Worth Their Weight In Gold

BY: Steve Buffery

Paul Seymour may hail from coal country – Cape Breton, Nova Scotia - but to Woodbine trainer Mike Mattine, he’s worth his weight in gold.

The same can be said for Mattine’s other key groom, Hardeo Bhupaul.

“I’m lucky to have two good workers like that,” said Mattine on a pleasant spring morning at the Woodbine backstretch. “They’re really good workers, they’re really dedicated to their job and you won’t find much better grooms than they are.”

Seymour and Bhupaul have been with Mattine for years and the veteran trainer gives them a lot of credit for much of his success, including his great start to the 2026 Woodbine season. In 12 starts in 2026, Mattine has a pair of wins, three seconds and a third with earnings of $45,471. In Mattine’s eyes, having solid, dependable help in the backstretch is huge – especially when you have workers like Seymour and Bhupaul who know their jobs and, even more importantly, love their work. That makes for a happy and productive barn – something every trainer covets. The common denominator with Bhupaul and Seymour is, they both love the job, and the animals.

“You do the best that you can and treat the horses the best way you know and try to make them happy,” said Bhupaul. “A happy horse is a winning horse.”

Seymour and Bhupaul couldn't have come from more dissimilar backgrounds. Seymour hails from New Aberdeen, Nova Scotia, deep in the coal country of Cape Breton Island. Seymour’s dad had standardbred horses down east and his brother raced standardbreds at the now-defunct Windsor Raceway.

“I went to school here in Toronto and was working in the bowling alley part-time and I discovered this place (Woodbine) was here so I came here and got a job on the weekends, and just stayed here after that,” said Seymour, describing how he got into the thoroughbred racing game.

Seymour first worked for the trainer Peter Di Pasqualie (and his son Sam) and then for Mike’s dad, Tony Mattine, then Mike Wright Jr. and, finally, Mike Mattine.

Bhupaul is a native of the South American country of Guyana, where he had uncles who raced thoroughbred horses mostly as a hobby. After arriving in Canada, Bhupaul began working for Joe Attard, then his son Steve Attard, then Dave Cotey, before joining Mike Mattine. But not only is Bhupaul a fantastic groom, he’s also the owner the five-year-old Ontario-bred mare Catch the Drift, who runs on Saturday’s spectacular card at Woodbine, a race day that features three graded stakes – the Belle Mahone, the Eclipse and the Jacques Cartier Stakes. Catch The Drift, trained by Mattine, has a pair of wins, three place finishes and six thirds, though she’s still looking for her first win for Bhupaul, who claimed the daughter of Exaggerator from Mark Casse. She’s running in a $25,000 claimer in Saturday’s first race for a purse of $52,400. Bhupaul said Joe Attard always encouraged his workers to try to buy a horse, or at least a piece of one.

“Being a groom doesn’t always pay the bills by itself,” said Bhupaul, a married father of two. “You got a mortgage, you got kids – kids going to college and university – so with this, it helps. But it’s a lot of work. Seven days a week.”

“But she’s never missed a cheque for us,” said Bhupaul of Catch the Drift. “There for $25,000 - she’s second, a couple of thirds and fourths. She’s a very consistent horse.”

A victory on Saturday would be nice. But for Bhupaul, Seymour and Mattine, being part of a team in the Woodbine backstretch that works well together and gets along with each other, is a victory in itself.

“It makes you want to come to work everyday,” said Bhupaul. “We all get along well here.”

“I love it,” added Seymour. “I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t work in a factory. Once it’s in your blood, you can’t shake it.”

Seymour describes himself as an East Coast kid who could have taken a wrong turn in life if not for the horses and his work at Woodbine

“I love the horses,” he said. “They kept me out of trouble when I was young. I was trying to make easy money. I don’t have a criminal record or anything like that, but when I was younger, I was trying to make a quick buck instead of working for it.”

Strolling through barn 31, where he keeps his stable of about 20 horses, Mike Mattine watches Bhupaul and Seymour talk to a writer from the HBPA with a smile on his face – clearly proud of the fact that he’s had the same two guys working for him for many years.

“These grooms with experience, you don’t have to say anything to them, they know (what to do),” said Mattine. ‘If there’s a problem, if it’s something minor, they know what to do. They don’t have to tell me.

“They just make my job so much easier,” Mattine added. “Without them, I wouldn’t be able to operate.”