The Hall of Fame Inductions & Dinner will be held on Thursday, August 28th [view details].
2008 Nominations are listed below:


Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Announces 2008 Nominations

TORONTO - The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame today announced its 2008 inductees. Four horses and four people will be honoured at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Thursday, August 28 at the Mississauga Convention Centre.

The class of 2008 features two of Sam-Son Farms' brilliant thoroughbred performers of the 1990s, Smart Strike and Wilderness Song, along with standardbred horses Peaceful Way, the Queen of trotting, and pacing superstar and stallion Real Desire. The people inductees include multiple Sovereign Award winning trainer Robert P. (Bob) Tiller, Louis E. Cauz, Managing Director of the Hall of Fame and Woodbine Entertainment's Archivist and Historian, Quebec-based breeder Pierre Levesque and the late Cliff Chapman, former publisher of The Canadian Sportsman. The newest inductees were elected by the respective 20-person thoroughbred and standardbred Election Committees.

Smart Strike gained international recognition in 2007 when he set a single-season record for earnings by his progeny of more than $14 million. Now 16 years of age, and standing at stud at Lane's End in Versailles, Ky., Smart Strike dominated the sire lists last year when Curlin won the Breeders' Cup Classic and was named U.S. Horse of the Year. Curlin also won the Dubai World Cup in 2008. Smart Strike's numerous graded stakes winners included another Breeders' Cup champion, English Channel. A son of Mr. Prospector and a half-brother to Hall of Fame champion filly Dance Smartly, Smart Strike won six of his first seven starts and was trained by Mark Frostad for the late Ernie Samuel. He was retired after suffering a leg fracture while preparing for the Durham Cup at Woodbine.

For three consecutive years Wilderness Song was a graded stakes winner in the U.S. for trainer James Day and when she retired following the 1993 season, her earnings of almost $1.5 million placed her second amongst females in Canada, behind her high-profile champion stable mate, Dance Smartly. Wilderness Song holds the distinction of becoming Sam-Son Farms' first Group One stakes winner when she captured the Spinster at Keeneland in 1991. The daughter of Wild Again, was Canada's Champion Older Mare in 1992 and won stakes at Monmouth, Pimlico, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Woodbine and Fort Erie, winning 15 times and was in the money in 29 of her 37 career starts. Now 20 years of age, Wilderness Song is the dam of Go To The Sun, third in the 2004 Summer Stakes.

Robert Tiller was elected in the Persons (trainers/jockeys) category. During a four-year period (2001 to 2004) Tiller was voted Canada's outstanding trainer three times. A native of Amsterdam, Holland, Tiller's lengthy training career began in 1972 and he enjoyed instant success, winning 21 races. For 19 years, Tiller has ranked in the top five trainers in wins at Woodbine and has won 50 or more races for seven consecutive years. Initially, Tiller won the admiration of horse people for his claiming acumen. Yet one of his most noted skills to emerge has been acquiring inexpensive yearlings and developing them into significant achievers. His Sovereign Award champions include Rare Friends, Simply Lovely and Win City, Horse of the Year in 2001. Some of his other stakes winners include Near the High Sea, Domasca Dan, Elated Guy, Twisted Wit and Dave the Knave. Prior to the 2008 season Tiller had 1,458 victories and 108 stakes wins.

Author of the Sovereign Award winning book, The Plate: A Royal Tradition, Louis Cauz was a journalist with The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star and CBC television and radio before taking on the task in 1996 of coordinating the building and designing of The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame at Woodbine racetrack. He also developed the archives as a resource for both Woodbine and the thoroughbred and standardbred racing industries. Cauz, who is 75 and a member of the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame, has had a long and significant involvement in the racing industry in Canada, spanning over 40 years. In 1973 he was among a group of horsemen who conceived the idea of creating a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Peaceful Way is the richest Canadian-bred trotter of all time with $3.2 million. The daughter of Angus Hall-Royal Bait is a four-time O'Brien Award winner. She was born, bred and raised in Ontario to longtime owner Angie Stiller of Stonebridge Farms, in Arva, Ontario. Peaceful Way gained worldwide attention at two when she dominated the Grand Circuit, winning nearly $1 million and an O'Brien award as top divisional filly.

In 52 lifetime starts Peaceful Way took a lifetime mark of 1:51.4, was competitive with both males and females, won numerous stakes events including The Maple Leaf Trot, Breeders Crown, Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final, Armbro Flight and a leg of the Classic Series. Trained by David Tingley and owned by Stiller along with Marvin Katz, Al Libfeld, Sam Goldband and the Goin My Way Stable, Peaceful Way was also honoured in 2007 with a trackside presentation at Mohawk Racetrack, celebrating her career and announcing her retirement fittingly at the Maple Leaf Trot. Woodbine Entertainment Group also renamed the Oakville Trot "The Peaceful Way Stakes" in her honour.

Real Desire is a horse that came from humble beginnings, but went on to become one of the leading money earning pacers in history and a successful stallion for owners Karin Olsson Burgess, Robert Burgess, Perretti Farms and Brittany Farms.

Trained by Blair Burgess, Real Desire enjoyed a stellar freshman campaign, winning 8 of 10 starts, establishing a world record of 1:50.4 and earning nearly a half million dollars. Some of his stakes wins during his two-year-old year included the Champlain and Nassagaweya Stakes.

During his sophomore season, he captured the $1,000,000 Meadowlands Pace, the Breeders Crown and Hoosier Cup to push his season's bankroll over $1.6 million. He capped his brilliant career during his four-year-old season with another Breeders Crown triumph and other Free For All wins that ultimately led to Horse of the Year honors on both sides of the border. He was the fastest pacer of the year in his four-year-old season (1:48.2) and retired to stud with career earnings in excess of $3.1 million, ranking him the third richest pacer in history at the time.

Real Desire has also been successful as a stallion, siring the winners of over $7.1 million including North America Cup and Little Brown Jug winner Tell All. Tell All was voted co-winner as Canada's Horse of the Year for 2007 following his $1.5 million season which made him the sport's richest pacer of the season. Real Desire's first two crops make him a "top five" sire with two and three-year-old earnings in 2007 totaling over $5 million.

The late Cliff Chapman Jr. wore many hats during his illustrious and colourful career in the harness racing industry. He was the past owner and publisher of the Canadian Sportsman, a legal bookmaker, bid spotter for hundreds of horse sales, and race secretary at numerous Ontario tracks.

During his career, he also served as race secretary, paddock judge, and trainer. Chapman was the first racing secretary at London's Western Fair Raceway when it opened in the 1960s. He also acted as racing secretary on the Great Western Race Circuit in Manitoba, was the Director of Racing at Sun Parlour Raceway in Leamington, Ontario, and was the Paddock Judge at Florida's Pompano Park.

Quebec based breeder Pierre Levesque, founder, owner and operator of Angus Farm named for the Aberdeen Angus cattle raised there before the horses, will also be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Angus Farm would grow into one of Quebec's largest breeding operations, at one time home to five stallions and almost 100 mares. Many successful horses and champions have been bred at Angus Farms.

Amour Angus, one of Angus Farms' most successful broodmares foaled numerous champions and winners of over $3.5 million. From 13 foals, she had nine starters including Canada's Horse of the Year in 1994, Emilie Cas El, a winner of over $450,000, Conway Hall ($818,000), Angus Hall ($830,000) and Andover Hall ($875,000).

Angus Hall has sired winners of over $33 million including Peaceful Way, Canada's richest trotter of all time, and Majestic Son, a winner of $1.9 million and an O'Brien Award winner as Canada's Horse of the Year in 2006. Andover Hall has sired the winners of over $12.9 million including Pampered Princess, a winner of over $1.7 million and two-time O'Brien Award winner

The gala Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be held on Thursday, August 28, at the Mississauga Convention Centre. Guest speaker will be noted actor Nicholas Campbell, who played the lead role for CBC-TV's long-running series Da Vinci's Inquest.

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