Race horse owners still after that elusive Plate
The name of the Plate changed with the reigning monarchs. In 1901 when Queen Victoria died it became the King’s Plate until the ascension of Queen Elizabeth in 1952.
HAMILTON WAS THE SCENE of the sixth running of the Queen’s Plate, a year before Canada became one nation, establishing the Ambitious City as an important racing centre in the years to follow.
In the 107-year history of North America’s oldest continuously-run thoroughbred racing event, Hamilton was again the site when the race was run here in 1874. It was later moved to Toronto on a permanent basis.
While the classic had the blessings of Queen Victoria in those early years, it was a roaming event and was held wherever a suitable track could be found. It had been held in London, Guelph, Kingston, Whitby, Barrie and Ottawa.
In the year of Confederation, the race was run at St. Catharines. The Garden City had a population of 9,000 then, and 2,000 turned out to witness the running.
BEACON, THE WINNER of the 1866 Plate, was reported to be owned by Robert McKellar, a Hamilton man. But that was the only time a Hamilton owner had collected the Queen Victoria’s guineas until 1899. After Joseph E. Seagram of Waterloo had collected the big race prize eight times in succession, the William Hendrie family broke the string with a horse named Butterscotch.
William Hendrie had been prominent in horse racing from its inception. His sons, John, William and George, all shared his enthusiasm for thoroughbreds and the track. William managed the stable for some years for his father and often acted as starter at the east end Hamilton track when the family stable was not entered.
Two years after the death of William Hendrie in 1906, the three sons in partnership changed the stable’s name to Valley Farm.
John, the eldest son, was to become Sir John, lieutenant-governor of Ontario. William, the second son, whose widow resides in Hamilton, was father of George M. Hendrie, now president of the Jockey Club. The third son, George M., after the death of his brothers, carried on in the racing game in the United States for many years before coming back to Hamilton to establish a stable on No. 6 Highway, south of the city. In his father’s footsteps, he became a Queen’s Plate winner in 1918.
Steeplechase racing was also popular with the racing set before the turn of the century.
As the tracks became established, they all included steeplechase courses but, because of the many hazards, the wagering public preferred the flat races. However, at least one steeplechase race was offered on each day’s program well into the 1920s.
After Mr. Hendrie broke the Seagram stranglehold on the Plate, the race that had become a yardstick of prominence in the racing game, it was not until 1902 that the Plate came to Hamilton.
Again it was a Hendrie horse, named Lyddite, that won.
IN 1918 GEORGE HENDRIE’S Springside got the job done. After that, the closest the Plate came to Hamilton was in 1927 when Ryland H. New of Oakville broke into the game and won with Troutlet. Mr. New repeated in 1930 with Aymond. The Valley Farm won it in 1909 and 1910.
Canada’s prize racing trophy last rested in Hamilton in 1954 when Colisteo, owned by the combined stable of H. C. (Pete) Burton and Walter Fitzgerald, racing under the name of the BurFit Stable, defeated the favourites. It is interesting that this Hamilton horse was ridden by a Hamilton rider, Chris Rogers, who was one of the few jockeys to ride three winners of the Queen’s Plate.
The name of the Plate changed with the reigning monarchs. In 1901 when Queen Victoria died, it became the King’s Plate until the ascension of Queen Elizabeth in 1952.
As the Plate gained in importance on the racing scene, the tracks kept pace.
Operations of the Hamilton track, situated on what now is the Greater Hamilton Shopping Centre at Barton Street extending from Ottawa Street to Kenilworth Avenue, was formed into the Hamilton Jockey Club. The late Harry J. McIntyre and the late Robert R. Simpson, co-owners of the Royal Hotel, were the prime movers in forming the club.
J.J. Conway, who died in 1952, was the managing director and the last to survive the original group that put racing on a businesslike basis in this city. Johnny Conway, one of his sons, is currently an official of the Jockey Club.
The Hamilton track opened under its new management in 1883 and flourished until 1952 when E.P. Taylor purchased the grounds and the racing franchises for $1,333,750. The track was closed and the shopping centre replaced it. The club franchises are used at the new Jockey Club’s plush plant at Malton, Ont.
In the intervening years Hamilton has had many owners and breeders who have sought the distinction of winning the Plate. The largest and latest of these aspirants was the late Frank A. Sherman, president and then chairman of the board of Dominion Foundries and Steel. Mr. Sherman purchased expensive stock at all the best yearling sales, yet his colours failed to appear in the winner’s circle when the guineas were being handed out.
THE LATE Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stevenson, of the Hamilton-based Stevenson Fruit Company, tried for many years to build up a Plate-winning stable. And while they collected frequent purses, they never “had a good shot,” at the Plate. The late James Kemp, of construction fame, also had a formidable string of horses but no real Plate contender.
Currently, Petey Burton is still trying; John Argo QC, and his brother, Joseph, keep their interest alive, and John Cimba of Grimsby has some promising prospects.
Thomas King of Westdale and his partner, Bill Mason of Burlington, have an active string of horses running at both Canadian and U.S. tracks, while Dr. Cliff Hopmanns of Burlington and George Frostad, also of Burlington, are in both the breeding and racing end of the game.
Henry Katz, the Hamilton lawyer, and Frank Junger of Burlington both support active racing stables, but they use mostly horses they have obtained via the claiming routes south of the boarder, so are not considered serious aspirants to Queen’s Plate honours.
But in racing, one never knows where a good horse will come from, so the Plate may yet come back to Hamilton, and it could be soon.