ELORA, ON — Ross Henry, patriarch of the Henry Stable, is passing the torch. After 40 years in the harness racing business, Henry has announced that he will be retiring from training duties at the end of this year.
Grand River Raceway will pay tribute to Henry with a special race named in his honour on October 21.
The 76-year-old horseman has had a marked impact on both local and provincial racing. While leading the large family operation to the top of the Ontario Sires Stakes circuit, he has established the stable as a premiere developer of two and three-year-olds. The Henry name continues to dominate trainer and driver standings at several B-tracks throughout the province.
Henry has won the Ontario Sires Stakes’ Johnston Cup (awarded annually to the top point-earning trainer) four times since the award’s inception in 1993. He is poised to close out his career with a fifth Cup, as he leads comfortably in the standings by 50 points.
Each of Ross & Joyce Henry’s five sons are active, and accomplished, drivers and trainers. Sons Trevor and Wayne — the remaining two-thirds of the Henry Stable — will reportedly take over the Arthur, ON operation, which currently stables 45 horses.
Ross Henry, a Saskatchewan native, has lived on the family farm in Arthur, ON since he was two. He became involved in harness racing in 1965, training and co-owning two horses purchased from Earl Rowe. He won his first OSS race during the first year of the program in 1974, when two-year-old March Marian paced to victory in 2:09 at Woodstock Raceway.
The Henry Stable has bred and developed a number of outstanding starters over the years, including: Royal Ambition (eight-time OSS winner); Independent Lassie (1999 OSS divisional champ); Independent Woman (top freshman OSS trotting filly in 2002 and winner of $250,000) and Odee Gal ($136,996), to name a few. Other notables from over the decades include: Wheely Dal ($122,382), Your Imagination ($159,122), and �70s starters Speedy Tatler, and Margie Arms.
Post time for Grand River Raceway’s October 21 card, featuring the $15,000 Ross Henry Retirement Trot, is 7:25 pm.