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George Frostad was involved in the Canadian thoroughbred racing industry from the late 1950s, when he established Bo-Teek Farm, a breeding and nursery farm in Vineland, Ont. He stood the stallion Up Spirits at his Niagara region farm and bred Sovereign Award winner Seraphic, champion two-year-old filly of 1975, and champion two-year-old Zaca Spirit, who won the Summer Stakes and Coronation Futurity in 1972. The familiar tan and blue silks of Bo-Teek were carried to success in France, Chile and North America. The contributions of Frostad, who died in August 1998, were not limited to breeding. In 1966 he chaired an industry-wide committee, including both thoroughbred and standardbred interests, charged with the task of approaching the Ontario Government with a view to obtaining a portion of the provincial tax on wagering to help bolster purses. He was successful.

Named Man of the Year by The Jockey Club of Canada in 1989, Frostad’s enthusiastic participation and his service in time, effort and dedication to the industry left an indelible impression. Charles Taylor, in dedicating the Sovereign Award, said, “George Frostad has made a significant contribution to this industry; his commitment can not be measured. It is difficult to image a more worthy recipient of Canadian racing’s highest award.” Frostad, the architect of the Sovereign Awards program, promoted the Canadian-bred abroad while regularly attending international meetings in Europe and South America. He served on the board of the Horseman’s Benevolent and Protective Association and was president of the National Division of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society from 1967-1968. Frostad was also one of the founding stewards of The Jockey Club of Canada and succeeded E.P. Taylor as Chief Steward in 1980. He was a director of the Ontario Jockey Club in 1969 and served on the executive committee from 1972 until June of 1998, when in his 75th year, he was made an honorary member. Frostad’s love of horses came while working on a farm in Manitoba. Prior to his establishing a breeding farm, he served as a fighter pilot during World War II with the RCAF in Burma and the Far East and retired from the force as a Group Captain.