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UPCOMING EVENTS ( April 1 to September 1, 2008 )

Tuesday, May 20th - Joint press release of Hall of Fame Inductees.

Thursday, June 5th, 2008 - 6:00 p.m.  - 7:30 p.m. - Wine & Cheese Reception in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame at Woodbine Racetrack for Associate Members. We will be unveiling the new wall panels honouring Jockeys, Trainers and Drivers/Trainers as well as celebrating the formal announcement of the 2008 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Inductees.

 

 

 



INDUCTIONS & DINNER ( August 28, 2008 )

Thursday, August 28th - Hall of Fame Inductions & Dinner. Guest speaker at the gala inductions dinner at the Mississauga Convention Centre on Derry Road will be noted Canadian actor Nicholas Campbell, the popular star of the long-running television drama series Da Vinci’s Inquest. Nicholas Campbell is an ardent enthusiast of horse racing, especially near his home track, Hastings Park in Vancouver.

Mr. Campbell recently appeared in the two part mini series, The Englishman’s Boy, on CBC with a starry cast that included Bob Hoskins, R.H. Thomson, Michael Therriault and Don McKellar.

Nicholas Campbell is a true original, and anyone who’s ever met him or worked with him, from Sir Richard Attenborough to David Cronenberg to the guy he buys his racing form from, will assure you of that. Campbell is a critically-acclaimed and multi-award winning actor and director. As an actor he has played everything from charismatic leading men to undercover cops to psychopaths. As a director, he has taken chances that many veteran filmmakers would balk at, and in his off-screen life he is known as hard-driving, disarmingly frank and bitingly funny, with an enduring passion for horse racing, music and his children.
            Recently, Nicholas played “Shorty McAdoo” to rave reviews in the CBC mini-series The Englishman’s Boy as well as “Sporty Lewis” in Cinderella Man opposite Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger. He also has a hilarious turn in the Canadian feature “Siblings” and guest starred in the CBC mini-series, “The Tommy Douglas Story.”
He has won multiple Gemini Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a continuing leading dramatic role for his portrayal of Domenic Da Vinci in Canada’s popular series DaVinci’s Inquest.Campbell was also voted Canada’s hands-down favorite male dramatic star in a TV Guide reader poll, and the only Canadian to make the Top Five dramatic actors list in a TV Times’ readers’ poll.
            Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Campbell went to Queen’s University to study pre-law but quickly switched to English and drama. He moved to England to continue his studies, spending five years there, first at the London Drama Studio, then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He joined York Theatre Repertory Company, where he spent almost a year working in small provincial theatres to gain his acting credentials. He made his film debut in The Omen and appeared in The Eagle Has Landed, A Bridge Too Far and the television production of Come Back Little Sheba.
            He returned to North America, dividing his time between Toronto, New York and Los Angeles. His over 40 starring film and television credits include series leads on Diamond and The Insiders and a recurring role on Street Legal. His TV credits include Hoover vs. The Kennedys, Going Home and The Valour and the Horror. His movie credits include New Waterford Girlsand Naked Lunch. In addition to his notable acting career, Campbell is also an accomplished filmmaker. He wrote and directed the documentary Stepping Razor; Red X, which was nominated for a Genie and numerous honors at international film festivals. He is currently developing a documentary about legendary jockey Ron Turcotte. Campbell was recently honored by the Directors’ Guild of Canada with a nomination for Best Direction, Dramatic Series.


Announcement of 2008 Nominations ( May 7-20, 2008 )

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Announces 2008 Nominations

May 7, 2008 - Toronto, ON - A total of 22 nominees have been put forward by the
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame's Thoroughbred and Standardbred
Nominating Committees including six thoroughbred horses, four
standardbreds and twelve people.

       Smart Strike, who set a single-season world record for earnings
by his progeny in 2007, heads a list of three thoroughbred males
nominated for induction into Canada's Horse Racing Hall of Fame in
August. Owned by Sam-Son Farms of Milton, Ont., the son of Mr.
Prospector dominated the sire list in North America as his offspring
earned more than $14 million. A Group 1 stakes winner and a half-brother
to champion Dance Smartly, Smart Strike is now 16 years old and stands
at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Ky. Also nominated in the Male
category were two Canadian Triple Crown winners and Horses of the Year -
Peteski and Wando. Peteski, the 1993 winner of the Queen's Plate, Prince
of Wales and Breeders' Stakes, was owned by Earle I. Mack of New York.
The colt also won the Molson Export Million against Kentucky Derby and
Travers winner Sea Hero and Belmont winner Colonial Affair. Wando, the
2003 Horse of the Year, is owned and bred by Gustav Schickedanz of
Schonberg Farm near Nobleton, ON.  Wando earned more than $2.5 million
from 23 starts and also stands at stud at William Farish's farm at
Lane's End along with his sire, Langfuhr.

Nominated in the Female category were Alywow, the 1994 Horse of
the Year, owned and bred by Kinghaven Farms; Rainbow Connection,
Canada's champion filly in 1980 and 1981 and Champion Broodmare of 1994.
She won the Group 2 Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct in 1980. Owned by Ron
Edgar and Doug Cameron, Rainbow Connection was bred by Mrs. George T.
Coker. The Halo mare produced three graded stakes winners - Rainbows for
Life, Always a Rainbow and Colour Chart, a graded stakes winner in
France. Also nominated was Wilderness Song, the multiple graded stakes
winning filly who was Canada's champion older mare in 1992.  She was
Sam-Son Farm's first graded stakes winner when she won the Spinster
Stakes in 1991 at Keeneland, Ky.  Wilderness Song also won stake races
at Pimlico, Monmouth and Churchill Downs. She was in the money in 29 of
her 37 career starts.

In the Persons category, three-time Sovereign Award winning
trainer Robert Tiller, who headed into the 2008 season with 1,458
victories, heads a list of three trainers. The other two are veteran
Western Canadians - David Forster, who had considerable success in
British Columbia, Alberta and Washington State, and R.A. (Red) McKenzie
of Edmonton, who was a blacksmith, jockey and breeder and is still
active in Alberta. McKenzie won the Prairie Triple Crown in 1965 when
Chariot Chaser won the Alberta, Canadian and Saskatchewan Derbies.

Nominated in the Veterans category are Louis Cauz, a Sovereign
Award winning writer, author of The Plate: A Royal Tradition, Managing
Director and Curator of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and
Woodbine Entertainment Group's Historian and Archivist; Gustav
Schickedanz, the breeder and owner of Triple Crown winner Wando, Queen's
Plate winner Woodcarver and the successful sire, Langfuhr, and Bruce
Walker, who spent thirty years as the Publicity Director of the Ontario
Jockey Club and earned a reputation as one of the most respected p.r.
men in North America. Walker won three Sovereign Awards for the
Outstanding Feature Story. 

       On the standardbred side, nominated in the female horse category
were trotting star Peaceful Way, a four-time O'Brien Award winner and
Canada's richest trotter in history with over $3.2 million to her
credit, along with outstanding broodmare Rich N Elegant, the dam of
winners of over $8.6 million, including such standouts as Rock N Roll
Hanover, Red River Hanover and Royalflush Hanover.

       Pacing sensation Real Desire, Canada's Horse of the Year and
North America's Horse of the Year in 2002 with over $3.2 million in
purse earnings and the sire of Tell All, Canada's co-horse of the Year
in 2007 was nominated in the male horse category.  Also nominated was
the exceptional trotter Wesgate Crown, a winner of $2.5 million and a
two-time Breeders Crown Champion who has sired the winners of almost
$12.6 million.

           Three trainer-drivers are nominated in the people category.
 Keith Clark, 47 of De Winton, Alberta, one of the most recognizable
names in Western Canadian harness racing, Phil Pinkney, 70 of Nova
Scotia, regarded as one of the best developers of young horses in the
Atlantic region and Dave Wall, 61, of Komoka, ON, a veteran campaigner
on the WEG and Ontario circuits are nominated for induction into the
Hall of Fame.  Clark has driven horses to in excess of $26 million and
trained winners of $18 million while Wall has driven horses to earnings
in excess of $56 million.  Pinkney has driven winners of over $2 million
lifetime and has campaigned numerous stakes and invitational winners in
the Atlantic Provinces throughout the years.

       Nominated in the Veterans / Builders Category were owner-breeder
Robert Burgess from Campbellville, ON, who has also been actively
involved in several industry associations over the years, Quebec based
breeder Pierre Levesque, founder, owner and operator of Angus Farm and
the late Cliff Chapman Jr., former owner and publisher of The Canadian
Sportsman as well as race secretary, bid spotter, legal bookmaker and
trainer.

       The two 20-person Election Committees will declare the winners
in the respective categories and they will be announced on May 20.  The
Induction Ceremony will be hosted at the Mississauga Convention Centre
on Thursday, August 28. Guest speaker will be television and movie star
Nicholas Campbell.

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Contact:
Lou Cauz
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
416-675-3993 x2399