Harness racing feeds Emily Veinot’s soul
by Matthew Lomon
Balancing full-time groom duties with part-time post-secondary studies leaves Emily Veinot with little time to call her own, but the devoted horsewoman feels like she has all the time in the world.
“It’s just my happy place being at the barn,” Veinot said. “I always enjoy it and am never in a rush to leave to go home or anything. It doesn’t feel like work when you love what you’re doing.”
The Ottawa, ON native’s tireless work ethic and palpable passion for equine care left an immediate and lasting impression on the people around her.
Among those moved by the venerable Veinot is her boss, trainer Dave Menary, who nominated his dedicated employee for the 2025 Outstanding Groom Awards.
Established in 2015, the prestigious award recognizes grooms who place their horses first and treat them with the utmost kindness and respect, regardless of status or ability, while also demonstrating a strong work ethic and consummate sportsmanship.
Veinot, who was named a finalist for the distinct accolade on Jan. 11, checked all the boxes.
“I wasn’t really sure what to think in the beginning when I first heard the news,” she said. “I was very, very excited and I was also very honored that Dave, my boss, had thought of nominating me. He said that I’m the first person he’s ever nominated in all his years of being a trainer. That alone is a tremendous honor.”
Before Veinot joins Menary, a finalist in the Trainer of the Year category, as well as her fellow outstanding groom nominees Nancy Gredig and Joe Tulino at the O’Brien Awards Black Tie Gala on Saturday (Jan. 31), she took pause to reflect on her journey to this point.
“I’ve been really into the riding horses since I was 12 or 13,” she said. “Then, in 2017, I moved to Guelph right out of high school to go to the University of Guelph. I started looking for a summer job and had applied to a couple student positions at the university but hadn’t heard anything back.”
Instead of waiting around, a proactive Veinot shifted her focus to horse-related work. In doing so, she came across a summer groom posting from five-time O’Brien Award-winning trainer, Casie Coleman.
“I messaged her and asked if she was still looking for work,” Veinot said. “I had never worked with standardbreds before that, but I always had an interest in them. Growing up in Ottawa, we would watch the races at Rideau [Carleton].”
While Coleman needed someone with standardbred experience, the noted conditioner countered by putting Veinot in contact with her parents.
“This was around February 2018, and Casie’s horses were supposed to come up from Florida in April,” Veinot said. “So, in the couple of months between, I went and saw her mom and dad and they trained me a little bit on the couple of horses they had so that I’d be ready for when they came up from Florida. That was sort of my first job in the business.”
After breaking into the standardbred sphere with the Colemans in 2018, Veinot put her studies on hold and turned to grooming full-time.
The hiatus from pursuing a degree in Animal Biology ultimately proved brief, as Veinot resumed her post-secondary education in an abbreviated capacity when COVID-19 hit in 2020.
“From that time on, I took a lot of online classes but the last couple of credits I need to finish my degree are all in-person courses,” she said. “So, in January 2025, I moved back to Guelph to do that.”
Veinot is set to graduate as an Animal Biology major in one year’s time.
Her academic work has led her across a variety of disciplines, including animal nutrition, for which she developed a particular fascination.
Whether it be a focus on equine, ruminant, or cat and dog nutrition, Veinot has seemingly found her calling.
“I’m hoping to do something in equine nutrition or for a feed company when I graduate,” she said
Even as her future takes shape in the back of her mind, Veinot remains committed to the present.
Her responsibilities in the Menary barn, which began at the same time she returned to Guelph to continue her studies, have her caring for several horses in numerous capacities.
“Right now, I look after four at put-away time, but during the day we kind of all do it all together as teamwork,” Veinot said. “That’s how Dave likes to run it.”
Horses under Veinot’s care in 2025 included Parkavenuejanet, Dragononthebeach, Blue Pacific, Talk Curdy To Me, Whoa Black Betty, Chic Choc Rose, Shes Gone, In The Spotlight N, and Its Saturday Night.
Tending to multiple horses, each with distinct needs, requires both patience and diligence.
“Dave’s really good about being hands on when we get a new horse,” Veinot said. “I’ll pay close attention to what he tells me – for example, ‘This one needs to have their feet worked on, or this one it’s their hocks.’ Whatever we sort of noticed in the beginning, I’ll try and work on that.
“Then I just try to pay attention to their personalities and work with each individual horse. We just try and keep them all happy.”
Veinot formed a special bond with Parkavenuejanet, a 4-year-old pacer who now resides with trainer Meg Crone and driver Anthony Haughan.
“She just got there a couple of days ago, but I want to go up and visit her if they’re okay with that,” Veinot said with a laugh. “She was probably one of my favorites and one of the highlights of my year, even though she probably didn’t win as many big races as some of the other horses I looked after.”
Veinot spent countless early mornings and late nights — both on and off the track — with the mare she described as an “absolute sweetheart.”
“I originally started looking after her because she had a [Ontario Sires Stakes] Grassroots race at Rideau Carleton, and I wanted to go home for that trip,” Veinot said. “She ended up being the only one of ours that had a race that weekend at Rideau, so we shipped up together, just me and her.”
Veinot, who warmed up the kind-hearted bay the occasional night at Woodbine Mohawk Park, even put her Christmas plans on hold to attend Parkavenuejanet’s final start for Menary in the Niagara Series final on Dec. 26, 2025.
“I knew that it was going to be her last start with us, so I thought, ‘I’ll just go home on the weekend after her race is over,’ because I really didn’t want to miss her last start with us,” Veinot said. “I was excited about it and wanted to have her go out with a bang and give her the best effort I could.”
Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, the race was postponed.
That, however, didn’t prevent Veinot from enjoying the holidays – her way.
“I was there on Christmas Day; I jogged Janet and put her away and everything,” she said, adding with a laugh, “We had the same kind of thing the next week. It was New Year’s Day and Dave said we didn’t have to work if we didn’t want to, but I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to come in and jog Janet, put her away.’ He was good with it.”
To Menary, that unwavering display may very well have sealed the nomination. To Veinot, she was simply doing her job.
Ahead of the ceremony on Saturday, Veinot isn’t doing anything different.
She will still take care of her first racehorse, De Chairman, whom she collected her first training win with and later retired in 2024 to explore a second career in the riding world.
She will still be grateful to the Colemans, Menary, and Ted McDonald — the friend and mentor who connected her with Menary — as well as the countless others standing in her corner.
She will still, most importantly, savor every moment.
“I’ve been thinking about what it would mean to win this week because everyone’s asking, ‘Are you getting excited? Are you getting excited?’” Veinot said. “My answer is, ‘Yeah, I’m excited, but I’m definitely really, really nervous.’
“I think it would just be so amazing. I’m already so incredibly honored to be nominated. I never imagined that this would happen in my year that I moved up here. But if I were to win, that would just be the cherry on top.”
