For nearly the last 20 years, Darcy Clancy has competed at Rideau Carleton Raceway. A trainer who operates a small stable just two hours south of Ottawa in Odessa, ON, Clancy has enjoyed success from many areas of the Rideau Carleton condition sheet.
“My dad bought the farm back in ’84, and then a few years back—I guess six years ago now—my wife and I bought the farm off my parents and taken over,” Clancy said in a recent interview. “But I’ve been training on this farm since I was a kid, helping my dad until I started training on my own.
“I was born into the racing,” Clancy also said. “My dad always had horses when I was growing up as a hobby. Then I just caught the racing bug like everybody else. When you go to the track with your parents and just start jogging them, and the excitement of winning… it just gets in your blood. Here I am now, training horses and shoeing horses for a living. Just living the dream.
One horse that helped Clancy reach highs at Rideau Carleton Raceway was Thundering Bay, a gelding by Albert Albert. Born when Clancy first began his training career, the gelding took nearly five years to hit the track, but promptly began to pay dividends.
“He was out of a Cam Fella mare that my dad bought and bred a few times,” Clancy said. “He was born right on the farm here. He got his name after my girlfriend at the time—she was from Thunder Bay. It was just fitting that we come up with a name like Thunder Bay. He used to basically thunder down the field away from his mom—a big, brave colt at the time. And he was just a plain bay, so we decided on Thundering Bay.
“He didn’t make it to the races until he was a five-year-old,” Clancy also said. “He just didn’t come into his own; we didn’t rush him. He had some weak stifles, and just couldn’t go fast enough to make it worthwhile racing him until he turned five, so we waited on him. He just loved to race. Starting out, he would just bolt off the gate as fast as he could to the front, wait for the rest of the field to come to him, then sprint away again. That was his signature move his first year of racing.”
In just about three years, Thundering Bay clawed up the class ladder laid grips on the Preferred Handicap at Rideau Carleton Raceway, but struggled to hit the board. About 10 months later, Thundering Bay returned to the Preferred ranks to score a gutsy first-over victory, doing so at odds of 21-1. Overall, Thundering Bay won 26 races from 144 starts and earned $161,256 for owner Walter Clancy until his mandatory retirement in 2018 when turning 15-years-old.
“He’s still on the farm to this day,” Clancy said. “He makes a good riding horse.”
To watch the full interview with Clancy, click the play button below.