Harness horse of the year ready to live the stud life
State Treasurer ends career with more than $2 million in earnings
State Treasurer has big horseshoes to fill.
Voted Canada’s Horse of the Year in 2015 after victories in the Molson Pace at Western Fair District and the Canadian Pacing Derby at Mohawk Raceway, State Treasurer was honoured Sunday with a meet and greet at Western Fair in London.
Harness racing fans had the opportunity to see the horse who earned more than $2 million since he was purchased in 2010 for $6,500.
State Treasurer was eating in a stall in front of the Raceway at Western Fair while fans dropped by to wish him a happy retirement.
The horse, owned by Sally MacDonald of Souris, P.E.I., and Paul MacDonald of Toronto, is moving to Seelster Farms of Lucan where he will be a stud.
“We’re hoping he can pass along his athleticism to his babies,” said Ann Straatman of Seelster Farms.
“We won’t know until his first babies are two years old whether they are successful racehorses, but until then we’ll give him the best chance that we can.”
Seelster Farms, located northeast of Lucan, is a major breeding farm with several big money winners in its stable of studs.
Camluck, who died in 2015, has been the most successful stallion at Seelster Farms. Raced, trained and co-owned by Bob McIntosh of LaSalle, Camluck was at Seelster Farms for 23 years.
Winning just over $1 million on the track, Camluck-sired progeny have won a staggering $225 million.
“We’re looking for the next succession and the next Camluck for us,” said Straatman, who is in charge of the breeding program.
“It’s kind of like a pedigree chemistry set, finding mares that complement (State Treasurer’s) breeding and bloodlines.”
State Treasurer won the Molson Pace at the Raceway in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
“He’s been a fantastic little horse from the get-go,” trainer Ian Moore told the Free Press in 2014.
“He always gives you 100 per cent no matter what, and if he gets roughed up a little in a race, he forgets about it quickly and comes back the next week and does his work.”
Sally MacDonald and her nephew Paul bought State Treasurer in 2010 for what turned out to be a song, based on his career winnings.
“He’s been in many races where we look at him and he’s near the back, and he digs in and circles the field and he wins,” MacDonald told the CBC this year. “It’s like he’s got the desire to win, which you don’t always see in racehorses. Some of them have the ability, but not the desire. He seems to have both.”
It’s kind of like a pedigree chemistry set, finding mares that complement (State Treasurer’s) breeding and bloodlines.