Four-Bagger for Joe Humber

BY JENNIFER MORRISON

It's not every day an Ontario horseperson is featured on the home page of Equibase.com, the U.S. based source for all horse racing statistics.

On Wednesday, October 15 visitors to the site were greeted with this note:

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday!

The trainer with the most wins across North America yesterday was Joseph Humber, with 4 wins at Fort Erie Race Track!

Humber won races 1,2,3 & 7 yesterday at Fort Erie Christopher Husbands, who also had a 4-win day, was aboard 3 of Humber's winners!

Photo by Niagara Exposure Photography

It was a day to remember for Humber as he won four races on Fort Erie's seven-race card Monday including the first three races of the afternoon.

Humber's previous best day was three wins in June, 2020.

The four winners were owned by four different owners, too. Humber sent out Ring It Up to win the first race for Rosalie Raphael, Bill Needle to win race two for Eleanor Toneguzzo, Salmiakki (race three) for Hall of Fame owner and breeder Glenn Sikura of Hill 'n' Dale Farm, Mario Serrani and Murray Smith and Canadian Avro for his longtime friend Gerald Erfle.

Raphael, who was the 'silks' lady at Fort Erie, is a former trainer who purchased a couple of racehorses for 2025.

“It’s been fun training for her! She’s 87 years old and gets up every morning with the same excitement for racing as she did 60 years ago.”

Toneguzzo is a first year owner whom Humber met in the restaurant business. “She had a sparked interest in racehorses and claimed a few with me this summer and did well for her first year. It’s great to see new owners getting into the business”

Sikura and Serrani raced the Grade 1 winning filly Corsia Veloce this year at Woodbine and also race at Fort Erie.

“Glenn has sent me quite a few nice horses to train,” said Humber. “We have a good working relationship and I enjoy training for him and his partners.”

The four-bagger pushed the Humber Stable to 13 wins for 2025, tied for fifth on the leading trainer list. Humber needs three wins on the last two days of the Fort Erie season to match his previous best total.

Humber, who rode three races as a jockey before he got too tall, has been training for just over a decade but expanded his stable in 2020 when he started 152 horses. He has started 146 this year so far and has a solid 40 percent top three rate.

Originally from Stevensville, ON, Humber is well known for being one of the hardest working horsepeople at Fort Erie. He gallops, works and ponies his own horses, owns the stallion Danish Dynaformer and breed horses at his Ridegway farm.

Humber can hardly wait for 2026, in particular because his own first crop of runners by Danish Dynaformer will be on the track. “We should have a really good lineup of 2-year-olds to start [next] season with. He’s had a lot of success as a stallion so far, many winners at Woodbine and Fort Erie, even across North America with a few. It’s exciting because they have proven to like all three surfaces,and a range of distances.”

Humber hopes to go out with a bang on the last two racing days of the 2025 Fort Erie season, October 20 and 21.