Growing up on a dairy farm in Quebec, Francis Richard remembers helping deliver hay to his dad’s Standardbred client, Leo Tourigny, when he was only eight-years-old. When he was 12, he started doing catch-paddocks. When he was 17 he brought four horses to Ontario and had no idea where he was going. When he was in his late-twenties he was nominated for the O’Brien Future Star Award on multiple occasions but failed to win it. Now, at age 31 and the father to a little girl of his own, Francis is an O’Brien Award winner. By Keith McCalmont
Francis Richard’s journey from dairy farmer to O’Brien Award-winner picked up steam in 2008 as he drove a truck trailering four racehorses from Quebec to Milton, Ontario, for trainer Leo Tourigny.
“I was 17 at the time and I had no idea where I was going,” Richard said of the 460 kilometer journey. “I went to one farm that didn’t have any space so I ended up at Victory Lane and rented stalls. I was only supposed to go and race four horses for Leo and take them home. I told my mom I’ll be gone for six days, and I came back five years later!”
Fourteen years later, the 31-year-old Richard has just celebrated his first O’Brien Award when Fashion Frenzie, co-owned by Francis with his father, Sylvain, along with Mario Bourgea and Pierre Guillemette, took home the year-end honour for Canada’s top Three-Year-Old Trotting Colt.
Richard grew up watching Ontario horse racing on TV in his hometown of Becancour, which boasts a population just shy of 13,000 and is located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River opposite Trois-Rivieres.
While he played hockey in his youth, Richard grew to love watching racing under the lights from the big city.
“To me, a track like Flamboro Downs was a big deal because I could see it on the TV,” recalled Richard.
Once Richard had settled in as a teenager in Ontario, Tourigny sent him four more horses, with the stock eventually assimilating to the barn of Richard Moreau. But Richard had made a friend in trainer David Menary and rather than return home or go and work for Moreau, he decided to stay on with his new friend for an opportunity to learn the ropes and the language.
“I was offered a couple other jobs but I really wanted to learn English and I thought if I worked for an English guy, I would have no choice but to learn,” Richard said.
Menary recalled many tough hours working together as his stable grew from 10 horses to nearly 50 by the time Richard’s tenure ended.
“Early on, Frank and I had a lot of long days where we were doing up 18 horses just the two of us,” Menary recalled. “All afternoon long, it was like English class. We’d work on his grammar and proper pronunciation. To be honest, I think I learned way more French from Frank than I ever did taking it in school.
“We were doing what we loved and we worked awful hard at it,” Menary added. “You can teach somebody a skill but you can’t teach somebody to care, and Frank really cared and took a lot of pride in his work.”
Menary said Richard’s English improved after a rocky beginning.
“He never complained about the horses as long as he was fed. Early on, if we went out to a restaurant, I’d put in my order and then the waitress would look at him and he would say, ‘Same,’” said Menary with a laugh.
Menary’s barn was propelled by the prodigious pacer Fast Pay, a $38,000 yearling who would bank $424,516 in an ill-fated career cut short after getting hurt from being cast in his stall.
“Fast Pay was the one that got the ball rolling. He had a lot of personality, was great on the training track and good for the bank account, too,” Menary said.
Co-owned by Menary’s father, Larry, Fast Pay notched an Ontario Sires Stakes record at Mohawk Racetrack on August 10, 2009, completing the seven-eighths mile course in 1:49 flat, two-fifths of a second faster than the previous record holder, Somebeachsomewhere.
“Fast Pay was the very first good horse I worked with. He was such a cool horse,” Richard said. “By the end of my time there, I was Dave’s right-hand man and was breaking all the babies. My last year there, that’s when we broke Hes Watching.”
Richard credited Menary with helping him develop skills he would later use when stepping out on his own as a conditioner in Quebec, winning four training titles at Hippodrome 3R (2017-2020).
“He taught me how to keep the horses happy and to always be consistent at what you do,” Richard said. “Dave has lots of sayings. He would always tell me, ‘No matter what, we treat them all the same.’”
As Menary’s stable grew, so did the team’s expectations.
“In 2010, Dave set the goal of trying to get to 100 wins,” Richard recalled. “And that year we got our 100th win on December 3 at Woodbine, with a mare named Flora Dream, that was owned by Leo Tourigny. She was one of my favourite horses because I knew her from when she raced in Quebec.”
Menary notched a career-best 107 wins that year, banking more than $2.3 million in purse money. And while Richard honed his skills, he also set about visiting all the Ontario tracks he once enjoyed watching on TV.
“I don’t know if I can say I was lucky to do so, but I think I did see all the racetracks in Ontario,” Richard said, with a laugh. “I was able to go to Windsor before they closed and even the first time I went to Sudbury was cool because we had two or three winners.”
But Richard’s time in Ontario would come to an end following the sudden passing of his grandfather.
“I wasn’t going home as much because I really liked being there at the barn and I was taking pride in what we were doing,” Richard said. “We were having success and winning races and I wanted to be there.
“But then my grandpa died suddenly, and that was tough,” Richard continued. “You realize that anything can happen when you’re not there. My grandmother was taking it very hard. Everyone was getting older and I’m a family guy, so I thought I better get back home and be close to my family.”
* * * *
Richard conducts this interview on a cold winter evening in Becancour while working the track at the local training centre, as his partner, Isabelle, is at home with their two-year-old daughter Olivia. He was reticent to stay home in fear that his booming voice would wake his young child as he shares the story of how he got in touch with the sport he loves.
“We were living in my grandparent’s house, which is right across from where I grew up with my parents,” Richard said. “I have good memories of my childhood. All of my friends were very close. We all played hockey. When I was younger I didn’t really know about horses, but later on my favorite sport became racing.”
Richard’s family raised dairy cattle, but they also kept broodmares and turnout horses belonging to Leo Tourigny in their paddocks. In addition, they provided the hay for a bustling Tourigny stable that had grown to nearly 100 horses at that stage. In time, Richard’s father bought into a few racehorses with his client, Tourigny.
“One Saturday, when I was 12, I went to the farm on delivery with my dad, and one of the guys invited me to come to the paddock [at the track],” Richard recalled. “They soon asked me to start paddocking, and that was good when I was in school. My dad had sold the milk cows so we had less work to do on the farm, and Leo needed a guy, so I filled in. I was always going to the track during the week, even if I wasn’t working.”
Richard said he was a good student and had considered becoming a veterinarian before he heeded the call of the racetrack.
“After I started college I realized I was good at school, but I hated it. I had fun going to the track,” Francis said.
When Richard first left Becancour, in 2007, the racing game in Quebec was in turmoil because Attraction Hippiques - the company that owned the four racetracks there - had been struggling. Eventually they declared bankruptcy, in 2009, and shut down all of the tracks, but when Francis returned home, following the death of his grandfather, the sport was rising from the ashes.
“I came back to help my dad with the farm and I had no plans on getting back with the horses,” Richard said. “But at that point Three Rivers had re-opened and I started helping out a few people.”
Richard said he has Tourigny to thank for helping him get back into the game.
“Leo knows lots of people… he came to see me one morning and told me he had someone who would be interested in sending me horses to train,” Richard said.
That interested party was Brian Paquet, who once co-owned the millionaire pacer Up The Credit with Carl Jamieson.
“Brian used to have lots of broodmares and homebreds, and I started training for him. I started with two and then four, and then another guy sent me one, and one morning I woke up and I had 29 horses in the barn.”
The stable took on a life of its own and Richard worked diligently with his father - both at the family farm and the training centre.
“Running the farm wasn’t too bad because we had cash crops, so you worked hardest in the spring when it’s harvest time,” Richard said. “My dad is a hard worker, so he needed help at the farm but not that much. I needed him more! He’d come to the barn and help me.”
Richard credited Paquet with providing him the foundation to build his training career at Three Rivers, while also earning a string of nominations for the ‘Future Star’ O’Brien Award.
“He gave me my chance. We did good right away and because of that I could buy some for myself, too,” Richard said. “My first full year I finished third [in the trainers’ standings] and I thought that was cool. I had one horse win all eight starts. After that, I won the training title four years in a row.”
* * * *
Richard had dreamed of winning an O’Brien Award in his own name but admitted he thought his chance had passed. However, that was before trotting colt Fashion Frenzie surged to stardom in Ontario over the past two seasons - in rein, for the majority of his 2021 efforts, to Louis-Philippe Roy.
“Louis is one of my best friends. He lived at my house for one year when he started driving in Quebec,” Richard said. “It had always been my dream to win an O’Brien and I thought the only way I could do it was with a Future Star Award. For two years, I would tell Louis for sure I think I’ll be nominated.”
Francis was indeed nominated for the Future Star Award on multiple occasions, but in the end he failed to bring the trophy home. “When I turned 30 [the cutoff date for the award] and I hadn’t won yet, I thought, that’s it I’ll never win one now.”
But along came Fashion Frenzie, a son of Archangel who ended his freshman season, in 2020, with an upset victory over the 2/5 favourite, Macho Martini, in the OSS Super Final for two-year-old trotting colts. He followed that up in 2021 by winning 6-of-12 starts for just shy of $525,000, taking the $240,000 Goodtimes Stakes, while also taking down a trio of OSS events, including the $225,000 Super Final.
On February 6, 2022, Francis got his O’Brien when Fashion Frenzie was officially named Canada’s Three-Year-Old Trotting Colt of the Year.
The realization of the dream started with a modest $7,000 purchase at the 2019 London Selected Yearling Sale.
“I didn’t have the budget to buy a $100,000 horse,” Richard said. “I wasn’t trying to find which one would sell for the most, I was trying to find the one I could afford.”
Richard said he thought the fifth foal - and first male - out of the Striking Sahbra mare Striking Fashion, might hammer down a little cheaper as he was a ridgling.
“The year before that I had an Amigo Hall colt [Major Bay] who won a Gold at Grand River, and he was a ridgling, so I thought maybe that would be lucky,” Richard said with a laugh. “He [Fashion Frenzie] looked good and had a good video. I thought I could get him for $20,000. The first guy put his hand up for $6,000 and I raised my hand for $7,000.
“It was a friend who had bid, so he looked at me and stopped. Then things got confused and the hammer went down,” Richard continued. “To be honest, after that, getting him so cheap, I was a little worried. Was there something I didn’t see?”
But Richard had no need to worry as Fashion Frenzie quickly proved to be a talented juvenile. After Francis broke and trained the horse down, he sent him to conditioner Dustin Jones in Ontario, where he picked up two OSS victories. After making back-to-back breaks in the final two Gold events of the year, he ended his campaign with the aforementioned OSS Super Final score in the care of multiple O’Brien Award-winning trainer Richard Moreau. By the end of 2020 he had won 5-of-7 starts and banked $204,775.
After the successful two-year-old year Fashion Frenzie wintered in Quebec, with Francis once again, and was sent to Moreau in May, ready to qualify for a new group of owners that included Richard’s father, Sylvain.
“The ownership changed between two and three. The guy that bought half of him with me at first got rid of his horses - Mario bought their share. My dad loved the horse and wanted a share, too” Richard explained.
Fashion Frenzie’s O’Brien Award-winning campaign started with a narrow score, by a neck, in rein to Sylvain Filion, at Mohawk, in June, and culminated with an emphatic win, engineered by Roy, in the $225,000 OSS Super Final on October 16, with Francis and family in attendance.
“All of his races were highlights for me. With COVID, it wasn’t always easy to be there, so to be there in the winner’s circle [when he won the Super Final] with my girlfriend, my daughter, my dad and Louis was something special,” Richard said. “When he won the Goodtimes in September I was very happy, but sitting at home on the couch watching it wasn’t the same.”
On February 6, when Richard completed his long journey of becoming an O’Brien Award winner, he was quick to reach out to his good friend and fellow O’Brien Award-winner Roy, to celebrate the moment.
“A long time ago [2014] Louis and I bought a horse together called Video Storage,” Richard recalled. “Louis always liked to go to Old Home Week so we bought this cheap mare to race in the Alpine Claiming Series [she finished 3rd in the final and earned $876]. On O’Brien night, I texted Louis to say, ‘We’ve really come a long way.’
“It was a dream come true. For me, that’s like winning the Super Bowl,” Richard said. “I can’t be thankful enough for this horse and everyone who made him a success.”
* * * *
Richard cut back significantly in starts as a trainer in 2021, failing to reach triple digits for the first time since 2016.
“My daughter was born in January 2020 and then COVID hit in March. Things had been going good but you start wondering what will happen if horse racing shuts down,” Richard said. “There was a job opening at an aluminum plant near my house and a bunch of my friends worked there. They were hiring 150 people and they got 14,000 resumes.”
Richard interviewed for the job in May 2020 and was hired that October, the day after winning a pair of Super Finals at 3R. He has since worked 12-hour shifts twice a week at the aluminum plant, relying on his barn foreman and longtime friend David Pilon to help run the show with the horses.
“I have a great team. When I’m not there I know the horses are taken care of,” Richard said. “I told my owners and I’m thankful for the ones that stayed. Everything is looked after training-wise. David was the guy who first brought me to the paddock when I was young. He lived with us in Toronto and has been with me for many years.”
Although his numbers have dropped from 25 to 14 horses, the quality of his stock has improved and his work ethic remains as strong if not stronger.
“I go to the barn every day, that’s for sure,” Richard said. “I love the [new] job, but I always want to have horses. I like to buy yearlings and train them down in the winter with David. When they’re ready, I ship them to Richard and maybe keep some to race at Three Rivers.”
Francis said his dad also remains an avid owner and co-worker.
“He was always interested in the barn but now with Fashion, he’s interested four times as much,” Richard said. “Especially during winter when Fashion is at home with us. He goes to see him every day.”
Fashion Frenzie returned to Becancour following the OSS Super Final score and is enjoying his downtime, spending his days in the paddock and his evenings in a luxury-sized stall.
“We’ll give him a long break and start jogging slowly. When he’s ready I’ll ship him back to Richard Moreau… he doesn’t win the O’Brien [for Trainer of the Year] every year for no reason. He’s a very good horseman and he kept Fashion good and fresh all summer. He had a very good year.”
Francis said he will look to build on his Ontario success next season with a pair of sophomore pacers by Sunshine Beach - Kaporal and Sunjet Ray.
Sunjet Ray posted a record of 6-4-1-1, completing her season with a score in the $28,000 Bombardier at Three Rivers. Along the way, she made one start in Ontario for Moreau, finishing third in September at Mohawk.
“She raced in the Grassroots at Mohawk and she was parked the whole way. She paced in :54.1 and came home in :27.3. We quit with her when she was in her prime, so she’ll be good this year,” Richard said.
Kaporal is a gelding who won two legs of the Coupe De L’Avenir at Three Rivers but drew PP #8 in the final and finished fourth. He completed his season with a narrow neck loss in a Grassroots event in September at Woodbine, pacing his mile in 1:53.2.
“Richard raced him for us just once at Mohawk and he closed in :27.3,” Francis said. “He’s a big, strong horse and I wanted to quit on a good note, when he’s sound, and let him mature.”
Francis said he’s hopeful that both sophomores, along with the five babies he’s currently training down, will eventually make their way to Moreau in search of future O’Brien glory.
“We have a good relationship. In the winter I train them, and when they’re ready I send them to him. He has all my trust,” Francis said.
And based on the track record thus far between the two natives of La Belle Province, it might be safe to say that the best could still be yet to come.
This feature originally appeared in the March issue of TROT Magazine. Subscribe to TROT today by clicking the banner below.
