by Murray Brown

Recently, Casie Coleman said, “Tony [Beaton] was a major asset to my team for many years. He started as a groom for me and moved up the ladder to become the main assistant trainer in the operation. He is now on his own and trains horses for me as one of his owners. He is a fantastic horseman and is very smart at figuring horses out. I’m comfortable having my horses in his stable. I know that he is not only a great trainer, but I also know that he is going to do best by the horse for whatever they need to become their best on the racetrack.

“If I didn’t trust him the way I do, I would not have been able to back off and step away from the racing part of the business as I have done.”

The quote “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times,” from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, would best describe the year that Beaton experienced in 2024. Actually, the beginning of the “worst of times” began on Oct. 12, 2023 when two anonymous texts were sent to an Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) official alleging that a young horse in Beaton’s stable had been cruelly whipped by the trainer resulting in injury to the horse.

The commission scratched all the horses trained by Beaton from participating in the Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Super Finals at Mohawk the next day. Then, the AGCO handed Beaton a two-year suspension. This resulted in his stable being unilaterally disbanded and Beaton being put out of business.

“I thought that was most unfair,” Beaton said recently. “They wanted to punish me and they did. They immediately left me out of the means to earning a living. Worse than that, though, was they punished the owners of the horses who earned their way into the Super Finals and in no manner could have been complicit in the false charges which they brought against me.

“What they should have done, if they felt there was some way that those horses and their connections were somehow responsible for what God only knows, was allowed them to race and held up the purse money pending a fair and just hearing on the situation. Of course, they didn’t do that.

“I was without the means to earn a living for 111 days until my appeal was heard. I was eventually exonerated. Now looking back at it, I just want to forget it ever happened. My wife Lisa and I lived through hell for almost four months.”

Then what most might describe as a miracle transpired. From the depths of despair, the stable and the lives of the Beatons came together, to once again become a force to be reckoned with not only in Ontario racing where the stable became the one which most reasonable observers would say reigned supreme, but it also was prominent in North American Grand Circuit racing. Legendary Hanover became the fastest 3-year-old in North America in winning the Meadowlands Pace (with stablemate Nijinsky finishing second), Nijinsky won the North America Cup and Redwood Hanover won Quebec’s signature event, the Prix d’Ete, among numerous other prestigious events.

There were many, including myself, who considered Beaton as a shoe in for this year’s O’Brien Award as Canadian Trainer of the Year.

For some unanswered and undefinable reason, he was not even included on the ballot to be nominated for that prestigious honor.

Beaton, true to his nature, is rather quiet, but obviously quite hurt by the exclusion.

“There is nothing I can do about it,” he said. “What’s done is done. Like the suspension, I’m just putting it in the rearview mirror. All I can do is just go on with life and do my very best and hope for the best.”

Which brings us to the present and your 2025 stable. How is it made up?

“Right now, we have 49 head in training here at Classy Lane Training Center. Of these, 26 of them are 2-year-olds. All of the 26 are pacers. I suppose that is a remnant of my years with Casie Coleman. We hardly trained any trotters there. Casie had one or two over the years but she liked pacers a whole lot more.”

Speaking of Casie. You worked with her for a long time. She speaks very highly of you. Together with Andrew Harris, in addition to all the champions she has raced, she considers you two to be the human equivalent to her equine greats.

“I owe a great part of any success I’ve achieved to Casie. She is as great a horse person as anyone that ever sat behind a horse. She loves horses as do I. Anybody who works for Casie better have a love for the horse or they won’t be there for long. She is a great role model. She is a very hard worker and is very detail oriented. Just look at what she has done for my stable. She picked out broke and trained Legendary Hanover, Nijinsky and Linedrive Hanover. There are some good horse trainers who have never had one single horse as good as any of those three. Casie had all of them at the same time.”

All of your big three won’t be back this year. Only Nijinsky still remains in training. Tell us about those three boys.

“Thankfully, Nijinsky is coming back to race. I expect him to be the star of the stable. The two other stalls of our big three will be difficult to fill.

“Legendary Hanover has been retired to stud and Linedrive Hanover has been retired to a life of leisure to live out his days at Anvil and Lace Farm.

“How would I describe them? They are all extremely talented but quite different.

“Nijinsky is the perfect racehorse. You can race him any way you want to. He can leave. You can sit him in a hole. He can take air if necessary. When you say go to him that is what he is going to do.

“Legendary Hanover is a big, strong and very athletic horse. He has extreme speed. Once you wind him up and get him going, he is going to be gone.

“Linedrive Hanover might quite possibly have been the best of these three great horses if only he had been sound. He had issues which bothered him throughout his racing career. He was never lame, but he was never completely sound. When I think of him, I think it’s a darn good thing he is a gelding, because even as a gelding, he can be more than a handful.”

What does the 2025 racing season look like from your present vantage point?

“Well, it would be extremely difficult to do as well as we did last year, but we sure as heck are going to try. Right now, the 2-year-olds look to be an impressive group. All 26 of them are still on the go and are doing well. Of course, at this point we are just building a foundation. Once we start going fast miles with them, they will undoubtedly separate themselves. For the next several months we will continue to dream.

“We hope that come summer and fall, that some of those dreams will be satisfied. I’d like to extend my thanks to all my friends, colleagues and owners. Wishing everyone the best of luck in 2025.”