TORONTO, April 25 – Veteran rider Justin Stein, a winner of 1,027 career races including the 2012 Queen’s Plate with Strait of Dover (
pictured), has announced he will retire from riding following the Sunday, May 1 card at Woodbine.
The 36-year-old native of New Westminster, B.C., has decided to hang up his tack to spend more time with his family and will be moving with his wife Renee and their four young children, Owen, Jeremy, Elias and Gavin, to a spacious 160 acre property located just outside of Kamloops, B.C.
“I’m going to miss riding races. I’ll miss the horses and the people. It’s a perfect job, really. Not too many people get to go to work everyday and be this happy,” said Stein. “It’s time to move on. I hate to say I’ll never be back, you never know. The timing is right. No matter what, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished here at Woodbine.”
His accomplishments are plentiful. Stein launched his career in 2004 at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver and notched his first win with Mayne Stating in a $7,000 claiming event.
He was the runaway leading rider at Hastings in 2005 with 148 victories and following the campaign he moved his tack east and won an additional 13 races from 97 mounts at Woodbine.
In 2012, Stein wove his name into the fabric of Canadian racing when he guided Strait of Dover, trained by Dan Vella, to a powerful front-running score in the 153rd edition of The Queen’s Plate.
Tragically, the Plate was the last race for the Canyon Farms homebred, as the English Channel colt, who took Sovereign Award honours as champion three-year-old male, was euthanized after complications following surgery for a twisted colon.
“It was devastating. He was a special horse,” recalled Stein. “Strait of Dover had a true racehorse heart. He knew how to win. He was getting better and better with every start."
The popular rider, known as ‘Wee Man’ in the jock’s room, has 60 stakes wins to his credit, 16 of which came in graded events including a Grade I win in the 2013 edition of the Nearctic Stakes with Phil’s Dream; a Grade II win aboard Alpha Bettor in the 2013 running of the Eclipse Stakes; and a pair of Grade III scores last season aboard Woodbine Oaks winning filly Academic in the Canadian Derby at Northlands Park and the B.C. Derby at Hastings.
“Winning the B.C. Derby was very special,” said Stein. “I almost won it back in 2006 with Head Chopper, but I dropped my stick and we got beat a nose. That always haunted me and going back home with Academic was a chance at redemption.”
In June, Stein guided Academic, trained by Reade Baker for owner Bear Stables Ltd., to a track-record setting win in the Woodbine Oaks, presented by Budweiser, at odds of 66-1.
After a flat performance in the Queen’s Plate, Academic bounced back when shipped to Northlands Park, under the temporary care of trainer Tim Rycroft, to dust the boys by eight lengths with a prominent performance in the $200,000 Canadian Derby.
However, in the B.C. Derby, Stein and Academic found themselves in an unfamiliar stalking position on the Hastings bullring. The pacesetter, Bluegrass Angus, opened up a 3½-length lead at the top of the short stretch as Stein and Academic waited for racing room.
“I didn’t think we were going to get up. It took her so long to get her legs,” recalled Stein. “The dirt kept hitting her in the face, but she just took off at the sixteenth pole, ran right up the fence, and showed that she was a really good horse. She’s so versatile to be able to run on different tracks, and against the boys, using different running styles.”
Academic earned Sovereign Award honours as the nation’s outstanding three-year-old filly for her efforts.
Stein was also the regular partner of 2013 Sovereign Award winning sprinter Phil’s Dream. The Paul Buttigieg homebred, a dark bay son of Philanthropist, proved to be as tenacious as his rider winning 11 times, while finishing in the top three in 22 of 24 career starts. The pair combined to win the grassy Grade I Nearctic Stakes with a rallying effort in 2013.
“I got to ride Phil’s Dream one more time in the morning. He was going to run in the New Providence Stakes (April 23) but had a setback. I’m just happy I got to sit on him one last time,” said Stein. “We made a lot of money together. He’s just a very good horse. He could win from anywhere. Grass or synthetic, seven furlongs or shorter, he is just an ultra talented horse.”
Stein also enjoyed great success with trainer Ian Black, in particular with the chestnut geldings Fifty Proof and Stormy Lord.
“I took the biggest horse in the barn, Fifty Proof, and put the smallest jock in the room on him,” smiled Black of the strapping 17-hands tall Fifty Proof.
Stein and Fifty Proof combined to win seven races including the Grade III Eclipse Stakes. In 2010, the duo won a pair of allowance events to set up a second-place run in the Grade I Northern Dancer when just a ½-length short of Redwood. Following a fifth-place run in the Grade I Canadian International, defeated less than two lengths by Joshua Tree, Fifty Proof was invited to race in the Japan Cup.
“Justin is a very strong and capable rider. He always rode my horses well. If the horse was good enough, Justin would win on it,” said Black.
Stein cites Black as a positive role model.
“Ian was instrumental in my career as far as putting me on my first good horses, like Fifty Proof,” said Stein. “He always said what he thought to me and I respected him for that. He taught me a lot about the racetrack and about life.”
The respect between trainer and rider is mutual.
“I respect Justin that; for him, it was family first and then racing,” noted Black.
There’s little doubt that Stormy Lord is the rider’s favourite horse. The Stormy Atlantic chestnut, bred in Ontario by Kinghaven Farms, won 10 of 34 starts, including four with Stein at the helm, while banking in excess of $1.2-million.
A victory in the 2011 Labeeb Stakes, following a strenuous stretch run with rival Hollinger, stands out.
“He beat Hollinger here in the flat mile. He just dug in,” recalled Stein. “Hollinger kept bashing into Stormy’s hip with his shoulder, but he dug in and beat him by half a length.”
When Stormy Lord retired in 2013, Stein made arrangements to adopt the chestnut permanently and built a paddock for the millionaire racehorse, and his pony companion Lightning, in the front yard of his 2.5 acre Caledon farm.
“We have a lot of history Stormy and I. He’s a special animal. I love to go out and look at him and take him for trail rides,” said Stein. “He’s hard to catch without the halter. He won’t let me catch him. I always have to catch the pony first.”
Stormy Lord will be part of a menagerie of animals shipping west to Vancouver with the Stein family including four rabbits, three dogs, three chickens and a pig.
“I’m really excited for Stormy to experience this new life and I can’t wait to show him off to all my family out there and the people I grew up with,” said Stein. “He’s gorgeous. Everyone thinks their horse is gorgeous, but next to him they’ll all look like scrubby little ponies.”
An avid outdoorsman and handyman with a knack for farming, Stein and his family will take up goat farming on their new property and will look to live off the land while enjoying a simpler life with a focus on family first.
“We’ll be living in a forest up in the mountains. It’s beautiful. The winding road to our property goes high up into the mountains and there’s lots of wildlife and lakes to fish in. We’re going to be self-sufficient,” said Stein. “It’s a big thing right now. People are moving off the grid. We won’t have any debt and barely any bills.”
He looks forward to the challenges his young family will face on their new adventure.
“I’ve always enjoyed learning new things and this is a chance to teach my kids a new way of life,” said Stein. “We’re a pretty traditional family. We sit down together for lunch and dinner. The boys like to go hiking with me. They’re always with Renee and I, the boys like to be with their mom and dad.”
Following a season that included his 1000th career win with the filly Battle Castle, parting ways with his friends in Ontario will be difficult.
“There are so many people to thank. Paul Buttigieg, Mark Fournier and Sammy DiPasquale have put me on a lot of winners,” said Stein. “There are so many people that have helped me along the way. I know I can’t list them all, but I hope they know who they are and how much they have meant to me and my family.”
And while saying goodbye is hard, Stein will walk away from Woodbine on Sunday with his head held high.
“I’m glad I’m retiring at a good point of my career and not just fading out. It feels good,” said Stein.
WEG Media Office.
Photo courtesy of Michael Burns Photography.
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