The year 2016 started with a terrible tragedy that shook Canada’s harness racing community. But from the ashes came amazing stories of hope, resilience and remarkable kindness. By Keith McCalmont
A New Year brings new beginnings. A time for reflection and to dream of new opportunities and set goals that will propel you to a brighter future.
On January 4, with the calendar only just flipped over to 2016, the lives of six trainers and some 43 horses were forever changed as a tragic barn fire at Classy Lane Training Centre in Puslinch, Ontario took the lives of 39 standardbreds, one thoroughbred and three miniatures.
The five-alarm fire brought Barn 1 to the ground and with it the beloved animals, along with the vast majority of the equipment, belonging to trainers Floyd Amos, Kris Di Cenzo, Dan Lagace, Roger Mayotte, Chantal Mitchell and Ben Wallace, and their staff.
The tragedy became front page news. Television crews rushed to the site, and the story dominated the airwaves and surged across the globe via social media.
There was grief.
A touching memorial held in the standardbred paddock at Woodbine brought tears from even the sturdiest horsepeople. A stoic Ben Wallace, understandably, struggled to keep his emotions in check while doing his best to explain to reporters about the connection between human and horse.
Chantal Mitchell thoughtfully answered each question asked of her while somehow maintaining her composure in the midst of adversity. Her inner strength lifting her to the unenviable position of unofficial spokesperson for the group – and, in doing so, shared the story with the world.
There was also compassion.
The Central Ontario Standardbred Association (COSA), headed by Bill O’Donnell and with the great assistance of Cathy Boughton and Stacey Newman, launched a GoFundMe page.
Their goal was to raise $100,000. As of November 19, the Classy Lane GoFundMe page has attracted 1,412 donations totaling $683,058.
“I know horsepeople stick together but this was a lot more than I ever expected,” said O’Donnell. “I thought if we could raise $100,000 it would lend a hand to some of the people that had lost so much and we hit that amount in 12 hours. The response was unbelievable.”
Funds arrived from equine groups across North America. And not just from the standardbred community - - donations of time, money and equipment came from the thoroughbred, quarterhorse and show horse communities reaching as far abroad as Italy and Australia.
What started as a terrible 2016 for the horsepeople at Classy Lane evolved into a story of strength in community and character in the face of tragedy.
Kris Di Cenzo lost four horses in the Classy Lane fire and while the 40-year-old conditioner admits he has struggled in the aftermath, he has also achieved great success, and is poised to record his first six-figure season in purse earnings since 2011.
“Things have gone really smoothly considering all that happened. The help has been unbelievable. It’s hard to put into words but the support from everyone, financially and emotionally, has been incredible,” said Di Cenzo.
Racing is a business and those involved in the claiming game know they have to be prepared to lose a horse from time to time. But there’s really nothing that can prepare a horseman for what happened at Classy Lane.
“It’s a very strange situation. Horses come and go, but for them to go through what they went through just hurts so much. You never think it will end that way,” said Di Cenzo.
In May, the new barn at Classy Lane opened and the group of six trainers moved back into their new home. Di Cenzo has since expanded his modest stable to six horses.
In addition to his horses, he also lost the majority of the tools and equipment he uses on a daily basis in the fire.
“There wasn’t much left. I still had some stuff in my garage at home because I’d downsized my stable,” said Di Cenzo. “Thankfully I still had a few harnesses and other equipment but other than that everything else was gone - - horses, jog carts, race bikes.”
The sticker shock of having to outfit an operation from scratch along with finding new horses to train would have bankrupted most conditioners.
“It was a huge expense and you don’t realize what things cost,” said Di Cenzo. “You just tend to accumulate things over time and you buy equipment as you need it but when you have to go buy a bunch all at once it’s a real eye opener. Thankfully, everybody’s donations was a huge help.”
With a link to it on the Standardbred Canada website, funds poured into the GoFundMe account from across the globe. O’Donnell formed a committee of respected horsepeople to work out a plan to distribute the funds. That committee included Sue Leslie, Karen Breen, Jamie Martin, Ian Fleming, Dave Drew and Jim Wellwood.
“Trainers and grooms were out of business right away,” explained O’Donnell. “So, we took some of the money to give to them, to keep them going.
“We had to consider how much the grooms make per week…nearly three months worth of salary,” continued O’Donnell. “The trainers were reimbursed to re-outfit the horses and then gave them what it seemed fair they’d make per horse for six months and it kept them going until they could get their feet back on the ground.”
There was also the matter of trying to reimburse the owners for the loss of their horses. To that end, O’Donnell engaged three separate appraisers who all came back with very similar numbers.
“The average value was assessed and capped at $100,000 for racehorses and the babies at $75,000. We were able to give those owners 35 percent on the price of the horses,” said O’Donnell.
It’s worth noting that the appraisers, professionals in the trade, all refused to accept any payment and simply donated their time to the cause.
The swift action helped put horses back in barns fairly quickly, allowing money to be earned and also providing a chance for horsepeople to heal.
“To be honest, there were times I wasn’t really feeling up to it,” admitted Di Cenzo. “But, a little horse I bought pretty quickly after the fire, named Stimulus Spending, helped.
“He’s not a great horse, but he’s quirky and fun to be around and he’s picked me up pretty good,” continued Di Cenzo. “Between the GoFundMe money and the owners re-investing, we were able to get a few horses bought up pretty quickly. Without that money and our owners, it would have been a very difficult transition.”
Di Cenzo also credits one of his owners, Madith Peterson, with helping get him back on his feet.
“She called me up a week after the fire and said she hadn’t been without a horse since 1982,” said Di Cenzo. “She said, ‘When you want to get back going just let me know’. That’s the type of support we’ve been getting. She’s a very nice lady and loves her horses.”
While Di Cenzo is having one of his better seasons with a record of 8-16-15 from 112 starts, there are still difficult moments.
“There’s nights I’ll be driving back to the farm and I have the vision of the barn in flames and it freaks me out a bit,” said Di Cenzo. “For the most part, it will take time. I’ll never forget it, it’s always in the back of my mind.”
And yet, there is comfort that it’s the sweeter moments that endure.
“Everyone remembers winning a race but it’s also the every day enjoyment of taking them out to the paddock and watching them play,” said Di Cenzo. “That’s the stuff you miss. You get a bond with them.”
If you take the time to read through the 1,410 donations gathered via GoFundMe, it becomes inherently obvious that the story touched not just horsepeople but the general public itself.
A $10 donation from Paula Kelly was accompanied with the following message, “I am so sorry about the loss of the horses, minis and kittie cat. I can’t imagine. ....I had tears coming down my cheeks reading about all the horses in the Globe and Mail this past weekend. I hope my little donation helps in the big scheme of things......again I am so sorry.”
A donation from Little Rascals Daycare in Belleville, Ontario put a smile on O’Donnell’s face.
“That one really touched me,” admitted O’Donnell. “They raised money through the summer with bake sales and I couldn’t believe that these young kids wanted to give the money to the horsepeople. I thought that was really cute. They sent a cheque with a little letter and it was very touching that they would do that.”
Little Rascals CEO Cheryl O’Hara, a regular at the Royal Winter Fair with a soft spot for horses, is a firm believer in the importance of community.
“Part of our philosophy is that the children need to be involved in the community and do things that will help others,” explained O’Hara. “So, we started doing little fundraisers like pizza parties and raising money through bake and gift sales.”
The students at Little Rascals come from all walks of life and range in age from infant to 11-years-old.
“The older ones mentor the younger ones. Some of our older kids were talking about the fire and when it was suggested that the money could be donated to the people at Classy Lane all the kids agreed that’s who they wanted to help,” said O’Hara.
And so the kids got to work, mandated with a fun task that not only offered considerable charity to the people at Classy Lane but also enriching their own life experience.
“It spread from the idea of helping a community and the parents got on board. It really showed the kids what they do is important and it gave them a small amount of pleasure to be able to help out,” said O’Hara.
With no shortage of charitable opportunities, why did the children decide on Classy Lane?
“The horses really seemed to be the clincher for them,” said O’Hara. “They all seem to have a true love for animals and when they saw how upset the people were it was a unanimous decision.”
O’Donnell and his staff sent a thank you package to the daycare with a number of different items including hats, t-shirts and colouring books. And when word spread that their story was being told on the Standardbred Canada website, the children were filled with joy.
“When I was able to show them the article they couldn’t have been happier. It was a moment when you could see their inner innocence shine through and they were proud to have done something nice for someone else,” said O’Hara.
Some say that music heals. And it was in that spirit that a group of musicians got together at the Alexandria, Virginia Moose Lodge to raise money for horsepeople they had never met.
The event, known as the Cat Jam, was arranged by Nancy Lisi, a former standardbred trainer, with the help of Estelle Miller and Pat Dowdy.
“I’m a veteran harness trainer. I mostly trained trotters,” said Lisi. “I had a couple wins at The Meadowlands and even had one horse finish third in the Battle of Brandywine, but I never really had a Grand Circuit horse.”
Lisi’s life seems equally divided between horses, music and charity. Her husband, Arthur, was the musical director for The Cosby Show. He also owned horses.
Once upon a time, when racing at now defunct Rosecroft, Nancy and Arthur led an informal band called The Paddock Pickers, a group that included Rob Waller and Dave Paolucci.
“It was just me and a couple guys at the track playing music in the paddock and the horsemen would come listen to us. We’d play bluegrass music and jam,” said Nancy.
When Rosecroft was closed, Nancy feared for what would become of the many cats that called the barn area home.
One benefactor, at Nancy’s behest, spent $9,500 in vet bills to pay for the shots and spaying and neutering as well as the trapper who caught 110 cats. To help recoup the funds, Nancy and her Paddock Pickers went on a fundraising binge, playing a series of shows at local bars under the new moniker of The Cat Jammers.
“It took us nearly a year to make the $9,500 back but we did it,” laughed Nancy who plays guitar, bass, upright bass as well as some claw hammer banjo.
The good deed agreed with the group and they decided to keep on playing.
“We started jamming for humans in 2011. When the fire happened we wanted to help out right away,” said Nancy. “We actually did two ‘Cat Jams’ in support of the fire.
A free spirit, and a bit of a whiz on the web, Nancy had the Moose Lodge full of patrons to raise money for her fellow horsepeople. Some racing fans may also know Nancy from her Preserve Harness Racing page on Facebook.
“We’re just happy to have helped and had a little fun along the way,” said Nancy.
Chantal Mitchell, who became the recognizable face of the Classy Lane group in the aftermath of the fire, remains the confident, steadfast trainer.
“It’s been a tough year but we’re working through it,” said Mitchell. “We’ve moved into the new barn and it’s… just… fresh. It’s like a new beginning.”
Although her numbers are down from a healthy 2015 meet, she confesses to being humbled by the great support of the industry.
“It was incredible and such a great help. Everything that was given to us from money, to help, to support was extremely helpful,” said Mitchell. “You don’t realize how much things cost until you have to replace it.
“Even now, months later, I’ll be thinking about a piece of equipment and thinking I have it… but then I don’t have it anymore,” continued Mitchell. “The money that was donated was a great help to replace everything and I think that COSA did a very good job at distributing the funds fairly for the charity we received.”
Asked to speak about some of the non-monetary donations that were made, Mitchell shares, at length, countless examples of support.
“Sharpe Feeds called all their suppliers and came and made a special presentation to us donating a certain percentage of their sales for a month and cut us all a cheque for that,” started Mitchell.
Other horsepeople filled up totes with donated equipment and delivered it to the Classy Lane trainers.
“Tony Alagna and his owners donated jog carts and Per Henrikssen gave us all a Finn-Tack harness each with lead shank and a halter,” continued Mitchell. “I had owners that I never asked for help just send me cheques in the mail.”
A set of driving suits arrived. Tack shops offered discounts. People reached out on Facebook and offered the emotional support that sometimes gets forgotten in the aftermath of a tragedy.
“The OPP were very good about that,” noted O’Donnell. “Officer Beckwith spoke to everyone about grief and a few people took up that opportunity to get help.”
The whole experience was overwhelming for Mitchell, even if she didn’t show it.
“So many things happened along the way it was hard to process and I’m so thankful to everyone out there that helped us out so much,” she said.
Mitchell’s pacer Rakin It In served up a poignant moment in the week following the fire by nosing out The Loan Ranger at Woodbine to collect the winner’s share of a $14,000 purse.
“It was difficult but at the end of the day I still had a horse I had to deal with, and that horse helped as a coping mechanism because I was still able to have somewhat of a routine,” said Mitchell.
Raking It In is retired now but not forgotten.
“I have him on a farm and he’s living out his life. I go out there sometimes to see him and I get pictures from the caretakers over there,” she said.
And despite the tragedy, spirits are up at the newly built Barn 6.
“For the first while it was different mainly because the routine was halted and there was the question of the unknown,” explained Mitchell. “Are they rebuilding our barn? Will we have horses and where will we put them? Do people want to keep going or want to retire? But now we’re all back at it and the sales are over and it’s feeling more like business as usual.”
She credits getting back to work with helping her cope with the loss.
“There wasn’t much time to sit back and wallow. I’ve dealt with it over time. Time helps. Being able to keep doing what I love to do, helps. I get to mourn but I get to mourn while doing what I love to do. If I didn’t have this, each day would have been that much more difficult,” she said.
The resiliency of horsepeople is well documented.
Even though this is a community that competes head-to-head for purse money, night in and night out, it is tremendously uplifting to hear stories of how differences were put aside for the sake of humanity.
“In our industry, people will always help you when it comes to your horse. We all stand together in that way,” said Mitchell.
And so, some 10 months and nearly $700,000 later, the people of Classy Lane continue to re-build and thrive thanks to the unwavering support of their racing family.
“That’s what horsepeople do,” smiled O’Donnell. “They come together.”
