Photo Gallery:
Click here to view photos of the 2007 Induction Ceremony Presentations.


Tuesday, May 22
The 2007 Inductees Announced

TORONTO, ON – Windfields Farm’s Natalma, the mare whose first offspring, Northern Dancer, was the catalyst in creating a global thoroughbred dynasty, and Bettors Delight, winner of the Little Brown Jug and one of Canada’s great pacing colts, have been elected into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. They join four other horses in gaining recognition by electors of the Thoroughbred and Standardbred 16-member election committees and 12-person Veterans’ Committee. Queen’s Plate winners Jammed Lovely, L’Enjoleur and Canadian Champ, who was inducted by the Veterans’ Committee, were elected along with Cathedra, the champion racing filly and stakes-producing broodmare.

In the Builders’ category, Russ and Lois Bennett of Kelowna, B.C., the leading breeders for twenty years in British Columbia, and Jack McNiven of Killean Acres and Ingersoll, Ont., who headed one of the leading breeding operations in the country for over 40 years, were also elected along with jockey Chris Loseth of Vancouver.  Loseth, who campaigned in British Columbia, Washington and northern California tracks, won 3,669 races, including eight one afternoon at Hastings Park. He won two Sovereign Awards as leading apprentice and later top jockey and was honored in 2001 with the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award at Woodbine. Some of Loseth’s major wins came on Sovereign Award winner Travelling Victor, who was bred by the Bennetts, winners of a breeders’ Sovereign Award in 1983. Travelling Victor made history in 1983 when he became the first Sovereign Award winner not raced in Ontario to win Horse of the Year honors.The Bennetts have produced over 50 stakes winners at their Flying Horse Farm near Westbank, B.C., and at one time stood stallions Dixieland Brass and Maudlin. The Bennetts have an interest in Mass Market, which stands at nearby Talbot Red Rock Farm.

Bred to Nearctic in 1960, the regally bred filly gave birth to the future winner of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Queen’s Plate. Northern Dancer went on to gain recognition as the preeminent sire of the 20th century. Owned by E.P. Taylor, Natalma, a daughter of Native Dancer, won three of six starts. At age two she won the Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga, N.Y., but was disqualified and placed third. Natalma is also the dam of five stakes winners, including Arctic Dancer, the dam of Eclipse Award and Horse of the Year champion La Prevoyante.

The only filly in a field of 14 starters in the 1967 Plate, Conn Smythe’s Jammed Lovely stunned the fans and handicappers with a neck victory over Pine Point. She was champion 2-year-old in Canada in 1966.

L’Enjoleur, the first horse to win back-to-back Horse of the Year honors, was owned by Jean-Louis Levesque. He was brilliant at two, winning the prestigious Laurel Futurity in track-record time at Pimlico, Md., the Cup and Saucer and Coronation Futurity. In 1975 he won the Plate and Prince of Wales along with the Manitoba and Quebec Derbies. The late Yonnie Starr, a member of the Hall of Fame, trained both Jammed Lovely and L’Enjoleur.

Winner of the first Plate run at the newly built Woodbine in 1956, Bill Beasley’s Canadian Champ won all the major races for 2-year-olds and swept the three races that today constitute Canada’s Triple Crown. He was Horse of the Year and  retired as Canada’s richest race horse with 15 stakes in 20 wins. At stud  he sired Triple Crown winner Canebora and 1966 Plate winner Titled Hero.

McNiven stood three of the leading stallions in the province — Frisco Byrd, Dallas Almahurst and Run The Table, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year.

Bettors Delight, owned by John Grant or Hornby, Ont., earned more than $2.5 million during his exceptional racing career. He won the Breeders Crown and Governors Cup as a juvenile and was named the USTA and Canada’s champion 2-year-old pacing colt, winning the O’Brien and Dan Patch Awards. In 2001 he was even more impressive, winning the Jug, Lexington’s Red Mile, Tattersalls, Simcoe Stakes and the New Jersey Classic and earning Horse of the Year honors in Canada with a mark of 1:49.4.

Cathedra was a standout freshman pacing filly who developed into a superior broodmare. The daughter of Run The Table won 14 of 16 starts and became the richest 2-year-old in Ontario Sires Stakes history. As a broodmare she has produced two millionaires, Cathedra Dot Com and Cabrini Hanover. She also is the dam of Western Shooter and The Preacher Pan. Cathedra was trained and co-owned by Larry Ainsworth.

Induction ceremonies will be held on Thursday, August 23rd, at the Mississauga Convention Centre. Guest speaker at the gala dinner event will be former professional hockey goalie and comic Jim Ralph. He has been host of numerous hockey TV and radio shows and this past season provided color commentary for Toronto Maple Leafs on Talk 640 Radio.

For more information contact Managing Director Louis Cauz at 416 675-3993, ext. 2399, or email: lzc@woodbineentertainment.com.