Owners claim theirs is first thoroughbred trained on Manitoulin
MINDEMOYA—He has the same forehead markings as the great thoroughbred horse Secretariat, but for a pair of Manitoulin men, they are just happy to provide the opportunity for their horse, Clive Cross, to race.
“We have done as much as we could, we have opened the door for Clive. We are just two guys from Manitoulin Island who are giving him a chance. Now it is up to him,” stated Mark Varey, who along with Steve Doane purchased and raised thoroughbred horse Clive Cross on Manitoulin Island.
Clive is set to race at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto this Friday, December 2.
“I believe Clive is the only thoroughbred raised on Manitoulin Island who will be raced at Woodbine,” said Mr. Varey.
“We shared in the costs for him 50/50,” said Mr. Doane who explained, “Mark and I were sitting around in 2019, we had watched the odd Toronto Maple Leafs game on TV when we got talking about a lot of things. Mark told me at one point he had gone to college in New Liskeard to learn about horses and had also trained horses at Jack Stafford Farms in King City.”
“I always wanted to get into thoroughbred racing. I already had six hayburners (non racing horses) on my farm,” said Mr. Doane. “I saw my first horse race on TV as an eight-year-old. I watched a race with my uncle; it was Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. I was hooked.”
He followed the career of horses like Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Alydar. “I got away from horse racing for a while when my kids were younger, but I’ve never been more into thoroughbred horse racing than I am now.”
Mr. Varey explained, “I went to college in New Liskeard with my twin brother to take Equine Technology. The course teaches you horse husbandry. And when I was growing up I got interested in horses, helping the John Wilkins family just outside Little Current, who owned horses, on their farm.
They were horse people,” he said, pointing out his father was also a horse guy. “Then I was fortunate after graduation from college to work at the Jack Stafford Farms in Toronto for a year and a half before he passed away.”
“This Island seemed to me to be perfect for raising a thoroughbred, like in Kentucky and Florida, the biggest thoroughbred horse racing locations in the world, the horses there are raised on limestone base farms, which builds bone and structure,” said Mr. Doane.
“Anyway, Mark and I were talking about horse racing one night and I said, ‘why couldn’t we get into this?’ stated Mr. Doane. “So that night, after I had a couple of pops, I went home and went onto the Kijiji website. I saw an advertisement about a person selling a race mare, who had in her family Northern Dancer on both sides and Seattle Slew on her mother’s side. I bought Port Wine for $1,500. She had run at Woodbine a few times and won three or four races and a purse of about $70,000.”
“Mark asked me, why didn’t you get the colt too,” said Mr. Doane. “So I called the lady who I bought the mare from and said I will take the colt for $2,000.”
“Steve and I took a chance,” said Mr. Varey. “When Steve said ‘why can’t we buy and train a thoroughbred on Manitoulin Island’ I said, I had some experience working with horses when I was young so why not.”
While Mr. Doane had purchased the mare, “I really wasn’t ready to buy the colt.” Port Wine had been bred by ‘Reload,’ who was based in Hillsburg.
In 2019 the two Island horse owners brought the colt up to Manitoulin Island in December of that year.
Mr. Doane explained Clive Cross is named after a hall of fame thoroughbred horse trainer David Clive Cross, “a young guy who worked with horses, and trained Sunny’s Halo when he won the Kentucky Derby in 1983. We were going to call our colt ‘Copper Load’ but David Clive Cross passed away at the age of 81 in 2019 and, based on karma, we said we better not change our colt’s name.”
When Clive first arrived at his new homes on Manitoulin, Tween Lakes Farm and Timberlane Farm, ”we had him in a round pen for two weeks and then introduced him to the other horses. It didn’t go well, the other ones almost killed him. Mark had to basically save him from getting killed,” said Mr. Doane.
In order to try and develop a rugged, strong animal, the two owners brought Clive to Manitoulin where he could run on 125 acres of rough pasture on their farms year-round.
“Clive had an unlimited buffet of grass to eat, and the horses were put out with the cattle. My hay burners taught Clive how to be a horse. He saw every experience he could, from being around with cattle, piglets, and dogs to hearing the occasional gunshot in the background. Mark trained with him two or three times a week.”
Clive, who wasn’t run as a two-year-old is now a three-year-old. He has been training since July in Vaughn. He was only expected to be there for four weeks but Steve, who is the manager said, “your horse is ready, he needs to get to the track and the next level,” said Mr. Doane.
Clive’s trainer, Christa Cole Simpson, was praised by both of the horse’s owners for doing such a great job with him. “If you look at a picture of Clive on April 30 when we took him to Pine Valley Training Centre, and then saw a picture of him the last two months, you will see he is now huge and muscular. He looks like he is supposed to. He is strong and looks to be fast,” said Mr. Varey. “And I can tell you, he is a very smart horse. The only issue is, does he want it as much as we do.” I think his bloodlines should help prove this,” said Mr. Varey.
“We did everything we could for him,” said Mr. Varey. He explained, “in the old days thoroughbreds were herd raised, but in today’s world they are born in a barn, and raised in a paddock. Their herd mentality is lost. At the beginning, poor old Clive was last on the pecking order and when he was introduced to the other horses in our pen, they kicked the heck out of him. But now he is big and strong and has been around horses and other animals all the time so he shouldn’t have a problem.”
“We’re going to be proud whether Clive finishes in fifth, eighth, wherever, in his race,” said Mr. Doane. “The fact that he has made it thus far and was raised on Manitoulin Island is a bit of an accomplishment already. We don’t have the infrastructure and support on the Island for thoroughbred horses that other areas do. Our veterinarian Dr. Monica Stevens has been a key in all of this.”
By the way, Manitoulin Secondary School teacher Jordan Smith designed Clive’s silks. The colours are the high school colours as he is a true ‘Manitoulin Mustang.’
“It would be nice if Clive has a good debut, no one would have ever dreamed when he was taken away this spring that he would turn out as well as he has,” said Mr. Varey. “Steve and I just wanted to give him a chance.”
