Some forty years ago, when Alberta Veterinarian Dr. Maurice Stewart was asked if he minded being nominated as a director for the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society, he agreed - even though he had no idea what the position may entail. A lifetime of work later, much of it spent promoting Alberta racing on the national stage, ‘Mo’ proudly takes his rightful place in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. By Curtis Stock.
Almost forty years ago, Dr. Maurice ‘Mo’ Stewart - with Ted Smith and Danny Garinger in tow - all got kicked out of the annual general meeting of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, which was being held at a Racetracks Canada symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“We just wanted to hear about what was going on because we had some concerns about the Hall of Fame,” said Dr. Stewart, 76, who was only in his thirties at the time.
“Instead, we got kicked out because we didn’t represent a racetrack.
“I was President of the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society (CSHS) at the time. Danny was the CEO of The Alberta Standardbred Horse Association (ASHA). Ted was CEO of the CSHS.
It didn’t matter; they asked us to leave so we did.”
Now look at how things have changed.
As announced earlier this year, Dr. Stewart, who now also sits on the Hall’s Standardbred Nominating Committee, will now properly be inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame as a Builder, in a ceremony slated for August 12th in Mississauga, Ontario.
“Full circle,” Dr. Stewart said of the sweet, dripping irony. From being asked to leave a Canadian Hall of Fame meeting all those years ago, he will now enter ‘The Hall’ as an elected member.
Dr. Stewart’s portfolio is as long as the stretch of the one-mile, Century Mile Racetrack, just outside of Edmonton.
In no particular order, Dr. Stewart has been President of the CSHS; the Alberta Breeder-Director for the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society (CSHS) and Breeder or Active Director for Standardbred Canada (SC) for 35 years; Vice President of ASHA; SC Director for Executive, Breeders, Finance, Strategic Planning and Bylaw and Audit committees; President of the North American Racing Marketing Association; a TSN race production partner; member of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture Business Expense/Tax Law Task Force; member of the Equine Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee for Agriculture Canada; Equine Representative for the Alberta Research Institute and delegate to numerous World Trotting Conferences.
Whew!
Words of praise for ‘Mo’ have come from everywhere.
The late great Keith Clark, also a Canadian Hall of Fame member, described Dr. Stewart as a “tireless worker trying to improve Alberta racing, and a relentless advocate for Alberta on the national scene.”
In a letter of support for Dr. Stewart’s induction into the Hall of Fame, Ted Smith, past President and CEO of Standardbred Canada, and General Manager and Registrar of the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society, wrote the following: “Dr. Maurice Stewart walked into the Board Meeting of the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society (CSHS) in the fall of 1986, not knowing anyone in the room, nor knowing on what terms he had been elected to the CSHS Board by the CSHS members of Alberta. He was a slightly rakish young man with a devilish smile who glanced around the table dominated by directors from Ontario and Quebec. Now, fast-forward from 1986 to 2025 - forty years later - and you’ll see a person who has set a great example of inspiration, achievement and leadership as an ardent supporter of Standardbred breeding, racing and regulation. He did this by way of being Vice President and President of the CSHS, and a Founding Father of Standardbred Canada, as a director, by pushing the agenda of merging the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society and the Canadian Trotting Association into one. Then he became a strong and driving advocate of having the Atlantic provinces leave the USTA and join Standardbred Canada. Thus, fusing our industry from coast-to-coast under the umbrella of SC.
“Mission accomplished!
“Dr. Stewart was a facilitator, and used his capacity to bring industry participants together, not only within Canada, but internationally, such as with the United States Trotting Association, the International Trotting Association and the World Driving Championship. Dr. Stewart mobilized members to tackle challenges together with successful results.”
Then there was this, from Claude Leveque of the Quebec Jockey Club, and son of Pierre Levesque: “Mo gave his heart and soul to the betterment of major issues confronting Canada… Dr. Stewart was a tremendous resource for me in my role as President of the Quebec Jockey Club. I consulted him many times for his wise counsel on rules and regulations for racing, breeding and staking in Quebec. Mo was diligent to provide valuable input that assisted me and my board in making important decisions.”
It’s more than just our sport that Mo loves too.
“I’ve always loved animals - particularly horses,” said Stewart, a Standardbred Veterinarian for 52 years, who graduated from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.
“When I graduated, in 1974, I said I was either going to be a Veterinarian or I was going back to my Dad’s farm in Paynton, Saskatchewan, where he had a mixed farm with grain and cattle. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go back to the farm. I got my first job with Dr. Ron Cojocar in Calgary, doing equine farm and Thoroughbred work. I worked with him for four years and then started my own private practice. At the same time, Standardbred racing came to Calgary, which made for year-round racing between Calgary and Edmonton.
“When I was in college, the head Equine Veterinarian there was a Standardbred Vet, so we would work at the Standardbred tracks in Saskatoon and Regina. So when the Standardbreds came to Calgary, I knew them from Saskatchewan, and I started working with them. I spent many years travelling between Calgary and Edmonton, working the Standardbred race meets.”
Calgary’s biggest race at Stampede Park was always the Nat Christie; Edmonton’s Northlands Park’s big race was the Stewart Fraser. When you’re racing the best you want the best, and when many of the invaders from the East were in town, they turned to Dr. Stewart for his expertise.
“I would attend to the horses of trainers like Dr. John Hayes, Bob McIntosh and Harry Poulton while they were in Alberta,” reminisced Dr. Stewart.
It wasn’t just racehorses that Dr. Stewart looked after either. He also worked with English Show Horses, rodeo horses and chuckwagon horses, maintaining the health and welfare of them all.
In 1998, Dr. Jack Ingram and Dr. Stewart joined forces and formed Edmonton Equine Veterinary Services, which they developed into a large surgical, medical and ambulatory practice which they would eventually sell in 2010.
In 2012, Dr. Stewart and two others started an Agricultural Insurance Company, which they managed together. Three years later they sold it, but Dr. Stewart continued his private veterinary practice along with managing his farm and his racehorses.
On December 31, 2025, at the age of 76, Dr. Stewart, who still breeds a few mares, retired from job as a veterinarian.
“I never considered it a job. I had no problem getting up early and going to work every day. There was never a day when I said, ‘I don’t want to go to work.’ Being a veterinarian, I did what I love to do.
“I’ve always been around horses. My dad, Robert, made sure my siblings and myself had broken horses when we were young. After that, if we wanted a new horse, we were told to go out to the pasture, pick out one and then break it. Those were tough cowboy days, but you learned how to care for and break horses.”
Back then, Mo had ridden plenty of wild horses as well. As a kid he even rode bucking broncs.
“I’ve just always liked being around horses. They’ve always been a part of my life. I just feel good when I’m around them.
“And they don’t talk back,” he laughed.
On top of the long list of accomplishments above, Dr. Stewart has also bred Standardbreds for over 40 years.
In 2003, his wife Maureen and he bought a farm in Leduc County, Alberta. Now they live on an acreage just outside of Spruce Grove.
Dr. Stewart has bred mares in Kentucky, New York, Illinois, Ontario and Alberta. He was constantly trying to improve the breed in his home province, which he most certainly did.
Heat On The Street, a son of Silky Stallone-Bar Hopper who won the $84,000 Maywood Pace and earned $386,167, Wrangler Cash, a son of As Promised-W Jean who won the $80,000 Alberta Super Final while earning $351,871, and Wrangler Hitech, a son of As Promised-Raines Lucey who won the $57,500 Brad Gunn Pace and earned $296,866, are all Mo Stewart-breds who earned over a quarter-million dollars in their respective careers.
Another was Wrangler Betonme, who, like Wrangler Cash, was co-bred by Mo and his wife Maureen. This son of As Promised-Ja El Shamrock won eight in a row, including six stakes events, as a two-year-old, and was named Alberta’s champion freshman of 2011.
The queen of the lot however, goes by the name of Wrangler Magic. Nothing comes close to the half-sister to Wrangler Betonme, that the Stewarts bred, foaled and raised in Alberta, before shipping her to Ontario where she could seek both fame and fortune. And once there, she found both.
The daughter of Mach Three-Ja El Shamrock (Dr. Stewart purchased the dam for “something like $3,200,” at the 2004 Standardbred Canada Yearling and Mixed Sale as a three-year-old), would earn $1,109,560 for the Stewarts and their partners, behind signature wins in the $479,000 Fan Hanover - in a career-best 1:50.2 - and the $223,193 Simcoe Stakes, at Mohawk, for driver Sylvain Filion and trainer Stephane Larocque.
“She was special,” said Dr. Stewart. “Those times were special. My wife, Maureen, said that I was so elated [after the Fan Hanover win] that I just about jumped off of the balcony at Mohawk to get to the winner’s circle faster. She said that I was gone so fast that she had to find her own way down there (laughing). Dr. Michael Wilson [of Warrawee Farms] took her down and said, ‘Mo, I have never seen anyone as happy and excited as you, after winning a race.’”
Wrangler Magic is now owned by New York’s Crawford Farms, and is the dam of, among others, Foxhunt (p,1:50.2s; $247,734).
“What a ride. Breeding her. Raising her and racing her through a great career,” said Mo.
As far as this latest ride that he’s now on: “I was surprised and honoured when I got the phone call saying I was going into the Hall of Fame,” he shared. “I definitely wasn’t expecting it.”
He should have been.
This feature originally appeared in the June issue of TROT Magazine. Subscribe to TROT today by clicking the banner below.
