Ken Richards has played an important role in the growth of Quarter Horse racing in Ontario. Since the days of the old 'J' track at Picov Downs, Ken has worked with the Picov family and horsemen to advance the sport to the 21st centrury.
Now semi-retired from his years as operations manager at the new Ajax Downs, Ken still works at the track on racedays and attends regular managerial meetings.
Ken and his wife Lucy were avid Quafrter Horse owners at one time but it was a Standardbed, a pacing mare to be exact, who rates as the 'horse that changed his life.'
Empty Feeling brought fulfilment to Ken and Lucy's life in the mid 1990s.
"I bought her at auction for $40,000," said Ken about the daughter of the great racehorse and sire Abercrombie.
"She was the first horse that my wife and I raced and she did very well."
Owned in partership with three others, Empty Feeling was a stakes winner of 20 races and she eanred over $354,000 (US) while competing against tough pacing mares such as Alimony. She finished third as favourite in the 1994 Breeders' Crown for pacing mares to Shady Daisy,
"We sold her as a broodmare for $150,000," said Ken. Empty Feeling has gone on to be a top producer with several stakes calibre offspring including stakes winner Ponder.
With Empty Feeling and their small stable of Quarter Horses, Ken rememebrs that Lucy would enjoy greeting their starters before the races, touching them on the nose and giving them a message.
"She would always say, 'you are going to win today'. They often did when she did that, but not when I did," laughed Ken.
More For The Love of Racing