Brad Grant always loved spending time in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall Of Fame. He’d often walk through it and marvel, not only at the plaque of his father, John, but at all of the memorabilia and displays. Now, after decades of helping build the game he loves, Brad is going to be spending a lot more time in ‘The Hall’ - in fact, he’s going to be in there for eternity. By Chris Lomon.
Brad Grant will now see the hallowed home of racing legends - horse and human alike - through an entirely different lens. He can only estimate how many times he’s visited the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, which resides on the first floor of Woodbine Racetrack. Dozens of times, maybe more, he guesses. “When the Standardbreds raced at Woodbine, I made a habit of walking through the Hall of Fame whenever we went up to the dining room.” Every time he did, Grant marveled at what he saw - trophies, stories, priceless memorabilia, paintings, and more. He would linger at the plaques on the walls, looking at the images and reading tales of those whose exploits were deemed fitting of such esteemed recognition. Never did he dream that one day a plaque bearing his name would be added to those very walls.
“I never did this to get in, or because my dad was already there,” said Grant, whose father, John, enshrined in 1998, owned and operated one of the most successful stables of Standardbreds in Canada during the 1980s and 1990s. “But now I know, it’s going to be different.”
On April 23rd, the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame unveiled its Class of 2025, a group of six Standardbred and six Thoroughbred inductees.
Brad Grant was one of those names, soon to be inducted in the Builder category.
His phone and inbox lit up with congratulatory messages the moment the news broke on the Standardbred Canada website and social media.
“I guess it really sunk in, probably after it was announced publicly. I had so many texts, emails, Facebook messages, notes - people reaching out and saying such nice things, even from people I didn’t know. The comments were very nice. I guess that’s when it all really started to take hold.”
The outpouring affection also prompted Grant to look back on a career that is still very much on the fast track to more successes.
His connection to horses goes back some 60 years, and to Milton, a then-small town located at the western end of the Greater Toronto Area.
“In 1965, my father purchased the farm in Hornby [Ontario] and we moved there in 1967,” Grant recalled of the 70-acre property. “He had the track up-and-going and the horses there. My grandfather, Bernard, and my uncle, Walter, had moved there from the Ottawa Valley, and stayed at the farm. As a 13-year-old kid, it was great to be able to just run around the farm.”
It wasn’t all carefree days for a young Grant, who also learned the value of hard work and respect for horses in his early teens.
“As well as being able to run around the farm, my grandfather was making sure I was aware of the horses, learning about them, and appreciating them. Once you get around them, they draw you in and they hold you.”
It wasn’t like Grant wanted to let go anyway though.
Hanging around the horses was soon complemented by working in the barns at the family farm and beyond.
“By the time I was 14 or 15, we were probably training 15-20 horses at the farm. I was with [Hall of Fame trainer] Ross Curran’s group - Barn 9 at Greenwood - and he taught me a lot about training. I would jump in the car and go to Rideau or Connaught Park with him, and many small towns in between.”
Grant would also jump into the race bike early on in his racing life.
His first dash didn’t get much of a call from the track announcer, but it did prompt a conversation with one of the judges afterward.
“That drive was with Randy Bee Adios,” said Grant, referring to the pacing son of Champ Adios who won 28 races. “He was a good old, honest racehorse and he [eventually] gave me my first driving win. The first time I drove him though, I stayed on the outside - I think it was at Mohawk - and raced him from there the entire race.
“Afterwards, Claire Smith called me from the judges’ room. I’m thinking. ‘Okay, what did I do wrong?’ Being from the Ottawa Valley, he just wanted to congratulate me. He said, ‘Brad, you were hung out the whole mile’. I said, ‘Mr. Smith, I was only trying to stay out of everyone’s way.’”
According to TrackIT, Brad has six career driving wins, but not long after getting his feet wet in that department, Grant realized he wasn’t destined to make his mark in the sulky.
“Very quickly, I realized I wasn’t going to be a driver. There were so many good ones out there at the time - it was an easy decision. I would drive the odd horse at Orangeville, Flamboro, or other places, but I liked training the horses more, and letting the other guys do their thing.”
Grant’s ‘thing’ would eventually come in the form of racehorse ownership.
It took time, but once he found his stride as an owner, Grant quickly rose to the top tier of the sport - and he had an ideal role model to draw inspiration and knowledge from.
John Grant, who was a key figure in the building and development of Flamboro Downs in Dundas, Ontario, bred and/or owned a multitude of top-tier performers - names like Jambo Dancer, Keystone Ponder, Hornby Glory, League Leader, Hornby Tora, Hornby Judy, Armbro Luxury, Classic Wish, Beach Ray, Barnett Hanover, Daisy Harbor, and all topped-off by the great Bettors Delight.
Reminders of his father’s successes - John Grant passed away in 2009 - are never far removed from Brad’s mind.
Some are actually very close at hand.
The Jug from his father’s Little Brown Jug triumph with Bettors Delight, in 2001, sits in Brad’s home office in Milton.
“My father set high standards for himself,” said Grant, who followed in his father’s footsteps by launching his own trucking company, Sandstone Transport (now Active Transport), in the 1980s, and later purchased John Grant Haulage from his father. “That type of approach has rubbed off on me. I figured if I was going to try it in this sport, it was going to be in a top-end way. In today’s world, you have to spend money to make money.”
And that is what he did.
He has owned, in partnership, Hambletonian winners Atlanta and Ramona Hill, and 2023 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Bulldog Hanover. Other notable millionaire horses owned by Grant include Its Academic, Stay Hungry, Apprentice Hanover, Wheels On Fire, Easy Lover Hanover and Sandbetweenurtoes.
Asking him to choose a favourite is akin to asking a parent to name their favourite child.
He pauses to ponder the question.
“I would have to say, no doubt, winning the Hambletonian in 2018 with Atlanta was unbelievable,” said Grant, who won it again with Ramona Hill in 2020, but couldn’t attend because of the pandemic. “It’s the Kentucky Derby of our industry. To win that race the first time I was at it and in it - what a great experience. That would be a pinnacle event.
“Like I have told many people, I wasn’t a trotting-guy when I started out as an owner. It was about winning the Little Brown Jug and the North America Cup and Metro Pace, so to get that exposure, and especially through a great filly like Atlanta, it opened my eyes to understanding that we had just won the biggest race in our sport.”
Grant took another short pause before adding, “If there was a particular horse who first comes to mind though, I would have to say Bulldog Hanover.”
The son of Shadow Play - Bjs Squall became the first harness horse to complete a sub-1:46 mile, and only the fourth horse to win the coveted Cam Fella Award.
Prior to the start of his three-year-old season, Grant was added to his ownership as a partner with trainer Jack Darling.
In 2022, Bulldog Hanover became the fastest Standardbred in the sport’s history, when he posted a 1:45.4 mark in the William R. Haughton Memorial at The Meadowlands. During that same season, he won 14 races in 16 starts, good for more than $1.8 million in purse earnings.
Among many others, he added popular victories at home, at Woodbine Mohawk Park, when he took the Canadian Pacing Derby and the Breeders Crown, both timed in a Canadian record-equaling 1:46.4.
On November 26th, Bulldog put an exclamation point on his season and racing life, with a dominant victory - the final of his career - in the TVG Open Pace at the Meadowlands, lowering the stakes record to 1:47.3.
He proceeded to win Horse of the Year in Canada, become the first unanimous Horse of the Year in the U.S. and was recognized as the 2022 Cam Fella Award recipient for his accomplishments in the industry.
The Hanover Shoe Farms-bred horse retired with 28 wins in 37 races, lifetime earnings of $2,789,271, four of the nine fastest race miles in history and a record total of six wins in under 1:47.
He is now standing stud at Seelster Farms in Ontario, for partners Darling, Grant and Diamond Creek Farms.
“What he did consistently throughout his career was amazing - a once-in-a-lifetime horse,” lauded Grant. “He’s very special to me, and I think a lot of racing fans would say the same.”
The name Apprentice Hanover prompts a myriad of emotions for Grant.
The son of Somebeachsomewhere - Allamerican Nadia, went 22-12-13 in 75 starts, and fashioned purse earnings of $1,022,114 over four racing seasons for Grant and trainer Ben Wallace. The colt was third to Captaintreacherous in the $1 million Metro Pace in 2012, raced in the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup in 2013, and qualified for the Breeders Crown finals at both two and three also.
On January 4, 2016, however, Apprentice Hanover was one of 43 horses who perished in the Barn 1 fire at Classy Lane Stables in Puslinch, Ontario.
Grant exhales before he speaks about the tragedy.
“I remember talking to Ben at 10:30 that night. Apprentice Hanover was on top of his game after qualifying that morning. He called me and said, ‘Brad, he’s so sharp and we are going to have a great year going forward.’”
Less than an hour later, Wallace called back.
He told me about the fire - he’d lost everything. After I hung up, I wondered if I even wanted to keep going.”
Another phone call, this one the following morning, would be the start of finding his answer.
“[Trainer] Ron Burke called at six in the morning and asked what he could do to help. This industry thrives with people who want to help others, the very same people who you’re trying to beat every day.”
Wallace, one of the sport’s most decorated horsemen and a 2020 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee himself, played an integral part in Grant staying in the game.
“I think what brought me back was Ben. He and many others got devastated that day. I very seldom insure a horse, but I did with Apprentice Hanover. The money from that - I wish it never had to be - enabled us to buy some horses. Ben picked up some good horses for us and it started the process again.”
Grant nabbed an underperforming Easy Lover Hanover from the 2016 Tattersalls January Mixed Sale, at the beginning of his three-year-old year, to help replenish Wallace’s barn, and the son of Somebeachsomewhere would eventually retire with 51 wins and $1,162,473 in purse earnings.
Beyond the numbers, it was more about the hope that Easy Lover Hanover embodied, recalled Grant, who went on to be leading owner on the WEG Circuit, the same year as the fire (2016).
“We decided to go to the sale and find some horses and get back at it. This game, when you stop and think about it, is all about hope and optimism.”
Grant’s deep commitment to the sport and humility has not gone unrecognized before now. Brad was presented with the 2018 January Davies Humanitarian Award by the U.S. Harness Writers Association, and inducted into the Milton Sports Hall of Fame that same year. A member of the Milton District Hospital Foundation board of directors, Grant was recognized with the USHWA Humanitarian Award after using one of his horses’ earnings to raise funds for the Humboldt Broncos bus crash victims. He was also named the Woolworth Owner of the Year at the 2022 Dan Patch Awards.
His Milton Hall nod, also in the Builders category, was an acknowledgement of his time owning and operating the Milton Merchants Junior Hockey Club.
Grant purchased the Merchants in 1986, after the club won just five games the previous season and was at risk of folding. During his 15-year run as owner and operator, Grant turned the club around and led them to great success, including four divisional titles, three league championships and a provincial title.
The Merchants captured a Junior ‘B’ league title in 1992 and back-to-back Junior ‘A’ league titles in 1997 and 1998 under Grant. The 1998 championship team went on to capture the Dudley Hewitt Cup as Provincial champions and participated in the Royal Bank Cup to determine the national champion.
Following the sale of the Merchants in 2001, Grant remained involved in hockey by serving as the Ontario Hockey Association’s (OHA) finance chair for 14 years, before moving into the Chairman role. He received the Hockey Canada Order of Merit (Central) in May 2017.
In 2023, he was appointed to the board of the Woodbine Entertainment Group.
“It gives me an opportunity to see a side of our industry that most people don’t. We look at the horses and the racing, but about 18 months into my time on the board I’m still learning something new every meeting. There is a strong group of people who are working hard for the best interest of horse racing, to make sure the industry can flourish.
“I said I would give it 24 months to feel I could be part of it. I’m seeing another side of WEG, which is important to the long-term well-being of horse racing. They have a strong team and board, and I believe we are in good hands”
Racing-wise, Grant still has many miles left to go. His pursuit of excellence, both on-and-off the track, with his horses, is still a driving force in his life.
How does he define success?
“Being the best. The past few years, when I have become more involved in looking at my own yearlings and what I want to pick, has been very rewarding. I work closely with [Dr.] Bridgette Jablonsky, who has been my teacher on what to look for in yearlings. She has taken it to another level for me.
“I think it was [Brittany Farms’] George Segal who said to me at one time, ‘The ultimate satisfaction is having your own mare and your own stallion be the best’. I keep waiting for that one. I have some nice mares and stallions, so maybe that will come true. George and so many people told me that winning the big races is great, but there is something truly special about winning with your own mare, your own stallion and your own foal. I haven’t experienced that, but I would sure like to.”
Just as he would love to win the prestigious North America Cup, Canada’s most prestigious pacing event for three-year-olds. The race holds special meaning for Grant.
“Dad won it with Bettors Delight in 2001. Winning that race, for many reasons, would be special. Being here in Canada, in our own backyard, it would be a home track win. I’d like to win it and I’m going to keep on trying.
“The other side of it though, is that even if I weren’t to win that race, I know I will still have enjoyed such a rewarding career. There would be no begrudging the fact I didn’t win a certain race.”
Not when there are so many other rewarding parts of his life.
“I golf, very badly, but I do enjoy it. I have four young grandchildren, with another on the way, who make a bad day great. We bought a family cottage a little under four years ago and the kids and grandkids love it - I think it’s actually theirs and I just get to visit (laughing).
“Hanging out with them and my friends, or jumping in the car with my wife [Bonnie] and travelling around to watch the races is a lot of fun. I love my sports, but I found that as I’ve become older, being around my grandkids is great.”
They, along with other treasured family members and friends, will be in attendance on the night of August 6th, when Grant is formally inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
There will be many people he will acknowledge.
“I am bringing an extra handkerchief. I think I am going to have to thank everybody. There are a few people I want to make specific mention of. I owe a lot to Ben - he exposed me to what good horses were like. Tony Alagna did a ton for my learning curve, and we have had great luck together. Ray and Larry Remmen helped me a lot with many good horses and Richard Moreau has done great things with my horses in Canada. They, amongst many others, have been the people who have given me the horses and success to stay in the game.
“If you could ever turn the [Hall of Fame] plaque over and read the back of it, there would be a litany of names, and not only trainers and drivers. I have also had great partners over the years, people who have just reached out to me or I have reached out to them. I have been very lucky to have great partners over the years. There have never been any issues, and they have been a huge part of that success.”
Wallace, who has 1,937 career training wins and almost $40 million in purses, is grateful to have been part of Grant’s racing story.
“He is a remarkable person - I could talk for hours about him,” said Ben. “His impact on racing is huge. It’s everywhere in this business. How do you measure his impact? He has literally done everything at a high level in every segment of the industry - from broodmares and stallions and weanlings, to stakes champions, to aged horses that race on Saturday night, and everything in between.”
Wallace also knows just how much the Hall of Fame honour means to Grant.
“When he slips that ring on and he’s wearing his own - he would often wear his dad’s before - Brad will feel a sense of accomplishment, and rightly so. He respected his father so much. I’m sure that along the road Brad was hoping he could piece things together to be in the Hall with his dad, so there will be some nostalgia there, too,” shares Ben.
When Brad Grant next walks the halls of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, the memories of his dad - and many more - will be close behind.
“I have always admired the great horses and horsepeople who have paved the way and inspired so many of us. There are a lot of people in there who I followed as a kid, which makes me reminisce. There are a lot of great horses in there, who I appreciate more now than I did when I was younger, for what they have done for the industry.”
Grant isn’t certain how he will feel when he sees his own plaque on the wall for the first time.
“I don’t know how I’ll react, but I know it’ll be different in the best way imaginable.”
This feature originally appeared in the June issue of TROT Magazine. Subscribe to TROT today by clicking the banner below.
