As interim executive director of Ontario Racing, John Snobelen oversees all three of the province’s racing breeds. He’s also a lifelong horse owner that was inducted into the National Reining Horse Association’s Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City in 1994. Ask Snobelen what horse changed his life and you could expect him to pick one from any breed.
Instead, he said the horse that rocked his world is arguably the greatest racehorse of all time.
“The horse that probably stays in my mind the most, the one that’s always there, is Secretariat. I saw Secretariat when I was a teenager and that refines greatness,” Snobelen said recently at The Raceway at The Western Fair District in London, ON.
On Oct. 28, 1973, a young Snobelen was one of the thousands that packed Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto to see Big Red race for the last time.
“I remember sneaking in to Woodbine. Don’t tell Woodbine that. It was crazy big. I was just a kid. I got to get up close to him — close enough to him to know that he’s one of those horses. I was between where they saddled them and brought them out,” Snobelen said, still a little starstruck to this day. “I stood out there by the fence early enough and got to see him up close.
“He was a nearly perfect horse, but the presence of that animal was unbelievable. He knew exactly who he was. That one just always sticks in my mind and I’ve had a chance to own some good horses. There’s lots of them that left an impression, but I think I’m stuck with Secretariat for life.”
(c) Ontario Horse Racing 2015. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
More For The Love of Racing