“Hello. My name is Santino Di Paola. The horse that changed my life? This isn’t an easy question to answer, as lots of horses have impacted my life. The one that I would have to say really had the most impact was a horse called Santino's Honour. We bought ‘Honour’ at the 2003 yearling sale. He was a little horse with a great build. The reason why he impacted my life the most out of all the incredible horses I have had the privilege to be around is because he was the horse that got me hooked on horse racing.
Honour was a fighter who was in the top-three 50 per cent of his racing career. He always tried in every race he was in. Being able to cheer him on as he would come down the lane gave me such a thrill. Honour loved to race. Seeing how competitive he was and how much he enjoyed training got me hooked. I think it is safe to say that he is the horse that changed my life and got me a lot more involved in the horse racing industry in Ontario.
My fondest memories of Honour away from the track are me being able to not only take care of him day to day, but to be able to ride the great horse who ran so hard. It's an incredible thing to sit on a horse that you once cheered on to victory on the racetrack.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Honour is (former Woodbine track announcer) Dan Loiselle's voice. I can remember almost every exciting call he gave Honour. My favourite call would be one of his wins when Danny says, "and it's still Santino's Honour hanging tough at the rail to win it.”
By Santino Di Paola
Photographer/videographer, thoroughbred owner, owner of the horse racing media site CHRTB (Canadian Horse Racing Thoroughbred) www.sdpchrtb.com
Photo of horse in paddock courtesy of Mr. Will Wong.
(c) Ontario Horse Racing 2015. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
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