Just a few short months ago, Windsong Soprano romped in the $501,600 Peaceful Way Stakes by three and a quarter lengths. In the $64,100 Lexington Bluegrass Stakes she crossed the wire victorious in 1:53.4 — trotting the second fastest mile ever by a two-year-old filly. She has banked $345,487 in seven starts over what is shaping up to be an impressive freshman campaign.
The speedy trotting filly was a $110,000 purchase at last year’s Harrisburg sale – one of the three yearlings bought up all or in part by Susan Grange for a cumulative figure of $630,000.
Not a bad buy for her first stab at harness racing.
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The interlock aisle is spotless. Someone has just used a watering can to sprinkle the ground, leaving figure eights of dampness that quash dust and brighten the air with the fresh scent of a clean barn.
Across from the wash stall, behind newly stained pine boards, show-jumper In Style peers out through a space in the wrought iron bars. At 13, the big bay gelding carried Captain Canada – Ian Millar – to a silver team medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was Canada’s first equestrian team medal since 1968.
He knows how special he is, and Grange isn’t one to deny it. She imported him from Holland six years ago and has brought him along to where he is today.
“He was hand-raised,” says Grange, reaching up to pat his big white star. The gelding lowers his head and grabs at the sleeve of her navy windbreaker with his lips, eliciting a smile from his owner.
“His mother died when he was a baby and he was fed on a bottle,” Grange explains, gently reclaiming her arm. “That’s why he’s a bit nippy.”
“You’ve been spoiled, haven’t you?” she grins at him.
In Style is normally stabled with Millar at his farm in Perth, but Sue insisted he take a break after Beijing. For the moment, he’s enjoying the last days of summer in a lush green paddock where there are no jumps in sight. Instead, he peers out over 400 acres of pristine country landscape in the company of other champions. And for once, those champions are not all destined for the show ring.
In a roomy paddock on the property’s east end, you’ll find three broodmares -- standardbred broodmares -- who combined won nearly $3 million on the track before retiring to motherhood. Their 2008 babies, sired by superstar pacing colt Rocknroll Hanover, frolic by the house while their 2007 babies, now yearlings, munch hay in the barn.
Grange may have started in show horses, but she was drawn into harness racing by her mother’s passion for the sport. Now, she’s got one boot in each world.
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Lothlorien takes its name from a beautiful forest in the book Lord of the Rings. “It was an absolutely gorgeous place where the elves lived,” Grange smiles. “There was even a Lady of Lorien. We have a lovely forest behind the house and I thought it was a pretty name.”
It’s an appropriate choice for a farm that spans hundreds of acres in what is arguably the most picturesque corner of Ontario. Perched atop a sloping hill, Lothlorien is cloaked in the backdrop of the Niagara escarpment. Crisp autumn weather has turned the leaves to the vibrant shades of fall, and the rolling hills that drop away behind the barns are decorated in the reds, yellows, oranges and browns that bring city folk out on Thanksgiving for a country drive.
Raised in a subdivision by the lake in Mississauga, Grange wasn’t born a country girl. But at 12, she tagged along with a friend to her riding lessons and was immediately hooked on horses. Showing on a major scale by 16, Grange traveled the continent as a competitive jumper for nearly two decades and in the mid-1970s purchased a 100-acre lot in Cheltenham on which to build her training farm. But nearly 20 years ago today, she injured her back and was forced to quit the sport she loved so dearly.
For a time Grange was hardly involved in the industry, swearing that she would never be content as an owner. But unable to resist, she soon found herself back in the game, travelling the world to select the best and most promising show-jumpers to represent her farm.
“I try not to buy the ones that are ready to go in the grand prix,” she explains. “They’re too expensive. I really get enjoyment out of raising them. I help train them when they’re young -- I do a lot of the ground training.”
With her stamp of approval, the horses come back overseas to Cheltenham, where the goal is to develop them into champion show horses or influential stock for her developing breeding program.
Lothlorien’s original 100 acres has now more than quadrupled on account of Grange buying up the land around her, giving her plenty of room to roam with her husband John, their four children and a handful of dogs. “It’s a prime location,” she says, “because the major horse shows in Ontario are in this area. I love the Caledon Hills. It was so pretty and a little untapped here.”
It’s still pretty, but no longer a well-kept secret. Every year, encroaching development from the greater Toronto area creeps a little closer. And every year, Grange does what she can – like acquiring neighbouring properties – to keep it out.
Her dislike of inevitable property development was part of what convinced her to purchase the 1,100-acre Armstrong Brothers farm when it went up for sale some years ago. The investment potential was obviously a huge driver for Grange, but the fact that the sale put a halt to what would likely have been a sea of new subdivisions didn’t hurt either.
“I just thought it was a good investment,” she explains. “And I didn’t want to see it just turn into matchstick houses. Eventually it’s definitely going to be developed, whether we like it or not. It’s moving this way. But ideally, if it’s going to be developed, I’d like to see country estates, you know? The thought of it just being wall to wall houses,” she shakes her head. “It would be awful.”
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Around the same time Grange was travelling the continent riding show-jumpers and establishing her farm, her parents Audrey and Elwood Campbell were discovering their love for horse racing -- an enduring passion that began with part ownership in a single horse.
“Interestingly enough,” recalls Grange, “the people that I rode with when I first started – the husband was a thoroughbred trainer. So my parents started to take some interest in racing then, but in thoroughbreds.
“Then my father had a friend who was into standardbreds and they started going to the evening races, which is much easier for somebody who works all day. He really enjoyed it and he started taking my mother. It just suited their lifestyle more than the thoroughbreds. Plus, standardbreds are nice because they race a little more. If you own one, you can go and enjoy watching them a little more often.
“The next thing you know,” she laughs, “they had a racehorse!”
Though her father passed away some years ago, Grange’s mother carried it on because she enjoyed it. Campbell had made friends and they would go out for dinner at the races and have a good time, so under the name Lothlorien Equestrian Center (a separate entity from Grange’s farm, Lothlorien), she stayed involved. It’s a good thing she did.
Shortly after the death of her husband, Campbell found herself engaged in a bidding war at Harrisburg with Jeffrey Snyder over a yearling – Red River Hanover -- that would soon make an impressive name for himself in the racing world, pocketing $1.4 million and taking a lifetime mark of 1.48.4s. The two formed a partnership after each refused to give up the colt, and the pair went on to purchase a host of other horses that also burned up the track – most impressive of which may have been his brother, the 2005 O’Brien Three-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year, Rocknroll Hanover.
Retaining a 10% interest in Rocknroll when he retired to stud at the end of his successful sophomore campaign, Campbell knew she wanted to breed to him. So her daughter agreed to go halves with her on a few broodmares so long as they purchased the best of the best. “You don’t go with mediocre mares,” Grange insists.
“I already breed show-jumpers here,” she shrugs, “so a couple more isn’t going to make that much difference to me. We have lots of fields to throw them out in.”
The pair consulted Dr. Moira Gunn, formerly the president of Armstrong Brothers, for advice on choosing the right mares for their program. “I know Moira personally,” Grange explains. “She does my embryo transfer work with my show-jumpers – and when she heard we wanted some broodmares, she helped us find them.”
Their choices? Kikikatie [Real Artist – Katies Lucky Lady – Cam Fella] p,1.50.3 $1,415,566; Please Me Please [Camluck – Artistic Pleasure – Artsplace] p,1.51.2s $1,033,155; and Beloved Angel [Artsplace – Docomo – Matts Scooter] p,1.50.3 $698,471. Their first crop of Rocknroll Hanover foals hit the ground running (or rolling) in 2007 – all colts.
“Silly,” laughs Grange, shaking her head.
Rather than keep all three colts, she’s sending the Beloved Angel yearling – who she’s dubbed Rockin On Over – across the auction block at Harrisburg in November. The other two she’s given to trainers to be prepped for their 2009 freshman campaigns.
In 2007, they bred the mares to Rocknroll again – producing this year, to Grange’s chagrin, three more colts. But there is something a little different about this crop. On September 23, 2007, Campbell, then 90, passed away, leaving behind her three daughters, 10 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and the breeding program she’d become so passionate about.
“There’s obviously some sentimental value attached to these foals,” admits Grange, “because it was my mother and I that had this dream.” In fact, with this being her first foray into harness racing, the horsewoman readily agrees that she wouldn’t be a part of the sport at all if it wasn’t for her mother’s involvement.
With Campbell’s passing, Grange took over her mother’s business, Lothlorien Equestrian Center, as part of the estate, and all the horses that go along with that.
Since she was suddenly in charge of her mother’s standardbreds, Grange figured she may as well buy some of her own to help her learn the ropes in the sport. At Harrisburg in 2007, she purchased the pacing colts Venice Menace and Well Said with her mother’s former partner, Jeff Snyder, and the trotting filly Windsong Soprano on her own.
Windsong Soprano and Well Said in particular have had banner two-year-old years, banking $344,337 and $248,127 respectively. But despite her success, Grange is still feeling her way around the industry.
“It’s a whole other business and I’m already busy with the show-jumpers. But I inherited it and it’s fun.” Though she plans on dispersing her mother’s racehorses – many of whom will be offered at the Harrisburg mixed sale – Grange hasn’t decided what she’s going to do with her 2008 foals or her breeding stock.
“As for the colts,” she ponders, settling back into her armchair, “I mean, we bred them, we kept them here, we foaled them here, raised them. It’s fun to see what you produce.”
Grange smiles. “I’m not just going to get out of it because my mother’s not around any longer. I might decide in a couple of years that I just can’t do it all. If it wasn’t for the breeding stock I probably wouldn’t stay in it as much, but the fact that we were both excited about those mares makes me want to see what we end up with.”
She’s undecided as to whether or not she’ll bring home more horses from Harrisburg this year. But you can bet that no matter what, she’ll have her eye out for quality animals to add to Lothlorien’s roster – a roster that every year contributes more to the health of equine sport across the country.