Page 11 - The Game August 2006

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, August 2006 11
Gertrude Stevenson,
105 Year- Old Racing Fan Passes Away
Gone Fishin
New Stallion for 2007
Joining the Ontario Stallion roster for the 2007 breeding season will be the Graded Stakes winning son of Honor Grades, Gone Fishin.
Gone Fishin was the winner of the Gr.3 Jaipur Handicap and was second in the Gr.2 Nearctic Handicap and the Gr.3 Play the King Handicap in 2000 at Woodbine. He was third in the Gr.3 Connaught Cup Stakes and the Gr.3 Play the King Stakes in 2002 at Woodbine as well as the Gr.3 Aegon Turf Sprint. He was retired with career earnings of $490,551.
Owned by Stone Briar Stables, Gone Fishin will stand in 2007 at Hillside Thoroughbreds in Niagara.
For more information contact Jacquie Karr at 905-386-0912 or info@hillsidethoroughbreds.com
By Peter Gross
The Game was saddened to hear that Gertrude Stevenson had passed away. She died on July 1, at the age of 105 at the Tony Stacey Centre for Veterans Care. We had met Gertrude in April when Woodbine, after learning about this woman’s life long love of horseracing, treated her and some of her friends to an afternoon of playing the races at their residence.
I found Gertrude to be an astute and energetic racing fan. She told me how she chose horses.
“The rider and the weight of the rider,” she proclaimed and as the races were shown on a giant screen in the recreation hall at the Tony Stacey Centre, Gertrude had me name the jock-
eys and identify their weights for each race.
Woodbine’s VP of Media, Glenn Crouter had arranged the festivities that day and when Gertrude used a cell phone to place a bet on a race at Woodbine, Crouter declared her to be the oldest person on the planet to bet on a horse race. We didn’t actually get that entered into the Guinness Book of Records, but no one yet has come forth to dispute the claim.
Her son Donald informed us of her death and remembered how
spanned the entire modern history of horse racing in this country. The year she was born, the Queen’s Plate winner was John Ruskin. As a 16 year-old, perhaps she enjoyed learning that Belle Mahone had won the Plate. She was 37 the day Bunty Lawless won the King’s Plate and she was 63 the day that Northern Dancer shrugged off the field in the 1964 running.
Our day with Gertrude in April was uplifting and inspiring. By the way, with her first bet that day, she hit a 5-1 shot across the board. So even though she is gone, those of us who met her are pleased to know that the last time she played the races, she made a profit!
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Cindy Sabourin at Woodbine
2006
Prince of Wales Winner Shillelagh Slew
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Gertrude Stevenson
much she enjoyed the ponies. “The Dufferin track was probably the one she went to the most,” said Donald, “She liked Long Branch and when we moved to North Toronto, Mom would sometimes go to old Thorncliffe. I remember that it wasn't far from the C.P.R. Leaside Station. She loved to see the Queen's Plate at Greenwood, years before Woodbine was even
built.”
After turning 105, Gertrude
was a little on the frail side and a drive to Woodbine would have been too difficult for her, but before that, according to her son, a field trip to the track was what she loved most.
“Mom enjoyed her life at the Tony Stacey Centre,” recalls Donald, “Especially the bus trips and she was always ready to go if they said horse races. They would bus them up to Woodbine and I would often meet her there and try to help her select her bet.”
Gertrude Stevenson’s life
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