(Dave Briggs Photo - Dave Wall (right), with fellow Hall of Famers Keith Waples (left) and Bill O'Donnell in 2015 at Clinton Raceway's Legends Day)
Had a horse named Piper Wall not come along, there’s a good chance the sport would have missed out on the man known as Mr. OSS.
Hall of Fame trainer/driver Dave Wall obtained his driver’s license at age 25, but struggled through his first few years on the track. In 1972, he caught his first break when his father gave him the first foal from Dina Wall. That Cruiser Herbert-sired foal was Piper Wall.
“He was the first good horse I had,” said Wall, a proud native of Kincardine, ON and a fan favorite on the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) circuit.
Piper Wall turned out to be a better-than-average racehorse that kept Wall in the game. Two years later, the OSS program was born and Wall made his mark on the sport.
The longtime Komoka, ON resident has won over 7,000 races and more than $60 million as driver. At age 69, the affable reinsman still drives and trains a stable.
“Another little horse I owned was Rock N Wave, a great little horse. He made a half-a-million when it was hard to make,” Wall said of the son of Perfect Wave—Rock N Brown that raced from in Ontario from 1976 to 1986. “ Piper Wall and Rock N Wave are my two favourites.”
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