Page 14 - The Game February 2006

14 The Game, February 2006 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Remembering those you meet along the way
Tom Boyce
Through the journey of life people enter and exit your life everyday. Some are as insignificant as a grain of sand on a beach while others leave impressions that last your lifetime.
Sitting across from Tom Boyce, we enjoyed a pot of coffee, while he told me about the people who have drifted or stayed during the seventy plus years of his life journey.
Of course, the people he spoke about all had significance, otherwise why mention them at all.
There was a reason for our get together. Tom wanted to talk about his friend, Paul Johnson, who had recently passed away. Tom would explain that Paul was a good man, a great horseman, and someone he wished he had gone to visit one last time before his passing.
Tom narrated from memory that Paul Johnson came to Canada from England to break yearlings for Windfields Farm. He was a good horseman and it wasn’t long before he became the manager of the Douglas Banks owned, Nashville Stud.
The politics of the horse business, as they were back then, had forced Paul to relocate to Leslie street in Aurora, which was the original Beechwood farm and the home of Frank Stronach.
“When I came to Canada I found people were afraid to help you.” said Tom, “In case you took their job. That wasn’t the case with Paul.”
“He was a great practical horseman and was terrific with pedigrees.” Tom said with admiration, “He’d help you out with anything.” Tom recalled that if Paul thought you were breeding your mare to the wrong stallion, he’d
let you know which stallion would be a better match. His kindness also extended to his staff, if he thought they had any brains Paul would suggest to Frank to hire them to work for Magna, even if it meant having to find someone else for the barn.
Frank knew the worth of good people, and he was told by many, including Tom, that Paul Johnson was one of the best. Frank “looked after” Paul who had spent his last days the same way he had for 30 years....in the barn at Adena.
Tom had spent the first 32 years of his life in Ireland, raised in Banbridge in the County Down. R.J. Hale was the first to hoist the eight year old Tom onto a pony in what would be countless seats in a saddle. Richard John Hale, a sixty-eight year old horseman, was instrumental in Tom’s direction in life.
R.J. was known to be one of the best and after more than two decades of learning and helping him “turn around all the screwball horses in the country” Tom took his leave and immigrated to Canada on May 12, 1965.
He arrived at the employment office in Toronto and stated on his application that he wanted to work with horses. The directions he was given involved two subway rides and a bus trip out to the country where he arrived at the gates of Windfields Farm in Willowdale.
Tom’s pregnant wife Moira along with their young daughter Helen, joined him in Canada shortly after and they took up residence at the farm. Daughter Kate was born that September and daughter Shirley
followed a couple of years later. During his five years at Windfields, Tom had many people come into his life. Some became lifelong friends, like Paul Johnson, some only acquaintances, while others offered
an advancement to his career.
Mrs. Seitz, as Tom respectfully called her, bought horses from Mr. Taylor and was the daughter of Larkin Maloney, the owner of Cool Reception. She asked Tom to work for her at her Green Hills Farm in Milton, which he proceeded to successfully manage for five years
before the farm was sold.
Now, not everyone you meet in life
is going to be good to you. And you usually find out the hard way that someone is not all they are cracked up to be. These are the people that can have a devastating impact in your life. Such was the case when Tom became partners with Gordon Ramm.
Having saved up enough money to build a house, Tom and Moira, completed their dream home on Gordon’s farm property in Brantford. Without divulging all the details Tom simply stated that after five years of being “so called partners” on their breeding operation, “Gordon went to jail and I went broke.”
You could see it in his eyes that the memory was a painful one. Struggling to hold back his emotions, Tom continued to explain that all the farm’s assets were frozen, which included his house.
To say this was a turning point in Tom’s life would be stating the obvious, and it was fortunate that Tom had many good people in his life who allowed him to eventually get back on his feet.
Then Brian Cullen entered his life.
The pair met in 1980 after Tom sold a season for the Kentucky Derby winning stallion, Cannonade, to Brian. The rest, they say, is history. Tom went on to manage Brian’s Sawmill Breeding farm where he still “helps out” today.
Tom resides in North Pelham, near Welland, Ontario and is enjoying being semi-retired. With a Chuckle he adds that “you can never fully retire from the horses.”
He celebrated his 45th wedding anniversary with Moira in 2005 and their children have gone on to enjoy interesting lives.
Only one daughter, their first born, Helen, has followed her father’s passion for horses and is currently the breeding manager at the Irish National Stud after becoming the first Canadian and the first woman to top their Stud Managers Course.
Day by day as you go through the journey of life, it is always a pleasure to meet interesting, good people and to have the opportunity to reminisce, over a pot of coffee, about the other people we have met along the way.
Boarding • Layups Broodmare Care • Foaling Training
Sales Prep/Representation Bloodstock Consultation
GAIL WOOD
Co-Breeder of Champion Edenwold
P.O. Box 164, Hillsburgh, ON N0B 1Z0
519-855-4915 Fax:519-855-4514 www.woodlandsfarm.com
News In Review - Bailey Retires
48-year-old jockey Jerry Bailey retired from race-riding on January 28, 2006 as the second all-time money earner. His last race was in the Sunshine Millions $500,000 Turf Stakes at Gulfstream Park in Florida aboard Silver Tree where he finished second. Jerry is planning to join ABC Sports and ESPN as a racing analyst with his first appearance in March at the Dubai World Cup.
When asked about his reason for retiring he was quoted as saying that he was looking forward
to spending time with his family (wife Suzee and son Justin) and that he wanted to walk away in one piece.
Jerry began his apprenticeship at Oaklawn Park in 1976 and now retires with close to 5900 wins and $295,865,139 in earnings, second only to the recently retired Pat Day ($2 million more). He has earned seven Eclipse Awards, more than any other rider and he currently holds the record on 70 stakes wins in one year as well as the title of highest earnings in one year at $23,354,960.
SHELTER
Seeking the Gold - Missed the Storm (Storm Cat)
Conformation, Great Looks, Bloodlines, Winning Attitude & Affordability! What are you waiting for?
2006 Stud Fee $1,250
Contact Kim • Stourie Brae Farm 613-623-9873 • Fax 613-623-8926 stouriebrae@hotmail.com www.stouriebraefarm.net
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