“In September 2004, when I was 4 years old, I tagged along with my parents and our friend Ron Gierkink, to look at yearlings at the Woodbine sale. Our friend Bea (Elvin) Sloan, who used to be a jockey, came running up to my Dad and asked him to come look at a colt that she really liked, that Mr. John Carey bred. She said he would need a patient trainer to give him time to develop, and knew that’s how my Dad trained his horses. We went to see him, and my parents liked him, so we went in to bid on him.
My Dad was holding my left arm and lifting it to do the bidding. They set a limit of $3,000 for him and when the bid got there and it wasn’t ours, my Dad turned to my Mom to see if we should bid again. What my Dad didn’t see was the bid spotter who I’d been waving at, flash five fingers at me again. My right hand was free, so I just used that one to wave back, and after the initial shocked look on my parents’ faces when they realized it was my bid, they nodded to say it was ok, and I bought my first yearling.
My cousin Sara who always used to rhyme everything, called me, Douglas Buglas, which got shortened to Bug, and all of a sudden Bug’s Boy had a name.
Bea wasn’t kidding that he was going to need patience! He had one little setback after another, but showed my Dad that he had enough talent, that it was worth giving him the time to develop. He has a big, thick neck and looks just like his Dad, Crown Attorney. One of the problems he had was a pinched nerve in his neck, and my Dad who rode him in morning training and Simon Husbands, his jockey discovered, that in the stretch, when a rider started to scrub on his neck and hit him, he would put on the brakes, afraid it was going hurt.
They worked really hard to teach him, he could still run hard in the stretch and it wouldn’t hurt.
At 6 years old, he won his first race, and then two more after that. In 2011, when Bug’s Boy was 8 and I was 11, we decided to take a big chance and run him in the Halton Stakes in a 14-horse field, and he was No. 14.
All of a sudden, half way down the stretch Dan Loiselle, the announcer, caught sight of him picking up speed and his voice got so excited saying, “Bug’s Boy is closing like a freight train.” He won by ¾ of a length!
Mr. Roger Attfield was the very first person to shake my hand and congratulate me, and that was really exciting too…and he trained the favourite Society’s Chairman! My Dad won a credit at the yearling sale from this win, so we bought a filly, who we named Bug’s Girl! After that, I bought a broodmare and I have bred three foals.
My parents have always taught me how important it is to look after our horses after they retire from racing. Bug’s Boy lives with us on our farm and hangs with his friends Sophia’s Prince, Doug’s Legacy and Hopeful Moment and others, racing around their paddocks, just being horses. Sometimes we ride them around the farm, and sitting on Bug’s Boy for the first time was pretty amazing!
Bug’s Boy changed my life starting when I was really young and the fun story of buying him. He helped to build our house and has given me a great college fund, but mostly he was my special first horse!”
By Douglas LeBlanc, for Ontario Horse Racing
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