The Horse Museum at The Beach

Looking again northeast at the beginning of Kingston Road from the old Woodbine (possibly Greenwood) raceway in the 80s, but maybe 70s.

Looking northeast from the old Woodbine racetrack in 1922...

On the way to the racetrack in 1922...

Walking along Queen Street East, just west of Coxwell, is Cam Fella Lane, and although there are no local memorials, statues, commemorative plaques or annual celebrations of either the horses or their riders (trainers or owners) dedicated to the old Woodbine Racetrack that once dominated life in The Beach for nearly a century, there is an occasional road or street, or in this case a lane, named after a famous horse who ran the track. As a 2 year-old in 1981, Cam Fella won thr...ee races and was sold for $140,000. He was a bay pacing horse yet, by the time he died in 2001, had earned the nickname "The Pacing Machine" in a career where he became the richest standardbred of all-time. As a 3 year-old, Cam Fella was named Harness Horse of the Year in both Canada and the United States for 28 wins in a season where he started 33 times. By the end of the 1983, as a 4 year-old, Cam Fella had won 30 of 36 starts and was again voted Harness Horse of the Year. His final start came at our very own Greenwood Raceway in December, which was his 28th consecutive win. The following year he began a new and equally illustrious career, as a stud, eventually siring 1,002 foals who collectively earned their owners $106.7m in prize money. Many of his champion offspring have been inducted into the Living Hall of Fame or elected as Hall of Fame Immortals. Sadly, Cam Fella's stud career ended in 1997 when the stallion was gelded as a result of testicular cancer, but he was then proudly taken on a tour of numerous racetracks to raise money for charity. Cam Fella, aka The People’s Horse, was legendary in racing circles and was Canada’s standardbred equivalent to thoroughbred’s Northern Dancer. To ensure that Cam Fella’s unparalleled contributions to the sport are never forgotten, Standardbred Canada established The Cam Fella Award to recognize extreme effort and dedication to Canadian harness racing by an individual or group.

The history of horse racing in Canada would not be complete without a rendition of the history of the annual running of the Queen's Plate, aka The Gallop for the Guineas, established during the reign of Queen Victoria, and which included royal visits to Woodbine on several occasions, including King George VI first among our ruling monarchs in 1939. http://www.queensplate.com/Pages/History-of-Queen-Plate.aspx