Standardbred owner donating horse’s earnings to SJHL program

Last month’s tragic crash involving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team struck a chord with Brad Grant.

The 63-year-old trucking magnate spent plenty of time riding a team bus during his 16-year tenure as owner of the Junior A Milton Icehawks (formerly the Merchants) hockey club, and he said he was affected by the April 6 crash that claimed the lives of 16 people aboard the Broncos’ bus and left 13 others injured.

“I think it hit home with anybody that has owned a team or ridden a bus,” said Grant. “There’s a lot of teams at a lot of levels around here that do travel by bus. I think anybody who’s done that or been part of that, it had to hit home.”

That prompted the longtime standardbred owner to donate the earnings of Humboldt, a fouryear-old gelding, to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s player assistance program, over a three-week span that concludes Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Humboldt will start from post 1 in race 7.

Humboldt has earned $15,000 from two starts since Grant’s pledge, finishing second in a race April 21 before winning another last Saturday.

“I know Bill Chow from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and I’m still involved in hockey (as outgoing chairman of the Ontario Hockey Association),” Grant said. “My wife and I had already decided we were going to do something but then out of the blue I realized I had this horse named Humboldt and thought, ‘What a great connection and maybe we can help use it to generate some funds for the SJHL’s player assistance program.’”