Page 14 - The Game March 2006

14 The Game, March 2006 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Canmor Thoroughbreds, BC Stallion Parade, February 19
Christine Loseth with new Canmor Stallion Terrell (Distorted Humor - Fulfurrias)
Stephanotis poses for an admirer
Light of mine eyes the paddocks with the mares
Canmor's other new stallion The Lady's Groom (Runaway Groom - TKO Lady)
Retired jockey turned barbecue chef Chris Loseth
Photos By Jim Reynolds
Canmor squire
Ole Nielsen announces each stallion on parade
Canmor's grand old man Regal Intention (Vice Regent - Tiffany Tam)
Ole Nielsen has been hooked on horseracing since he was ten. Back then he’d collect and cash pop bottles and go to the track and talk older people into placing show wagers for him. He began the game in earnest 35 years ago as owner of a successful racing stable and one of BC’s most prominent and successful stallion operations. At his Canmor Farm’s recent stallion parade he talked about his successes and theories regarding the state of breeding in British Columbia.
"I started racing in 1971," he says, relaxing in the office at Canmor. "I bought the first Canmor Farm and six stallions in 1975 and moved to the present location in ’78. Primarily Canmor has always been a Stallion station. We breed about 100 to 200 mares per year depending on what stallions we have had and how popular they were.
"In the ‘80’s I backed off racing a bit and got into mares. Bred a lot and sold a lot. But by 1994 I wasn’t pleased with the quality of mares we had and the direction we were going so I sublet the farm and went into racing on a more serious level."
But after five years away from it Ole realized that he missed the stallion business and reacquired the 110-acre farm.
"Ihadalotoffunracingandhadalotof wonderful racehorses, lots of stakes winners, so a few years ago I decided I would start breeding again but would retire and breed my own mares. It started off with SKY BORNE who won a couple of
distaffs, and SPICE GIRL, who won the Senorita.
"I’ve always been involved in breeding. I’ve served my term as President of the CTHS here and nationally tried to do my bit for the industry. And I’m certainly committed to the BC breeding industry and committed to the best stallions we can afford and attract so I’m pickier about the mares I breed. We now have four mares and only breed racemares that are stakes winners of over $100,000. I also buy at the [CTHS] sale and support it. Our stable races about 20 horses a year with about eight to ten two-year-olds. And it may grow from there."
As for the future of the BC breeding industry Ole seems cautiously optimistic.
"We need better bloodlines in BC," he says. "But we need to get better mares and get more of them. The stallions will come. There are probably only 250 mares that will pay a $3,000 and up stud fee in BC. To get a better stallion he has to get at least a $3,000 stud fee. We need mares more than stallions. If the mares are here people will bring in stallions. Ten years ago we had twelve hundred mares in BC and were producing six or seven hundred foals a year. Now we have probably 700 mares in BC and we’re producing 350 foals a year. We’ve been knocked in half but I think we’re on the road to recovery."
Last year the Canmor team struck it lucky with the probable 2006 Horse of the
Year MONASHEE, winner of the Grade 3 BC Oaks and the G3 Ballerina Stakes.
"MONASHEE might be any
kind of horse. She’s a good one;
every now and then you get the
gut feeling that this is a good one.
In a stake race anything can hap- pen—you can have the 6/5 favourite in the Kentucky Derby and not win but, and I can’t explain this, I knew she was going to win the Oaks.
"She’s a kind of interesting horse. In her first six races she had three wins and in the other three she lost all chance at the starting gate. Once we figured out her little quirks, began putting those earmuffs on her and special blinkers, she won four races after that, her only loss was the BC Derby and we deserve a lot of the blame for that. We made mistakes getting her ready for the derby and Justin (jockey Stein) got caught up in the moment and went a 22 flat quarter out of the gate.
"Maybe in retrospect we shouldn’t have run," he laughs. But I thought it would add a little excitement to the Derby. Yes, we were running against the boys but if we hadn’t made the errors we made I strongly believe she would have been second or third. Every now and then you get a WIN- NING COLORS or a GENUINE RISK and you kind of feel, not for me but for her, she deserves the chance."
As for the success he is enjoying at this stage of the game he freely gives the credit where it is due.
"In terms of racing we have a really good team, I attribute my success to team work, a wonderful relationship with Tracy McCarthy who after years and years we finally talked into training. Tracy and I pick out all the horses—we go to Kentucky etc. And to Chris Loseth who retired from riding last year and runs the farm end of the training. We all work together, we pick out good racing prospects. That sounds like bragging and I don’t want to brag, there’s an awful lot of luck involved and you need luck. But the teamwork involved is the biggest reason for our success. We work well together and give the horses the best possible chance to succeed.
At one point during this conversation the ten-year-old racing fan emerges and with an almost boyish grin says. "I love this game. Horseracing gives me a real shot. To own a racehorse that wins a race...the thrill in indescribable."
A Look at Racing in British Columbia
By Jim Reynolds