Sam-Son Farm

Last updated
Sam-Son Farm
Type Horse breeding farm and
Thoroughbred racing stable
Industry Horse racing
Founded1972 (as a racing stable)
FounderErnest L. Samuel
Headquarters Milton, Ontario, Canada
Key people
Website samsonfarm.com

Sam-Son Farm is a Thoroughbred horse racing stable with farms located in Milton, Ontario (Canada) and Ocala, Florida (U.S.). Established in the 1960s by Ernest L. "Ernie" Samuel, [1] it began as a home for competition hunter/jumper horses. One Sam-Son horse (Canadian Club) won the 1967 Pan-American Games Individual Jumping Gold Medal and was a member of the 1968 Team Gold Medal for Canada at the Mexico Olympics (ridden by Jim Day).

Sam-Son continued to send entries to international show jumping, dressage and three-day eventing events, including the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, and thereafter. In 1971, Sam-Son Farm became home to its first Thoroughbred race horse and officially entered racing in 1972.

Sam-Son Farm is a five-time winner of the Queen's Plate, Canada's most important horse race, and has won a record seven Woodbine Oaks. In 1991, the stable won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Owner after its horses established a new world record for race earnings.

Under trainers Jim Day and then Mark Frostad (who took over in 1995), Sam-Son Farm has won ten Sovereign Awards for outstanding owner and eight for outstanding breeder. The current trainer is Malcolm Pierce.

Some of their notable Thoroughbred racehorses include:

Sam-Son Farm has owned nine horses who were voted Canadian Horse of the Year honours: Dauphin Fabuleux (1984), Imperial Choice (1985), Ruling Angel (1985), Dance Smartly (1991), Chief Bearhart (1997-'98), Quiet Resolve (2000) and Soaring Free (2004), Up With The Birds (2013).

Sam-Son Grade 1 Stakes winner, Smart Strike, went on to even greater fame as a stallion. Standing at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, Smart Strike was twice honoured as North America's leading Thoroughbred Sire. Smart Strike died on March 25, 2015. At that time, he was already the sire of 113 stakes winners, 12 champions, four Breeders' Cup winners, and two Classic victors.

Following the death of Sam-Son Farm's founder in 2000, farm operations were taken over by his daughter Tammy Samuel-Balaz and lasting until her death from cancer in 2008, at age forty-seven. Management of the business was then transferred to her husband and brother, with Rick Balaz in the role of President and Mark Samuel as CEO. Ownership of Sam-Son Farm belongs to the Samuel-Balaz family, consisting of Rick Balaz, Mark Samuel, and Kim Samuel.

The business uses the farm in Milton, Ontario as a broodmare installation and maintains a training facility in Ocala, Florida. Both Ernie Samuel and Tammy Samuel-Balaz have been inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, as were Sam-Son trainers Day and Frostad. Nine Sam-Son horses have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Dance Smartly, No Class, Sky Classic, Chief Bearhart, Classy ’n Smart, Smart Strike, Wilderness Song, Dancethruthedawn and most recently, Soaring Free in 2013.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dance Smartly</span> Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Dance Smartly (1988–2007) was a Champion Thoroughbred racemare who went undefeated in 1991 while winning the Canadian Triple Crown and becoming the first horse bred in Canada to win a Breeders' Cup race. She was inducted into both the Canadian and American Racing Halls of Fame.

Miesque was a champion Thoroughbred racemare. At age three, she was a dual Classic winner in France and Britain, then went on to win the Breeders' Cup Mile in America. Her four-year-old campaign was highlighted by another win in the Mile, making her the first horse to win two consecutive Breeders' Cup races. She was a Group One/Grade I (G1) winner at two, three and four-years-old, for a total of 10 G1 wins. She was inducted into the American Racing Hall of Fame in 1999.

Chief Bearhart was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. A turf specialist, he won six Sovereign Awards and was voted American Champion Male Turf Horse for 1997.

Chief's Crown was an American-bred Thoroughbred race horse who won the 1984 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Two-Year-Old Male Horse. He later became a successful sire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stage Door Johnny</span> American Thoroughbred racehorse

Stage Door Johnny was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his win in the third leg of the 1968 U.S. Triple Crown series, the Belmont Stakes.

Smart Strike was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse. The son of the Champion sire, Mr. Prospector, and out of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame mare Classy 'n Smart, Smart Strike is a half-brother to 1991 Canadian Triple Crown champion Dance Smartly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blushing Groom</span> French Thoroughbred racehorse

Blushing Groom was a French champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.

Rahy was a Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in England and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raise a Native</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Raise a Native was an undefeated Thoroughbred racehorse that was named 1963 champion two-year-old colt in the Turf and Sport Digest poll and was the highest rated juvenile in the Experimental Free Handicap. He sired 74 stakes winners, including Majestic Prince and Alydar. In its 1988 obituary for the horse, The New York Times called him "the most influential sire of American Thoroughbred stallions over the last 20 years".

Serena's Song is an American Thoroughbred race horse. She won 17 graded stakes races, including 11 Grade I, in three seasons for $3,286,388 in earnings.

Soaring Free is a retired Canadian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.

Kris S. was an American Thoroughbred race horse who is best known as a highly successful sire.

Cozzene was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and outstanding sire. He was bred and raced by U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee John A. Nerud and trained by his son, Jan.

Classy 'n Smart was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by Sam-Son Farm, she won five of nine career starts, including two legs of what would later be known as the Canadian Triple Tiara. Although she was voted the 1984 Canadian Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, her primary legacy is as a champion broodmare.

No Class was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse.

Stacelita is a Thoroughbred racehorse who was a Classic winner while based in France and became an Eclipse Award winner when relocated to the United States.

Caro (1967–1989) was an Irish-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse.

Smarten was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and successful sire. Bred in Maryland by Jim and Eleanor Ryan and raced under their Ryehill Farm banner, he had a record of 27: 11-8-2 with career earnings of $716,426.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ogden Mills Phipps</span> American financier and racehorse owner

Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps was an American financier, Thoroughbred racehorse industry executive, and horse breeder. Widely known by the nickname "Dinny," he was chairman of the family's Bessemer Trust until retiring in 1994, and served as its vice chairman.

Intercontinental is a Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who competed in England, France, and the United States.

References

  1. ↑ Howe, Harold (2020-11-06). "End of Sam-Son Farm leaves a haunting, permanent void". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN   1189-9417 . Retrieved 2023-10-14.

43°29′34″N79°47′49″W / 43.49266°N 79.79684°W / 43.49266; -79.79684

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.