FEATURE: "Every horse is special. Every horse has a story to tell."

From his childhood days in Trinidad to his time as a racehorse owner and breeder, Mike Stone will tell you every horse – win, lose or never make it to the starting gate – has its own story to tell. It just so happens he has a few of his own.
 
October 26, 2014. The field of five fillies is on the racetrack, readying to vie for top honours in Woodbine’s $150,000 Fanfreluche Stakes, a six-furlong main track feature listed as race eight in the program.
 
Thousands of miles away on a trans-Atlantic cruise with Paul Mouttet, his best friend, the man with the unmistakable Trinidadian accent who was involved in breeding the bay named Green Doctor, owned by Mouttet, is hurriedly searching for somewhere to catch the race.
 
“Her father was The Green Monkey,” noted Stone, in reference to the horse that was sold as a two-year-old in 2006 for $16 million, going winless in three career starts, earning just over $10,000. “Paul and I went down to Ocala to buy a mare and bring her back to Canada. While we were there, they were offering a raffle ticket for a charity. The winner would get an offspring of The Green Monkey. We bought a ticket and sure enough, we won. And the next thing you know, here is his daughter, Green Doctor, in a stakes race.”  
 
He knows the young horse has a big shot in the Fanfreluche. The odds of him seeing her perhaps win the race are far higher than her 2-1 odds on the Toronto oval toteboard.
 
With post time drawing closer, Stone came up with a solution and a pre-emptive apology.
 
“Paul and I are on-board this ship and we need to find a way to see Green Doctor race,” said Stone. “I’ve never been to the winner’s circle for a stakes race. I went down to the ship’s library where all the computers were. I interrupted the librarian and said I needed to go on the computer and pull up this race at Woodbine. I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m going to make a lot of noise, just for two minutes only.’”
 
Surrounded by perfect strangers, many of whom had never seen a horse race, Stone’s voice grew louder and louder as Green Doctor, two lengths in front at the stretch call, was holding the lead under jockey Jesse Campbell.
 
Seconds later, the ship’s quietest room was anything but quiet.
 
“Everyone in the library gathered around – there were Canadians that were on the same cruise – and sure enough, she won. It was a great celebration.”


 
It’s been the biggest triumph of Stone’s horse racing career, one that dates back to 2005.
 
But, as quick as he is to laud Green Doctor for her game effort, Stone is just as fast to point out that every thoroughbred he has bred, owned, or ever known, is equally special.
 
“Any horse owner that tells you they don’t like to win is a liar,” he said with a laugh. “It’s about winning. For me, besides that, what I’ve grown to love is that there is a story behind every horse. That’s my philosophy. Just about every horse that I’ve known, that I’ve owned, there’s a little history on each one in my home. Good, bad, indifferent – there’s a story to tell for each one. It’s the reason why I enjoy owning horses and the reason I love being around them. They are wonderful.”
 
He’s felt that way since he was kid.
 
The first horses he was introduced to had already completed their on-track careers, thoroughbreds that had competed at various Trinidadian racetracks. They were still big, strong and graceful. While he didn’t know them by name, the young kid toiling under the hot Caribbean sun felt an immediate connection to the horses he worked alongside.
 
“My father used to work in the sugar industry in Trinidad, where I grew up with horses,” recalled Stone. “The sugar industry would get horses through the racing industry – ex-racehorses – to help with the work. So, that’s how I was introduced to them. I grew up riding a lot of horses and that’s where my first interest in them started.”
 
It was in 1972 when Stone moved to Canada, more specifically, Toronto. It would be decades, literally, before he would rekindle his bond with horses. But he knew that day would eventually come. And all it took was one question from Mouttet.
 
What do you think about the idea of going in on a horse together?
 
“He encouraged me to get involved,” said Stone. “He had horses in Florida and he had horses in Trinidad. He’s my best friend. He had bought horses to race at Woodbine and that’s how I ended up getting involved, by having a share in one of the horses. That was in 2005 and I’ve been in it ever since then as an owner and breeder.”
 
Not every horse of Stone’s has had a Green Doctor moment. But, many, like one by the name of Pitbull, bring the same wide smile to his face.


 
A son of Eclipse Award-winning Kitten’s Joy, the chestnut gelding had a modest career, a one-time winner from 13 starts, accompanied by a shade over $17,000 in purse earnings.
 
“When I bought him, I believe it was for around $13,000, this was just before Kitten’s Joy had hit it big as a sire,” recalled Stone. “He didn’t do very well on the track, but he was by far the best-looking horse I’ve ever owned.”
 
Stone, despite opposing viewpoints, wasn’t about to give up on Pitbull after five starts – a fourth was his best result - at Woodbine to launch his career.
 
After a fifth, third and second at Fort Erie, Pitbull got a shot on the border oval’s turf course, a surface perfectly suited for a Kitten’s Joy offspring.
 
Sent off at 9-5, Pitbull romped to a 4 ½-length score. The chart comment beside his name read: much the best.
 
For Stone, who owns National Hose (a distributor that supplies Industrial, Chemical and Hydraulic Hose and Fittings), it was as rewarding a victory as he had ever experienced.


 
“People had told me to give up on him,” he said. “They said, ‘He’ll never win a race.’ I thought that might be true, but I didn’t want to give up because of the story about him. So, we went to Fort Erie. I called the shots when it came to Pitbull. I let them know that people told me this horse wasn’t going to be a winner, but that I believed in him. To make a long story short, people came on board, even though they thought I was crazy. We made changes and each race he did better. It was wonderful to see him win.”
 
In four starts after that maiden victory on July 16, 2012, Pitbull’s best finish was a fourth in what would be his final race. Stone had one thing in mind: to make sure the horse had a dignified retirement.
 
“There was a nice lady I met in Fort Erie that had a farm in Quebec,” said Stone. “She used horses for shows and parades. I gave Pitbull to her. I wanted him to have a good home.” 
 
When the 2017 Ontario thoroughbred season gets out of the gates, Stone, whose biggest earner to date has been the mare Storming Place, will have a handful of horses – some listed in his name, others under Mouttet – ready to compete.


 
He takes great delight in knowing there will be more chances to walk to the winner’s circle. Most importantly, he’s thrilled at the thought of adding more stories to his collection.
 
And that alone makes Mike Stone a happy man.  

By Chris Lomon

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