Macdonald "Mac" Benson (born June 30, 1930 in Wilmington, Delaware) is a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame trainer. A resident of Woodbridge, Ontario, Benson came to Canada in 1978 to train for E. P. Taylor's renowned Windfields Farm. Since then, horses trained by Benson have won ten Sovereign Awards and four Canadian Classics.
Mac Benson embarked on his professional training career in 1958 and began by working for prominent Delaware Thoroughbred owner, William du Pont, Jr. He later would operate a public stable, racing at tracks in Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland. Among his clients in the early 1970s was another duPont family member, Bayard Sharp, who was a founding director of Delaware Park Racetrack and a former president of The Blood-Horse Inc. magazine. In 1976, Benson was offered a job by the head of operations for Windfields Farm who raced in Canada and the United States, and who maintained breeding operations in Maryland and Ontario.
Settling in the Toronto area in 1978, Mac Benson met with instant success as head trainer of the E. P. Taylor racing stable. He remained with Windfields Farm through the death of E. P. Taylor in 1989 and would later train for American George W. Strawbridge, Jr. and Robert J. Costigan of Vancouver, British Columbia. Still active in 2009, at age 76 Mac Benson trained Costigan's filly, Arravale, to 2006 Canadian Horse of the Year honors.
In 2002, Mac Benson was inducted in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
Horatio A. Luro was a thoroughbred horse racing trainer in the United States.
Edward Plunket Taylor was a Canadian business tycoon, investor and philanthropist. He was a famous breeder of Thoroughbred race horses, and a major force behind the evolution of the Canadian horse-racing industry. Known to his friends as "Eddie", he is all but universally recorded as "E. P. Taylor".
Windfields Farm was a six square kilometre (1,500 acre) Thoroughbred horse breeding farm that was founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
The Minstrel was a Canadian-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Bred in Ontario, he was sold as a yearling and exported to Europe, where he was campaigned in Ireland and the United Kingdom. As a two-year-old The Minstrel was unbeaten in three races including the Dewhurst Stakes, but lost two of his first three starts in 1977. He was then moved up in distance and won his remaining three races: the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby, and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Alice Frances du Pont Mills was an American aviator, thoroughbred race horse breeder and owner, environmentalist, philanthropist and a member of the prominent du Pont family.
Gordon J. "Pete" McCann was a Canadian Thoroughbred horse trainer. He was born in East York, now part of the city of Toronto. Known to his family as Gordon, in racing circles he was nicknamed Pete.
Allaire du Pont was an American sportswoman and a member of the prominent French-American Du Pont family of chemical manufacturers who is most remembered as the owner of the Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame champion, Kelso.
Nearctic was a Canadian-bred Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse.
The E. P. Taylor Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares held annually since 1956 in October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is run on the E. P. Taylor turf course at a distance of 1+1⁄4 miles.
Northern Taste was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in France and who became one of the most successful and influential leading sires in Japanese racing history.
Canadian Champ (1953–1978) was a Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who in 1956 won the three races that became the Canadian Triple Crown Championship in 1959. Sired by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Windfields, he was out of the mare Bolesteo.
Swynford Stakes is a discontinued Canadian Thoroughbred horse race held annually from 1956 through 2016. It was first run at Greenwood Raceway as a race for horses aged three and older. In 1967 it was moved to Woodbine Racetrack where it was changed to a race for two-year-olds. It received Grade 3 status for 1999 and 2000.
Preston Morris Burch was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer, breeder, and owner.
La Lorgnette is a Canadian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.
Natalma was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse best known as the dam (mother) of the most important sire, and sire of sires, of the late 20th Century, Northern Dancer. She also established a highly influential female family, which has produced other leading sires Machiavellian and Danehill, plus numerous other stakes winners. Natalma was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2007.
Regal Embrace was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by E. P. Taylor and raced under the name of his Windfields Farm, he was out of the mare Close Embrace, a daughter of Nentego who was a son of Never Say Die, winner of the 1954 Epsom Derby and St. Leger Stakes. Regal Embrace was sired by Vice Regent, a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee and a son of Northern Dancer who is regarded as the 20th century’s best sire of sires.
Windfields (1943–1971) was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who was the first stakes race winner bred by E. P. Taylor and for whom he named his world-famous Windfields Farm.
William Francis du Pont Jr. was an English-born, American businessman and banker, and a prominent figure in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. He developed and designed more than 20 racing venues, including Fair Hill at his 5,000-acre estate in Maryland. A member of the Delaware Du Pont family, he was the son of William du Pont and Annie Rogers Zinn, and brother to Marion duPont Scott, a noted horsewoman and breeder.
Jane du Pont Lunger was an American heiress, philanthropist, and an owner/breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses. A sixth-generation member of Delaware's prominent Du Pont family, her father, Philip Francis du Pont, was a major benefactor to the University of Virginia.
Windfields Farm in Chesapeake City was Maryland's leading stud farm for Thoroughbred horses before it closed in 1988.