32/ MARCH/APRIL 2018 THE RIDER TALKING HORSES BOB BROADSTOCK: Strong up North - An Active Advocate of Quarter Horse Racing in Ontario


By Cynthia McFarland TRACK Magazine Correspondent There’s something undeniable


about a horse. Once you have the pas- sion, you’ll do whatever you can to keep it in your life. Bob Broadstock’s introduction to


horses came not through racing, but on the back of a versatile Paint named Brandy. “I was into trail riding, gaming, jumping - I did just about everything on her you could with one horse,” recalls Broadstock, president of the Quarter Racing Owners of Ontario Inc. (QROOI) since 2007, who was raised in


Toronto, Ontario and moved to the Ajax area as a teenager. Broadstock was in high school


when he had his Paint mare and worked off the boarding bill by putting in hours a the stable every weekend. The board- ing stable happened to buy their shav- ings from a trainer by the name of Joe Tavares at the former Picov Down’s racetrack (now Ajax Downs Racetrack). In 1987, when Tavares eventually of- fered Broadstock a job as a groom and exercise rider, the teenager happily ac- cepted and thus began his introduction to the world of racing, a fascination


which has never wavered. Broadstock worked for Tavares for eight years be- fore getting his own trainer’s license. It was while working in Tavares’


barn that he accompanied the trainer to a sale at Heritage Point in Oklahoma City where Tavares bought a racing Quarter Horse mare named Cha Cha Choo Choo (by Duck Dance TB). ‘“I was in love with that mare from


day one and eventually bought her from Joe when she was done racing in 1997 and made her a broodmare,” says Broad- stock. Cha Cha Choo Choo was the dam on eight foals, seven of which are win-


ners, and have a combined total earnings of over $275,000. Her most successful runners include The Choochinator (SI101, $159,511) and Juno Dancing (SI97, $71,443). Sadly the mare had to be put down due to foaling complica- tions in 2012. Broadstock owned several of her produce and still has one of her daughters and two of her sons, both geldings (including The Choochinator), who were “iron horses” at the track, each with over 100 starts to their credit. Broadstock and his wife Marie,


who was also raised riding horses, reside in a farm in Scugog Township, Ontario.


Broadstock handles the training and their horses run under his wife’s. They race primarily in Ontario, but over the years they have also run in Oklahoma and Louisiana. The Broadstocks have ten horses they will be racing, along with four mares in foal for 2018, two weanlings for 2017 and two yearlings. Their son Carson, 9, recently got


his own “horse fever,” having fallen for one of the farm’s homebred weanlings by Look At Magies Form out of their mare Katies Award, by Winners Award. “Carson has chores with the horses and he’s shown a lot of interest in this filly, which he named Princess Leia, so when she’s ready to race, she will run in his name, says Broadstock. Among the best racehorses cam-


paigned by Broadstock Racing is All Wacked Out, a 2007 mare by Eyesa Spe- cial, who is a multiple stakes winner and track record holder at Ajax Downs. Fro 52 starts, the mare had 15 wins, three seconds and eight thirds with earnings of $217,339. Now a broodmare for the Broadstocks, her first foal, a colt by El Night Shift, will go to the races in 2018. A strong performer for Broadstock


Racing in 2017 has been Ms Dashin Co- rona, a 2011 daughter of Coronas Leav- ing You, who won four times in 2017 and will continue racing in 2018. “She’s the winningest horse we had this year,” says Broadstock, who bought Ms Dashin Corona from Doug Weeks in Louisiana.


CANADIAN RACING Quarter Horse racing is alive and


well in our neighbour to the north, in- cluding at Ajax Downs (www.ajax- downs.com). The track was originally known as Picov Downs, named after Russian immigrant Alexander Picov who imported many American Quarter Horses into Ontario. Picov Downs opened in 1969 and boasts a rich history of Quarter Horse racing. The first AQHA-recognized meet was held in 1971. When a new gaming slots facility and full six furlong oval track were in- troduced, the racetrack name was changed to Ajax Downs in 2006. Live racing is held May to October. As president of QROOI and having


served on the AQHA Racing Committee since 2008, Broadstock is close to the pulse of Quarter Horse Racing in his province of Ontario and across Canada, as well as in the States. Ajax Downs is the only Quarter


Horses track in the province and meets there are managed by the QROOI. Many Thoroughbreds compete at both Wood- bine and Fort Erie, and there are also at least a dozen tracks in Ontario that fea- ture Standardbred racing. Interestingly, Broadstock notes that the cost of racing a Thoroughbred in his province is ap- proximately three times the cost of rac- ing a Quarter Horse. The closest province with regular


Quarter Horse racing is Alberta, but be- cause that is so far west, if Quarter Horse owners want to compete at a track other than Ajax, many head to the States to run nat Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, or Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville, Indiana. Broadstock was relieved to see


funding for horse racing return to On- tario after the Financial upset to the sport in 2012. “Our program was very good until the government pulled fund- ing in 2012. They decided we weren’t going to get all the slots and gaming rev- enues we had been receiving,” he notes, adding that those were dark days for the industry. Fortunately, that decision wasn’t


permanent, and the Ontario government returned funding for the sport of kings. “Racing in Ontario now receives $100 million per year and that is divided be- tween Quarter Horse, Thoroughbred and


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