by Matthew Lomon

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

After making stops at Kawartha Downs (Amanda Riley), Flamboro Downs (Triple S Equine/Carl Kuepfer), and Clinton Raceway (Larry Lane) last week, All Over Ontario reached the halfway point of its four-part series chronicling the leading owners at Ontario racetracks in 2024.

The festivities continue this week with a fresh set of ownership groups who topped the charts at Western Fair (Colonel Schneider, Jr.), Hiawatha Horse Park (also Schneider, Jr.), and Leamington Raceway (Michael Stamp and Janet Larcombe).

Schneider, Jr., Stamp, and Larcombe will be among the 24 owners honored in a special presentation alongside the best and brightest in Canadian harness racing at the 36th annual O’Brien Awards on Feb. 8.

Each awardee will receive a custom plaque and a complimentary ticket to the ceremony, as part of the Owner Recognition Program.

Before the trio takes center stage at the Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale in Mississauga, ON, we will first turn the spotlight on them in Part 3 of Leading Owners at Ontario Tracks in 2024.

Our penultimate act begins with the man who doubled down as the clubhouse leader at both Western Fair and Hiawatha, Schneider, Jr.

A life-long horseman with service time as a trainer, driver, and owner, Schneider, Jr. captured the leading owner title at Western Fair — a track he grew up racing at — for the second consecutive year with 34 winners and $196,000 in earnings.

Schneider, Jr.’s success at the London, ON oval was buoyed by none other than his daughter, 2023 O’Brien Future Star Award recipient, Cassidy Schneider.

Cassidy completed the Trainer of the Year three-peat at Western Fair after leading her charges to 47 wins last season.

“I think my daughter is prouder than I am,” Schneider, Jr. said with a laugh. “I’ve had horses my whole life. She likes that kind of stuff [competing for top owner honors], but I think she’s happier than I am. I’m definitely happy about it, but she used to tell me all the time how much we were leading by in the owners’ standings.

“I’m proud of her and I think she’s proud of me for buying horses and trying to keep things rolling.”

One horse the Schneiders struck gold with was Colonel’s homebred pacer, Hollys Treasure.

The resolute son of State Treasurer—L H Hollys Cam secured May’s Bulldog Hanover Preferred Pace in 1:54.2 under the direction of driver Colin Kelly.

“If he gets a decent trip, he’s about as good as any half-mile preferred horse over there,” said Colonel, who spent a combined $3,000 on the stud fee and mare of Hollys Treasure.

The 7-year-old bay gelding described as a “bit of a character,” has reeled in nearly $182,000 across 126 lifetime starts (26-20-11).

“He tries; he’s a bugger,” said Colonel. “He used to get mad. About his third lifetime start, he had the 7-hole, and he got parked the whole mile. He just got madder and madder and went on and won the race. It was unbelievable. That was four years ago, but he sure tried his heart out.”

The Schneiders’ good times kept on rolling one hour west of Western Fair at Hiawatha Horse Park in Sarnia, ON.

While the half-mile oval is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive for the Arthur, ON-based father-and-daughter team, the pair have plenty of reasons to keep coming back.

“My daughter likes going to Hiawatha,” said Colonel. “Since we’ve been there and had limited success — we’ve done okay — we’ve attracted a few new owners, Janet and Shawn O’Brien and Fred Freer. There were a few people that we had given horses to train. We take them back there, race them at their home track, and they like that. And we do too.

“We like going; they have pretty good equipment, so we don’t care about driving a little farther.”

Colonel’s army of pacers and trotters stood above the rest, recording eight wins, 14 seconds, and four thirds through 53 starts at Hiawatha last season ($43,597 banked).

Spun From Magic, an 8-year-old trotter trained by Cassidy, accounted for one-quarter of the victories notched by Colonel’s colony (two).

Overall, the son of Kadabra out of the Muscle Mass mare Im A Munchie Girl sports a 20-11-14 line through 120 starts.

For Colonel, grassroots tracks like Hiawatha, although far from where he resides today, serve as a dear reminder of humble beginnings.  

“I was raised on the small tracks,” he said. “When I drove and trained, we were racing for $600-700 in Clinton, Goderich, and Woodstock. Our roots are from a small town and small-town tracks.”

From one team to another, the ownership group of Michael Stamp and Janet Larcombe also found great success at one of Ontario’s grassroots venues.

Together, the duo’s procured talent produced a 6-3-0 line across 17 starts to pace the leaderboard at Leamington Raceway.

“There are a lot of good horse people who race at Leamington,” said Stamp. “Leaving our mark as leading owners shows that we can hold our own amongst some of the finest in the industry.”

All six tallies credited to Stamp and Larcombe were delivered by Chief Of Staff (four) and Papiamento (two), a pair of pacers aged 8 and 11, respectively.

The versatile Chief Of Staff, in particular, has been a steady presence both on and off the track for Stamp and Larcombe.

So much so that a personality quiz between the son of Art Major—Milliondollarsmile and Stamp would be nearly indistinguishable.

“It didn’t take long for him to rise up and make his presence known at the top level in Leamington,” said Stamp. “He can have a bit of an attitude at times but so can I and that’s probably why we get along so well.”

Both Stamp and Larcombe are deeply passionate horse people who have long held a vested interest in the sport.

A native of Newfoundland and Labrador, Stamp was drawn to the idea of ownership from an early age.

“I bought my first horse as a teenager back home and it has been a passion now for nearly five decades,” he said.

That unbridled enthusiasm, which Stamp added is equally palpable with Larcombe, made their partnership a no-brainer.

And Leamington is the ideal setting to tie it all together.

“In the fall, Leamington is the only track that races during the afternoon,” said Stamp. “We both enjoy afternoon racing a lot. I guess that goes back to racing Sunday afternoons growing up in Newfoundland.”