A PICTURE IS WORTH THOUSANDS OF WINS

Back row from left to right:  Todd Phillips, David Bell, Slade Jones, Ian Black, Robin Platts, Janet Black, Roger Attfield, Sarah Sullivan, Barb Przedrzymirska

Middle section all seated:  Rachel Halden, Steven Bahen, Mark Dunn, Mac Benson, Jono Jones, Richard Dos Ramos, Mike Keogh

 Lower level at right:  Debbie Platts, Lou Keogh, Catherine Day Phillips, Val Topp

Photo by Dylan Dunn

by JENNIFER MORRISON

It is said a picture is worth a thousand words but in the case of a recent photo taken of some Ontario horsepeople, it's more like worth thousands of wins.

Two-time Hall of Fame inductee Roger Attfield hosted a gathering of friends at his home north of Woodbine in September, and the group photo was a who's who of some of the biggest names in Ontario racing history.

In fact, when the photo of 20 friends appeared on social media, viewers wanted to know how many races in total the group had won.

Trainer Rachel Halden tackled the calculations; in total, the trainers and riders in the photo had won a staggering 12,166 races with 4,467 of those wins by the trainers and 7,699 winners by the jockeys,” said Rachel, winner of 129 races and many stakes herself.

In addition to Roger and Rachel, the trainers on hand were Grade 1 winners and Canadian Classic winners MacDonald Benson, Mike Keogh, Ian Black, David Bell and Catherine Day Phillips. The jockeys in attendance were Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer Robin Platts and fellow retired riders Steve Bahen, Richard Dos Ramos and Jono Jones.

The photo is completed by husbands and wives, all of whom are or have been fully immersed in the racing industry: Barb Przedrzymirska (Mac), Lou Keogh, Janet Black, Val Topp (David Bell), Todd Phillips and Debbie Platts, plus Mark Dunn and Sarah Sullivan.

“It was a great day,” said Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame jockey Robin Platts, who rode 3,244 winners throughout his illustrious career. “I hadn't seen some of those people in a long, long time.”

Robin noted that Roger “knows every statistic there is” and told him that he rode 63 stakes winners for him.

Mike Keogh, who trained Wando to win the Canadian Triple Crown and worked for Roger as an exercise rider and assistant when Roger won Triple Crowns with With Approval and Izvestia, was happy to catch up with his fellow horsepeople.

“The best part of it is that we are all really good friends, “said Mike. “And a lot of that dates back to the Kinghaven days.”

The afternoon was filled with dozens of racetrack stories of favourite horses and funny occurrences. “I was remembering some of my best horses such as Overskate, Royal North and Gurkhas Band,” said Robin.

“The funny stories were the best and in fact, Slade Jones, who was there, poor kid, he kept listening and wondering if our stories could be true.”

Like Mac Benson, who has won Queen's Plate and trained for E.P. Taylor, David Bell, is also retired, although only as of last year. David Grade 1 Haskell Stakes winner Kissin Kris and dozens of other graded stakes winners. Ian Black and Catherine Day Phillips still train today.

“It is incredible to think about those statistics,” said Robin. “The day brought back a lot of memories for all of us in racing, memories that bind us all together.”