Tajma Hall Passes

Trot Insider has learned that Tajma Hall, one of the most beloved and revered horses in Alberta harness racing, has passed away at the age of 22.

The son of Cambest - Beverage won 62 races and more than $764,000 during his illustrious career. His most impressive victory came at the age of 10 when he broke his own track record with a 1:50.3 score at Northlands Park. He was named ASHA's Horse of the Year in 2008.

He was owned by Brian Buckley and Peter Van Seggelen of Alberta, and campaigned for the majority of his career by J.F. Gagne, the transplanted Albertan who's now competing in Ontario.

"He had been slowing down on his feed in the last week," noted Gagne. "We think he just died of old age in his paddock. He probably had a heart attack, we're thinking, because there was no sign of distress in the snow...just laying peacefully."

Gagne was admittedly heartbroken over the loss his prized pupil, and the one that most certainly raised his profile as a horseman.

"He pretty much meant everything. Long story short, he completely gave me wings and confidence and completely reshaped my future."

Tajma Hall turned heads in his first qualifier as a two-year-old back in Sept. 2001. He then reeled off 10 straight wins before shipping east to try Grand Circuit company at The Meadowlands. Gagne recalled that Tajma Hall got sick after that trip and returned home, campaigning mainly in Alberta for the next seven years. As an older competitor he made 168 starts, won 51 races and banked more than $577,000 without ever being entered in a stakes event.

"A good pick-up by my friend Serge [Masse] who only paid $23,000 for the horse. A bargain. Serge was basically campaigning younger horses and at the end of his three-year-old year he was moving on...going to buy younger stock. They had a sale with the partners, and they ended up buying the horse and asked me if I would like to give him a try. It wasn't guaranteed that he was going to stay with me but I was asked to give him a try, and I did. I started slow and it turned into this. He stayed with me until yesterday. Eighteen years."

Year after year, Tajma Hall returned the racing wars in Alberta and despite showing signs of rust early in the season he'd always round into form.

"Every year I brought him back I always had a little bit of a harder time in the early winter to get him going again, and everybody would always speculate that he's probably had enough...as soon as the spring show up, he's a stud with that Cam Fella blood, you know, he would go on a tear and prove everybody wrong.

"Actually, at the end of his career, he won his last start. It was in the wintertime and we decided to stop with him because they weren't going to have a class for him to race. So that's why we decided to stop. It's not like he didn't have it...that's a little bit unique."

It was around this time of the year in 2018 that Gagne and his partner Marjorie Dumont made Ontario their primary base of operations. Despite some unseasonably warm weather in Ontario right now versus the cold and wintery conditions in Alberta, Gagne sincerely wishes that he could have been there for Tajma Hall.

"This is the biggest heartbreak for me; it's not easy to move your life around, and I'm very sad that I wasn't there...I think he's had a good life, it's just unfortunate that we were divided still holding a farm 3,500 kilometres away.

"He's the most special one that I've ever come across in my life. We've been talking about him all day here and we just keep bringing up one memory after another, because there's quite a few."

The track record win of Tajma Hall, accompanied by Shannon 'Sugar' Doyle's iconic That Just Happened! race call, is certainly a memory that many people share, but Gagne shared a couple of private moments that truly provide a glimpse into the deep bond he and Dumont shared with the star Standardbred.

"One time Marjorie went out to jog him, and leaving the barn he kind of jerked his head in front and snapped the lines out of her hands. So she had no lines. And he took off a little bit on the run, and when he got to the track he stopped. And he waited for her to come and pick him up. Like 300-400 feet, and he stopped there.

"With me one time, I went to jog him and the line wasn't done up on one side. So he started to take off a bit, and I just talked to him...talked, talked, talked...and he stopped, I got off and grabbed him by the bridle. Unbelievable. Something just clicked from day one that just reshaped everything for both parties."

There was a power and grace about Tajma Hall that amazed Gagne and continues to leave him in awe.

"I never had a horse like him that was so strong, with his health, with his movement, and yet I've never walked another horse like him. When you walked the horse out of a barn or paddock, with the lead chain, you could feel the strength but at the same time you'd never know there was a horse at the end of it. It felt like a feather. You could feel there was an explosion about to happen, but you could walk him with a piece of floss. I've never seen that again...and if I ever see it again, I'm buying that horse!" said the horseman with a laugh.

In the breeding shed, Tajma Hall produced numerous Alberta Sires Stakes winners. His most notable performer is Gagne's own Tajmeallover, who has over $450,000 banked thus far in her career and also garnered Alberta Horse of the Year honours.

"The speed, the raw speed for a piece, it was unreal. The best ones that he's produced, they have that kind of brush as well."

Gagne was also reminded of Tajma Hall's resilience, both on and off the racetrack.

"He was a good eater; I think he got sick once for me...and that was my fault. I didn't vaccinate horses. We vaccinated one spring, and the whole barn got sick. So he did, he got an infection in the neck from the vaccine. That was the only time he would have missed a meal or got scratched in a race. Just that strong of an individual.

"Marjorie and I jogged two horses out of him today, and we took the day to talk about him, relax and enjoy the memory."

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Tajma Hall.