Page 23 - April 2007 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper The Game, April 2007 23
Wendover Training Centre Offering More in 2007
(left to right) Wendover Training Centre Owner/Operators, Paul & Melanie O’Sullivan with their baby boy Jack (born last September) along with Barn Manager Tova Morgan and the O’Sullivan’s friendly Boxer,Tyson.
Melanie and Paul O'Sullivan, owners and operators of Wendover Training Centre, in partnership with Melanie's father, Eric MacDonald, are anticipating that the latest upgrade to their farm will be finished in June, 2007. The installation of a new 1/2 mile training track has prompted the name change from Wendover Stables to Wendover Training Centre and rightly so.
The new track, which will feature an all weather training surface as well as training chute and starting gate, will augment the existing facilities, allowing Wendover to offer a full service training centre for their clients.
An inner turf training track as well as an large indoor arena provide various training surfaces as well as the flexibility to allow horses to train regardless of weather conditions.
The Centre is also equipped with a
covered Odyssey Performance exercise machine as well as a 60 ft. round breaking pen for yearling preparation and breaking.
Both Melanie and Paul are experienced horsepeople who have enjoyed many years working with thoroughbred racehorses.Paul was born in Liverpool, England and enrolled in apprentice school in 1978 at age 15 and served his four year apprenticeship before becoming a work rider for Henry Cecil for 10 years where he galloped the likes of Indian Skimmer, Old Vic and Diesis.
In 1992 he crossed the pond to the US to work for Jimmy Baker in Kentucky, at which time he galloped Kentucky Derby winner Mahogany Hall. After 3 years Paul began working with the babies for pinhooker Morris Miller and, during their six year span together, they produced the first million dollar sale topper as well as the first 2-year-old in training to go a fur-
long in ten flat.
He then spent a half dozen
years with trainer Bob Baffert on the Kentucky circuit while galloping and breaking babies as well as running horses for other trainers such as Neil Drysdale and Roger Attfield before jetting off to Brazil to break and train two-year-olds for Stud TNT.
In 2002 Paul came to Canada to work for trainer Roger Attfield and was the exclusive exercise rider for millionaire Perfect Soul.
Melanie has an extensive background with show horses and began galloping racehorses at Woodbine for trainers Roger Attfield and Mike Keogh more than10 years ago.
Tova Morgan, another experienced
horseperson, is the barn manager at Wendover and oversees the day to day care of the horses.
For more information call Wendover Stables at 905-939-2625.
Construction on the new 1/2 mile training track is well underway at Wendover Training Centre. The track is scheduled to be completed by June of this year.
I wonder, sometimes, about the soul of this game, its marrow. What’s at its centre? What makes it tick? And where is that soul? Strangely enough, I think I found it at a birthday party in the kitchen of Jim and Sandra Loseth’s Aldergrove farm. At its soul are the people who have made a life in the game. People like Jim and Sandra Loseth.
The Loseths are typical of families that have grown and evolved around horseracing. They’ve built a comfortable life for themselves and their children and nowhere is that more apparent than in the farm kitchen where they often cook for a crowd of kids and drop-ins. Like any traditional farm kitchen the room is a friendly, bustling place full of people and laughter and warmth and a sense of family— and food is a big part of it. A few weeks ago their son James turned 18 and he requested ribs and spaghetti for dinner that night. As the clan gathered to celebrate the long table was filled with people; Jim and Sandra‚ daughters Christine and Mallory, jockey Dave Wilson, friend and boarder Ted Feenstra and his son Curtis, James, of course, and the matriarch of the family Ann Hall.
Amid the laughter and voices, some- times talking all at once, bits of informa- tion about the Loseths came through, their history and career as horsemen and their love of the game.
They’ve been together in the racing game for over thirty years. Jim, according to Sandra, began courting her when she was fifteen. They married in 1983 and have four children.
Their family is rich in racing history.
Jim’s brother is former champion jockey Chris Loseth and Sandra’s father was legendary owner/trainer Bob Hall who owned perhaps Canada’s greatest racehorse, George Royal. Sandra grew up on the farm they are now part of and has fond memories of the great horse.
"I used to ride him when he was older," she says. "But I was pretty young and didn’t realize what a treasure he was. When he came home after racing people were lined up along the road to get a glimpse of him. He affected a lot of peoples lives"
The game has been good to them for those thirty years.
"We’ve seen it all in this business," says Sandra. "We raced 5 days a week when we started and this [2 days per week] is the rock bottom. But we’ve done well and haven’t had to suck it up. We have a full barn every year and only train what we want to train.
"And we have other things going on, even when we were running 5 days a week we both worked in construction. We didn’t have to rely on the horses. We train about twenty to twenty five head, because you need that to run a business and we own about six or seven of those ourselves. If you run too many it takes the fun out of it"
There’s been fun and many winners over the years but there is one horse they remember fondly.
"My favourite horse was Vanderboss,” says Jim. "He win 21 races, all but one of them for us. When we first got him he got sick but we had worked him and saw he had a lot of talent but the owner didn’t
want a sick horse. We told him ‘this is the one you want to keep’—he had bred the horse but he couldn’t afford to keep him so we bought the horse.
"Now this horse could run and he win his first start by five going away. So we phoned the guy and said you’ve got to have a part of this horse. I mean he’d raised him and it wouldn’t have been as much fun without him, so we just gave him part of the horse. He only went as high as $30,000 claiming but he was a nice horse,"
It’s obvious that Jim and Sandra enjoy horseracing and, although worried about the situation in BC, they are positive about its future.
The Loseth clan:
clockwise from top left Ted Feenstra, James Loseth, JIm Loseth, Sandra Loseth, Anne Hall Curtis Feenstra and jockey Dave Wilson
"You’re going to get ups and
downs in any business you just
have to deal with it," says
Sandra. "I’m very positive
about the future. There's a lot of people with money here and as long as there are people with money there will always be racing. As for us, we’re stayers, not quitters. We love this life too much. We enjoy each other and we love horses. So wedoitfortheloveofit.
"We have a good existence here," adds Jim. "We’ve worked hard for it and enjoy it too much to pack it in."
And, as long as there are people like Jim and Sandra at the heart of our sport, cooking, laughing, and enjoying life, its soul will remain strong and healthy and I think I know where to find it.
A Look at Racing in British Columbia
By Jim Reynolds
Hastings Racecourse
Live Thoroughbred Racing returns to Hastings in Vancouver, BC on Saturday, April 28 through to Sunday, November 4, 2007.
Racing is scheduled Saturday, Sundays & Holidays with first race post time at 1:25pmlocaltime. Fridayracingwillbe added to the card for the months of July & August with a post time of 2:25pm.
Hastings’ feature races, the $125,000 BC Breeders’ Cup Oaks and the $250,000 BC Breeders’ Cup Derby are scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 22 & 23.