Susan Grange’s love of horses was so deep she often used her wealth to preserve valuable land in the Greater Toronto Area as horse country — perhaps no piece of property more notable than a 1,100-acre spread in Inglewood, ON that is hallowed ground in Canadian harness racing history.

Grange died this week at the age of 63, but we would be remiss not to remember her for saving the property that was once home to the famed Armstrong Bros. farm and keeping it from becoming another tacky subdivision.

About 15 years ago, Grange, a passionate horsewoman, purchased the Armstrong Bros. property partly as an investment, but also to keep it home to horses for as long as possible.

“I didn’t want to see it just turn into matchstick houses,” Grange once told Trot magazine. “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… would be awful.”

Grange had many equine interests, but carried on her mother’s passion for standardbreds that included owning Red River Hanover and Rocknroll Hanover with Jeffrey Snyder. After Grange’s mother died, Grange carried on owning a few standardbreds, including Well Said with Snyder.

And that land that was once Armstrong Bros that she saved from being turned into cul-de-sacs and row after row of houses? Today, part of that land continues on as a prominent standardbred breeding operation as the base for Winbak Farm of Canada.

— Dave Briggs