For A Fan, A Night To Remember

Dave Webber and his wife, Colleen, of Milton, Ontario, had a night to remember at the 2015 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Gala held on Wednesday, August 5.

“It was an amazing evening,” said Webber of the Ceremony that welcomed 10 new members into the Hall.

Dave, a passionate racing fan and former Standardbred owner, won two tickets to the Induction Ceremony in the I Love Canadian Harness Racing Fan Club’s contest where he told us what one of the inductees meant to him.

It was seeing Jim Bannon’s name as one of the 2015 inductees that caught Dave’s eye and motivated him to enter the contest.

“Jim Bannon brings back memories for me. He worked as a groom for Lou Cavalaris and Gardiner Farms the same time as I did. His tack room used to be full of racing forms which he studied all the time. He was always on the go and used to sell his Bannon pick sheets at the main gate.”

Webber has been a Standardbred fan since the mid 60s when he frequented Greenwood Raceway. He started his own business in the mid 80s called “About Face,” a computerized graphics company, and then worked at Maclaren Advertising, one of Canada’s largest advertising agencies for 24 years. It was at MacLaren where he got a group of fellow employees together to claim their first Standardbred horse with trainer Paul Larrabee.

He’s owned several horses over the years and enjoyed the friendships he made along the way. He also bought into the first SBOA mentor group buying Ontario Sired yearlings. “We owned Lemon Drop. Our mentor was Scott Arsenault and trainer Scott McEneny. So much fun and probably our most successful time in harness racing.”

Dave hopes to find his way back into some type of position within the industry down the road, and for now enjoys taking in racing as a fan and attending events like the Hall of Fame dinner.

To take a look at the photo gallery for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, click the following link: 2015 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.