Gagne, Dumont Set To Invade Ontario

After competing and winning multiple awards in Western Canada, the training team of J.F. Gagne and Marjorie Dumont have relocated racing operations with plans to compete in Ontario for the next few months.

Gagne and his wife Dumont have filled up six stalls at Dorchester Training Centre, 20 minutes away from The Raceway at the Western Fair District. Those horses include a handful of award winners in Western Canada -- Alberta's 2016 Horse of the Year Tajmeallover, 2017 Horse of the Year Outlaw Fireball, Watch My Luck, and Outlaw Turn N Burn -- in addition to Mt Sterling Mafia and Pez Dispenser.

Together, Gagne and Dumont have posted consistent training numbers over the past decade-plus in Alberta. The 2017 season was a personal best for the training tandem as the stable combined to surpass $562,000 in earnings. Gagne is certainly of capable of handing the driving duties, but Dumont can also hold her own in the sulky as she picked up her first lifetime driving win this past September.

Majorie Dumont (inside with Watch My Luck) and J.F. Gagne (outside with Outlaw Fireball) competing at Century Downs

"We're going to go Dorchester Training Centre for now and then we'll reassess," Gagne told Trot Insider. [For now] Marjorie is going to be looking after the horses with our two kids. She has a good friend, Anna Glide; she'll be able to stay with her for a little while to get things going and find daycare. We'll feel things out."

After shipping the horses to Ontario last week, Gagne flew back home for the Alberta Super Final card and spent some time tying up loose ends at the farm. He will make his way back to Ontario to help prep the horses for their provincial debuts next week.

"Our plan is to have me down here to do the racing but probably fly back once a month, go back to farm to keep everything in order," said Gagne, noting that his horses remaining in Alberta will be shut down for the winter and start back up again in a few months. Gagne admits he could also shut down his older horses for a winter break -- like he did last year -- but wasn't happy with the results.

"Last winter at this point, I decided not to worry about it and I turned them all out for the winter. So they were out six months. And when I started them back this spring, it's never easy to bring older horses back once they've been off for six months...but once they got going, they wouldn't race against [Tajmeallover] again. It was very frustrating."

One of the most dominant horses in western Canada over the past decade, Tajmeallover (pictured below) compiled a sensational 41-11-10 record from 68 starts from 2015 - 2017, finishing in the top three in 92 percent of her starts and missing just one cheque. This past season was less dominant but still solid: in 15 starts, Tajmeallover finished first or second 11 times and finished out of the money once.

"I'm hoping she'll [be successful in Ontario], and if she does we're going to have an enjoyable time."

While other horsemen in Alberta have shifted operations to B.C. and (eventually) California, the time was right for Gagne and Dumont to try Ontario.

"December-January is not an option for me because of the classes racing and it's only once a week, and then they don't race in February and March at all. So half of those six horses wouldn't have a start in three or four months, that's why we decided to give [Ontario] a try.

"At Fraser all three of my mares would be in the Open, so I'm racing three against each other for $12,000, and the class goes two or three times per month. It's a day of travel from my farm to Fraser; it's three days [to ship them] here but at least I should be able to race them in all separate classes."

Gagne feels his mares -- Tajmeallover, Watch My Luck, Outlaw Fireball -- are all well-suited to racing over the larger track configuration at Woodbine Mohawk Park and he's eager to see them compete there, but quickly admits he will have to assess and classify his stock once they start racing in Ontario.

"The three mares, they'll follow pretty much anything and [Tajmeallover] has got a big brush of speed. But I'm also very curious about the surface, because we've had a rough time in Western Canada with our racetracks in the past few years with construction and the struggles through that.

"I know Tajmeallover, every time she has a surface she can get a hold of, I come back after and I'm amazed...like wow, she was unbelievable so I'm curious. I know there are good surfaces [in Ontario] and I'd like to see what she can do."