Ontario Quarter Horse owner, breeder and trainer James Bogar said he owes some of his success at Ajax Downs to embryo transfers. Look no further than Queen Charlotte, the 2024 Ajax Downs Quarter Horse of the Year. She is the first of some 13 foals Bogar has produced via embryo transfer (ET) that have been officially registered in Ontario.
The procedure – in which an egg is harvested from a mare, inseminated and then inserted into a recipient mare to produce a foal – allows the Cameron, ON horseperson to breed and race at the same time.
Not only is Queen Charlotte the product of an embryo transfer, but she also had two of her own embryos transferred to recipient mares this winter. She will soon return to training for the 2025 Ajax Downs season, which begins on May 7. Bogar (
blue shirt / New Image Media photo) said his hope is that Queen Charlotte will produce two foals via recipient mares next year.
“First of all, you're not putting the mare at risk to carry a foal and any complications that can arise,” Bogar said when asked about the advantages of ET. “And [Queen Charlotte] should be able to race when she comes back. We'll be bringing her home I'm hoping this late this month, or sometime in April and she'll start training again. She’ll get off to a bit of a later start than the rest of them, because she's not in training right now.
“Embryo transfers are good, and the nice thing about it, too, is you can take your best mares, and you can have multiple breedings to your best mares [in the same year].”
The strategy is paying off.
Bogar and his team, which includes his wife Tina, walked away with seven trophies – including Queen Charlotte’s Horse of the Year award – at the Quarter Racing Owners of Ontario Inc.’s (QROOI)
2024 awards banquet last Saturday (March 8) at the Ajax Convention Centre.
“That's by far the best we've ever done – by far,” said Bogar, who was also named High Point Owner, Breeder and Owner/Trainer of the year. Bogar's 2024 purchase Hanover Hill Theresa won High Point Older Mare. He also took home trophies for being the runner-up to Bruce Lawrence as Trainer of the Year and for Queen Charlotte being a runner-up in the Aged Mare division.
Bogar said the highlight was, “definitely Horse of the Year. The awards that recognize individual horses, to me, are the most important.”
He said nights like Saturday make a major investment in Ontario breeding worthwhile.
“I spend a lot of money on breeding,” Bogar said. “Currently, I have 10 yearlings. It costs a lot to breed 10 horses.”
Bogar said it was particularly thrilling to be all-in on Queen Charlotte, from choosing her mating to raising, training and racing her.
“It's the most satisfying when you can be there right from the very beginning and you choose the stallion, you choose the mating,” Bogar said. “Then you foal out the baby, and you watch it grow, and you train it. it's a long process. Queen Charlotte did all this as a four-year-old.”
In 2024, the daughter of One Fabulous Eagle out of the champion Canadian mare Leanintoit, won the biggest race for older horses at Ajax Downs, the $50,000 Alex Picov Championship over males. That victory was her fourth consecutive win, which also included a victory in the $30,960 Princess Maturity. In total, Queen Charlotte won four of seven starts in 2024.
“She had a late start to the year due to an injury, and she is a little bit accident prone,” Bogar said. “So, I put her in a 110 [yard race]. But in her first race she was declared a non-starter because I think she was bad in the gates. And then her next race was a 110 and she's really not a short-distance horse. She hasn't figured out how to come out of the gates really fast. So, she didn't do well. From there, we ran her in longer races. I remember in one race she was last, and just in the last part of the race she caught up to everybody and passed them to win by a by a nose. And I thought, ‘She definitely likes the distance.’”
Bogar said her most impressive race was in the Princess Maturity.
“She came out with the group, and she wasn't lagging behind and was in touch with some other horses,” Bogar said. “As the race progressed, she pulled away. I thought that was her most impressive race of the year.”
That Queen Charlotte is out of Leanintoit, the last female Quarter Horse to be named Horse of the Year (2011), is a particular point of pride for Bogar, who didn’t purchase Leanintoit until after her racing career ended.
“And [Queen Charlotte has] two younger sisters that are both four now – Lady Alice and Relentless Betty,” Bogar said of the sisters that are also produced by ET. “I think they're going to be two to watch.”
All of which has provided a great escape for Bogar from the challenges of running his business, Cameron Steel.
“I just love the animal,” Bogar said. “They're a beautiful, magnificent animal. They all have their own personalities, and I just love being with them. It is a great distraction for me from work."
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