This Saturday (June 29) at Northside Downs, a field of six pacers will square off in the 2019 Lambert Todd Pace, named in honour of a horse that left quite an impression on Cape Bretonites in the 1920s.
Off a win at Northside last Saturday, Wildcat Jet has been installed the 3-1 second choice and will begin from post 4 with Mark Pezzarello in the bike. The 11-time winner posted a 2:02.2 victory in last week's pacing feature. Early favouritism belongs to Brother John, who wired local winners-over types twice in his last five starts and was just collared by Wildcat Jet last week. Randy Getto will drive the 39-time winner for trainer Kenneth Collins.
Completing the field are Accelerator (Redmond Doucet), Elm Grove Ladyluck (Gerard Kennedy), Waterside Lucky (Carey Romeo) and Sly Baran (Joesph Poirier).
Post time for Saturday's eight-race card is 1 p.m.
The year 1929 saw the community of Reserve Mines in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia purchase Lambert Todd and turn him into a "community horse" with Allen "Allie" Lewis as his driver.
Reserve Mines had Lambert Todd (2:02 1/4); Glace Bay's choice was Pale Face (2:03 1/2); trotter Great Scott (2:08 1/4) carried the racing colours of the Sydney community; and Northside purchased Peter Taggart (2:10).
The idea was a simple one, as most good ideas are. Whole communities would come together, form horse clubs and for a very small outlay of money (one to five dollars) become a part owner of a racehorse and share in the dividends or losses of the horse's earnings.
The results were spectacular — not only for Cape Breton tracks, such as Inverness, Sydney, North Sydney and Glace Bay — but for all of the Maritimes as well.
The arrival of these battle-scarred veterans and former Grand Circuit stars attracted huge followings, as they were all closely matched and the racing was very competitive.
Racing as a community horse in 1929, Lambert Todd was able to post an excellent record of 15 wins out of 36 hard-fought heats. He and his driver Allie Lewis made appearances at Glace Bay, the Charlottetown Driving Park, Halifax, Inverness, Sydney and Antigonish. His best winning effort was in 2:10 1/2.
The number of fans who turned out to see these "community stars" race were huge: 4,000 at Inverness, 3,000 at Antigonish, 4,500 at Sydney and 4,000 at Halifax. The 13-year-old "Monarch of the Turf" still had some speed left as he added three more track records to his list.
(submitted by Joseph Poirier)