The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame is pleased to announce the people and horses being recognized as inductees in 2018. Six people and four horses have been elected from an extremely deep ballot of candidates.
Standardbred inductees include Builder William (Bill) Andrew, Communicator Dave Landry and Trainer/Driver Jim Doherty along with horses Chancey Lady and Blissfull Hall.
Bill Andrew, originally from Clinton, Ont. and now a resident of Calgary, Alta., has been involved in harness racing since he purchased his first yearling in 1990. His focus shifted from racing to breeding in 2003 and since that time he has made a tremendous impact on the Canadian Standardbred industry, especially in Alberta and Prince Edward Island, where his two Meridian Farms breeding operations are based.
Aside from being a leading breeder in those two provinces, Andrew has given much back to the racing industry he loves, through charitable projects and financial contributions. In 2015, Bill Andrew was awarded Standardbred Canada’s coveted Cam Fella Award for meritorious service to the Canadian Standardbred industry. He has financially supported the Atlantic Sires Stakes trotting events, Truro Raceway and the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition Select Yearling Sale at Truro Raceway. Andrew initiated the Fun For Fans Stables and the Hurrah For Charity Stable where earnings from his horses in the stable benefitted a different charity partner each month. Andrew has also donated the proceeds from the sale of yearlings to community projects, and continues to financially support PEI’s Matinee Racetrack Development Project where children learn horsemanship skills so that they can possibly make the transition to larger tracks and eventual full-time employment in racing.
The other inductees are as follows:
Toronto native Dave Landry’s trips to the racetrack as a child with his father began a lifelong fascination with horse racing that turned into an award-winning career photographing some of the sport’s greatest equine and human athletes, including numerous Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame members.
The late Jim Doherty, known as ‘Gentleman Jim’ and highly respected by his peers, started his career in the horse racing industry in 1956 at the age of 16 working for Milton Downey in St. John, New Brunswick. Jim moved to New England in 1969 and soon became one of the leading trainers and drivers at Rockingham Park & Foxboro Raceway until his move to New Jersey in 1976 when the Meadowlands opened. There he trained and drove a large stable for the better part of 40 years.
Chancey Lady’s racing career spanned from 2007 through 2013. During that time the daughter of Camluck started in 143 races. She won 43, finished second in 22 races and posted 15 thirds, earning $2,083,514 and had a mark of 1:48.4 which was taken at Harrah’s Philadelphia. She was a $60,000 yearling purchase for the late Niele Jiwan of Surrey, B. C. and was trained by Casie Coleman during her 2007 campaign and until just after her Fan Hanover victory in June, 2008, when she moved into the John Pentland Stable, winning the first two starts for her new conditioner including an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Final.