the candidates and vote to declare winners by May 18.

Comments

[Paul]

You tell 'em Perk. Stupid fan, buying tickets to the game and team merchandise and then running onto the field on a dare, wasting 10 minutes or so of everyone's precious time.

Forget that he would have tired in another 30 seconds and been caught by the multiple security staff on the field. That rent-a-cop was totally right to use a potentially deadly weapon on this kid. They should have beat him a little too afterward, just to really hammer the point home: People come to the ballgame to watch a ballgame, not to have fun.

Stupid knucklehead.