Rewind: Armbro Nadir's Magical Year

In this week's edition of 'Rewind,' Robert Smith takes readers back in time to 1973 and recalls the heroics of a horse named Armbro Nadir. This horse along with his connections and many followers enjoyed a once in a lifetime experience that year. Portions of the story are from a recent visit by this writer and the horse's trainer and driver Nelson White of Rockwood, Ont.

Forty-Five Years Ago: Driver Nelson White and his wife Debbie along with Armbro Nadir share a very special moment during the 1973 season following a win in that year's Prix d'Ete race in Montreal. The horse was in the midst of a phenomenal season earning several honours including Horse Of The Year and Three-Year-Old Of The Year on the Golden Horseshoe Circuit. He also earned honours in Quebec and Western Canada. Beyond the trophies, accolades and other accomplishments, the memories will survive forever. (White family photo

Back in 1973, now 45 years ago, one of the great single season performances in recent memory was put on by the three-year-old pacing sensation ARMBRO NADIR. Some time ago I received a nice email from a Rewind reader who suggested remembering this remarkable season. This horse was raced out of the stable of a then young 31-year-old horseman named Nelson White and was owned by a Guelph based veterinarian Dr. Donald Davis. It was a great accomplishment given all of the things that go into developing a colt into a world class performer.

I have copied the original email sent in by reader Carolyn Rae in which she outlines her memories as well as a sort of synopsis of the 1973 season. As always, I am indebted to those readers who take such a sincere interest.

Here is Carolyn's note:

It was 45 years ago that Armbro Nadir had a whirlwind cross Canada successful tour. Armbro Nadir had been withdrawn from the CSHS sale by Armstrong Bros. due to sickness, and was later purchased privately by Dr. Donald Davis. Armbro Nadir or "Ralph" as he was affectionately known (reference to Ralph Nader), was trained and driven by Nelson White. His caretaker was Larry Bird, who passed away about five years ago. Armbro Nadir after winning several races on the O.J.C, was forced to look elsewhere to race. On August 25, 1973 Ralph won the Prix d'Ete and in so doing, equalled the World Record on a five-eighths mile track, and broke the Blue Bonnets track record. From Quebec, Armbro Nadir travelled west to Manitoba where he won the Winnipeg Derby (unsure of proper name); on to Edmonton where he won the Western Canada Pacing Derby, and from there to B.C. where he boarded the plane for his flight to Hollywood Park in California, where he competed in the L.K. Shapiro Stakes for a purse of $100,000. He finished fifth in this race which considering the extent of travelling he had done continually for the past six weeks, was quite a feat. Thank you, Carolyn Rae

As described in Carolyn's note, Armbro Nadir had quite a year; her synopsis which I am sure was done mainly from memory is a pretty accurate recreation of "Ralph's" 1973 season. His victories in Western Canada included the Manitoba Futurity in Winnipeg and the Western Canada Pacing Derby in Edmonton. Undoubtedly the pinnacle of his season occurred when Armbro Nadir electrified the Canadian racing scene when he won the world's richest pacing race, the $130,000 Prix d'Ete at Montreal's Blue Bonnets Raceway. In comparison, that year's Little Brown Jug went for a purse of $120,000, although "Nadir" was not entered. Many strange and unusual happenings punctuated that season, which even included a dead-heat with the Canadian-owned Smog in May at Vernon Downs.

Armbro Nadir and Nelson White at the rail appear to have this race won but the Vernon Downs photo finish camera could not separate them from Smog and Stanley Dancer thus ending in a dead-heat in the Can-Am series.

I have recently had the pleasure of some first-class "visiting" with Nelson White. Despite the passage of 45 years, his memories of that wonderful year are still perfectly etched in his mind. He took charge of this horse as a two-year-old and proudly says "No one else ever laid a hand on him" meaning that he was the only person to ever train or drive him. He campaigned him lightly at two, then of course during his record setting year at three, and again as a four-year-old after which he was retired. His stallion career, while modestly successful, perhaps never reached its full potential. Despite his "sickly" start in life, Armbro Nadir lived to be 25 and was buried at the farm where he lived out his retirement.

"Ralph's" memory is rekindled each day as Nelson related that he has the four shoes he wore in winning the Prix D'Ete hanging in his bedroom. They were chromed by a friend, but not without some difficulty. During the record setting mile he lost a front shoe and only after it was recovered by the track crew in Montreal was he able to have the full set together again. A number of other now precious items remain in the White household including the saddle pad worn during the Prix d'Ete record-setting mile. Oddly this treasure was just secured about five years following the passing of "Ralph's" long-time caretaker Larry Bird.

Larry Bird, who so carefully and conscientiously cared for the horse throughout his racing career was a native of Harwood, Ont., also the home of Nelson White. In recent years he had been working at a hardware store near his home following a long tenure with the horses. After only a brief illness, he passed away in July of 2013, another unfortunate victim of cancer. Nelson is still high in his praise of Mr. Bird and the dedication and care he gave to this very special horse.

Armbro Nadir and Nelson White take a moment to relax during the very busy 1973 season. They travelled to many tracks covering four Provinces and several U.S. States.

Nelson grew up in a very "horsey" area of Ontario in Northumberland County near Rice Lake. One of seven siblings he grew up in the hamlet of Harwood where his parents ran a general store and his father was also a butcher. At a young age he began an interest in horses and harness racing which has continued throughout his lifetime.

Nelson White started out in his career with the horses working for Osler Burrison, a noted horseman of yesteryear who came from the same general area as Nelson. He later worked for Dr. John Findley as a trainer and had the opportunity to spend two winters in Arnprior, a place he believes just might be the coldest place on earth (and elsewhere). By 1968 he began on his own and obviously the inclusion of a horse of this calibre in his stable elevated his status quickly. His management of Armbro Nadir through the magical year of 1973 added an important chapter to his career as a horseman. Today Nelson is still involved but as he calls it "just dabbling". He enjoys working with young horses, putting them through their early lessons but likes to turn them over to others after his early work is done. He still has two broodmares and a couple of two-year-olds that occupy his time.

Unfortunately the memory of the great year of 1973 and all of the joy and excitement that Ralph brought to Dr. Davis as owner and Nelson and his family and staff will be forever overshadowed by one unfortunate happening. A couple of years after this memorable year, Dr. Davis went out for his normal morning run, but he never returned alive.

Dr. Donald Davis was a Vet. He was at one time the advisor to the Minister of Agriculture Dennis Timbrell. He had owned several horses prior to Armbro Nadir, also trained by Nelson White. Dr. Davis also owned the top three-year-old pacing filly around that time, Native Sister. Some others he owned were a trotter named Laurentian, which he raced at the old Orangeville Raceway, also Flames Knight.

Dr. Davis was killed early one morning while jogging as he did every morning from his 10 acres along the sideroad over to the main road up into Puslinch. It was very ironic, because he always took his German short-haired pointer with him when he jogged, but it was foggy that morning, and the dog didn’t seem to want to go, so Dr. Davis went without "Rags". It was almost as if the dog had a premonition. A small sports car broke over a hill in the road, and struck Dr. Davis, killing him instantly. It was a very sad event that shocked everyone who knew this fine man.

This great 1973 photo shows two youngsters, both the children of Michael MacCormack, a noted Racing Official at Montreal Tracks along with Dr. Davis, Armbro Nadir and Nelson White. The smiles all around tell it all. The rather colourful jacket worn by Dr. Davis was his favourite and he wore it in many winner's circle appearances that year, this one at Blue Bonnets again on Prix d'Ete day (White family photo)

Armbro Nadir ended the 1973 season with some pretty impressive numbers and could be proud of his accomplishments in becoming truly a national champion. In 26 starts he had 16 wins along with six second-place finishes while banking $154,528 in season's earnings. This becomes even more impressive when one considers that he was racing for purses as low as $1,500 at the start of the season.

Forty five "short" years have come and gone, but the memory of the magical season of the amazing Armbro Nadir has been a pleasure to rekindle. A season such as this undoubtedly contributed to the overall prosperity of the sport at that time. Many things come but once in a lifetime; others never come at all. It has been a joy for me to work on this story and to be reminded of just how important remembering can be.

A further edition of Rewind will appear in the coming weeks recalling the events of the 1973 Prix d'Ete in much more detail.

Who Is It?

Can you correctly identify the gentleman in this photo. He is "visiting" with Armbro Nadir during his trip to California to race in the Shapiro Stakes (U.S.T.A Publicity photo)