MISSISSAUGA, NOV. 13, 2001 — After years of hard work, Don McElroy has earned his first Lampman Cup as the top driver in the Ontario Sires Stakes program.
A mainstay in the Ontario Sires Stakes driver colony for the last five seasons, McElroy says a combination of dumb luck and effort landed him the honour this year.
“I’ve been in amongst the top drivers for a long time and this year it all came together,” says McElroy. “I didn’t really pursue it, it just fell in my lap, but I do think it is because of a lot of hard work other years, not just this year.”
The Lampman Cup has been awarded to the top driver in the Ontario Sires Stakes program since 1987. Named in honour of the late Ontario Jockey Club harness racing publicity director Jim Lampman, the award is based on the number of starts (1 pt.), wins (4 pts.), seconds (3 pts.) and thirds (2 pts.) each driver accumulates over the season in OSS events.
McElroy earned a total of 363 points driving in 131 Ontario Sires Stakes events and scoring 29 wins, 22 seconds and 25 thirds and $628,901 in earnings. Among the horses who benefited from his skill in the race bike were a trio of three-year-old Grassroots Champions, trotting filly Sweet Dreams Baby, trotting colt Hetties Valley and pacing colt Savor The Memory.
“I’m kind of thrilled about it to be honest. It takes a lot of hard work to travel to all those tracks and I’ve always thought I got along well with young horses so this is a feather in my cap,” says the 45-year-old horseman. “And I have to credit the people I drove for, they had some nice horses.”
Among the trainers who regularly named McElroy to their Ontario Sires Stakes starters was Bob McIntosh, who earned his second Johnston Cup award as the program’s top trainer.
As early as last winter the Windsor resident had an idea that 2001 would be a good season for his stable on the Ontario Sires Stakes circuit and time proved him right as he harnessed 138 starters and recorded 24 wins, 27 seconds and 24 thirds for a total of $994,863 in earnings.
“I knew coming into the spring that we had a nice bunch of Ontario-breds,” says McIntosh. “I concentrate more and more on the Ontario group every year and I breed quite a few of my own. I’ve raced all over the place and I think there is no Sires Stakes to compare with our own.”
The 49-year-old trainer captured his first Johnston Cup in 1994, the second year the award was presented in memory of The Canadian Sportsman publisher Bruce Johnston.
McIntosh is also a regular on Canada’s O’Brien Awards ballot for top trainer and is likely to appear there again this season with horses like Ontario-bred freshman pacing filly Lady Graceful supporting his nomination. The Camluck filly banked $200,396 in Ontario Sires Stakes action and an additional $323,969 in stakes events open to her North American peers.
McIntosh and McElroy will receive their awards at the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of Ontario annual awards banquet in Cambridge on Jan. 19.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT SANDRA SNYDER AT 519-656-2017 (TEL./FAX) OR smsnyder@sentex.net