In this edition of Trot Radio, host Norm Borg sits down with driver Dave Wall about his upcoming honour of being inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame as well as his lifelong passions in harness racing.

Wall, who has over 7,130 driving victories, topping 59 million in purse earnings, earning over one million dollars in purses every year from 1982 to 2010 is speechless regarding his induction to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

“I don’t know how to say it, I really appreciate it. It’s been an honour. I know I’ll never forget and I know my family won’t, most of them are in the horse business. They’ve been so good to me over the years, that it’s kind of a way of showing them how I did try.”

When Wall was inducted into the London Hall of Fame, he made sure to include every member of the family for the ceremony. “It was an awful nice honour, a real nice evening. I had my first granddaughter, I said to Dean, 'make sure you take her. And point up and tell her grandpa will always be looking down on her'.”

Family has always been important to Dave Wall, as his father noticed Dave’s love for horses at an early age and found opportunities for Dave to be around horses, despite Dave’s father’s lack of horse-related background. “My dad use to take me out to where there were Shetland ponies,” remembers Wall. “He’d take me out there, I wasn’t very old, six, seven years old...He actually bought me my first broodmare. He just knew I loved the horses and he bought it for me, but he stuck with me the whole time.”

Dave Wall, 55, of Komoka, Ontario, who earned the nickname of “Mr. OSS” for his achievements in the Ontario Sires Stakes program, surely has an inside edge with horses.

“I’m from the old school, as far as training goes. I said a lot of times, I’d rather be parked every step of the way and get beat than have a horse make a break, you know? It never bothered me but if they make a break, sure as hell there’s something I’m not doing right.”

Wall fondly remembers his illustrious career, and all of the horsemen and women who helped him achieve such a celebrated career.

"One year I trained 120 horses. I know, it was busy but I had the best help a person could possibly have. I never ever had to worry. They did all the worrying for me! They were the nicest bunch of people. I still get a lot of calls from them and a lot of talk about them and to me, that’s satisfaction.

“I’ve never done nothing more that I enjoy. I’m very fortunate, I’ve got everything I want here on the farm. Everything it takes to train horses, room for mares and foals. If I couldn’t look out the window and see the foals running around in the field, I don’t know what I’d do.”

To listen to the full Trot Radio interview, click the play button below.

Episode 271– Dave Wall

Audio Format: MP3 audio

Host: Norm Borg