A few days after Ontario-sired Crack Shot stormed to victory on May 17 at Woodbine Mohawk Park in the $126,912 SBOA final for sophomore pacing colts, and just hours before leaving with his team for the Memorial Cup in Rimouski, QC, London Knights' coach Dale Hunter was marveling about the power of karma and how he came to have the good fortune to own a piece of such a talented horse.
It was his father’s dying wish.
Dale has owned bits and pieces of mostly modest Standardbreds for much of his adult life but has never had a horse with the talent of Crack Shot.
“We would always buy horses for $20,000, $30,000, in that range,” Hunter said. “But before my dad passed away, he said, ‘I left you a lot of money, go buy a decent horse.’”
That horse was Crack Shot, a royally-bred son of Bettors Delight out of Beautyonthebeach that sold for $205,000 (U.S.) at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale exactly 21 days after Dick Hunter died on Sept. 12, 2023 at the age of 87.
Beautyonthebeach earned over $540,000 on the track and she is out of a mare, Precious Beauty, who earned more than $800,000 herself. Beyond Beautyonthebeach, Precious Beauty also produced 2020 U.S. Horse of the Year Tall Dark Stranger, an Ontario-sired superstar and Pepsi North America Cup winner, who earned over $2 million at the races before moving on to a stallion career.
Crack Shot won both the $300,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold Super Final and $75,000 OSS Grassroots Championship as a 2-year-old in 2024. He was the
first horse to ever accomplish that feat. He is currently ranked fifth in the
Road to the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup to be contested on June 14 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
That Dale Hunter ended up owning a piece of Crack Shot with the colt’s trainer, Gregg McNair of Guelph, ON, Frank Brundle of Orangeville, ON and George Kerr of Gowanstown, ON, is a lifetime in the making.
While Dick was the patriarch of a Canadian hockey dynasty raised in Petrolia, ON – all four of his sons played Major Junior A hockey and three of them, including Dale, played in the NHL – he was also a lifetime lover of horses. Often, a few Standardbreds owned by friends were turned out at the Hunter family farm. Most weekends in the summer, Dick took the family to the races at Dresden Raceway.
“That was our big outing,” Dale said.
Dale said he can only imagine how proud Dick is to see the Knights – co-owned by Dale’s brother Mark – win their second-straight Ontario Hockey League (OHL) championship, followed just two days later by Crack Shot’s lifetime best 1:51 victory at Woodbine Mohawk Park at the hands of driver Doug McNair.
“It was awesome,” Dale said. “We have a very good team, and now we get to go to the Memorial Cup. Then for Crack Shot to win like that, I was [at Woodbine Mohawk Park] with some friends and it worked out really well. I can't be happier.
“Dicky will be smiling down watching Crack Shot race right now, absolutely.”
Crack Shot, bred by Jim Avritt, Sr., is now a perfect two-for-two in 2025 and sports a record of 7-0-1 in 10 career starts with lifetime earnings of $313,781.
In 1,407 NHL games over 19 seasons between 1980 and 1999 with the Quebec Nordiques, Washington Capitals and Colorado Avalanche, Dale scored 323 goals, had 697 assists, 1,020 points and 3,565 penalty minutes, which still ranks second all-time behind only Dave Williams’ 3,971 minutes. Dale is the only player in league history to have more than 1,000 points and over 3,000 penalty minutes.
As coach of the Knights, Dale has won five OHL titles and led the team to the Memorial Cup championship in both 2005 and 2016. He is only the second coach in Canadian Hockey League history to have more than 1,000 wins to his credit.
Now, he has a serious shot to win Canada’s richest race for sophomore pacers. But Dale said whether Crack Shot will be entered in the $1 million race is up to Gregg McNair.
“He’s the trainer / coach,” Dale said. “I leave it up to him.”
In the meantime, Dale said he’s just enjoying the ride. He said what he loves about horses is the same thing he loves about hockey.
“It’s the thrill of victory,” he said. “It's like playing hockey, or coaching hockey, you don't know what's going to happen. That's what makes hockey and horse racing and sports in general something you want to watch and be a part of.”
In both sports, divine karma can play a significant role. When the two intertwine, well, you don’t bet against that.
(CUTLINE: New Image Media photo of Ontario-sired Crack Shot (Doug McNair) winning the $126,912 SBOA final for 3-year-old pacing colts on Saturday (May 17) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.)
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