Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52FOCUS - SEPTEMBER 2016 15 We humans are programmed to passionately pursue success in ath- letics, particularly at the elite level. Observers celebrate the gifted athletic trait frequently in print: “he hates to lose” and “he willed his team to win” commonly appear underneath sports section by-lines. The same characteristic – according to a man who would know – applies equally well to four-legged athletes. “Just like a competitive person, this horse had lots of heart. When he was racing, he didn’t like to lose,” says Port Perry’s Glenn Van Camp of San Pail. The horse, owned by Glenn and his wife Donna, was recently in- ducted in the Canadian Horseracing Hall of Fame. But San Pail’s rise to international fame was far from a straight line. In fact, his career was almost derailed before it truly got untracked. “We raised him. His sire hadn’t produced any offspring who were spectacular up to that point, so we offered San Pail for sale. He’d been kicked as a yearling and that left a bump on his hock. That blemish discouraged potential buyers, so we wound up keeping him to race.” San Pail was trained as a trotter. “Standard-bred race horses become either pacers or trotters,” Glenn ex- plains. “Both pull their drivers in a cart, called a sulky. But a pacer’s front and back legs move in tandem, where a trotter’s stride is close to a horse’s natural gait.” Spotting a diamond in the rough, Glenn says, is more good fortune than science. “Breeding, of course, is important when you’re evaluating a horse. But you’re looking them over as yearlings, before they reach their full potential, so spotting a gifted racer is a crapshoot.” AndthetalentSanPailwouldeven- tually show didn’t emerge quickly or immediately. “He didn’t start to produce on the track until he was a 3-year-old. That made him a late bloomer”. But just like human athletes, horses mature at different rates. “Each one responds differently. Some need to be pushed to become great, while with others, you don’t push them too hard. They’re all differ- ent and you don’t know what you’ve got until you put some races under his belt.” As a 3-year-old, San Pail did begin to show his true colours. The record he set in 2007 at Kawartha Downs still stands today. He’d go on to capture the presti- gious Maple Leaf Trot an astounding three years in a row (2009-2011). At the Breeders’ Crown, two horses were brought over from Europe to race against him – but again, San Pail prevailed. Ultimately, San Pail would be named Canadian Horse of the Year in 2011, earning over $1 million in purses. Equine Canada named him its Canadian-Bred Horse of the Year, the first standard-bred to be so honoured. Glenn offers a great deal of credit for San Pail’s tremendous success to his rider, Randy Waples. “We brought Randy in because we knew he was a professional driver. There’s a partnership between horse and rider which is really important for success. They develop a ‘feeling’ for each other: a great rider like Randy can feel out the horse to know how to handle him best, and the horse senses when his rider is confident. That kind of close communication makes them an effective team.” And of course the horse’s makeup plays an equal role. “Like I said, San Pail had lots of heart and wanted to win every race he entered. You could see that in the first Maple Leaf Trot he raced. He got passed but came back to win, and you don’t see that often. He was spectacular.” Understandably, Glenn and Donna are delighted with San Pail’s achieve- ments as well as his induction into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. But a more local honour is an equal source of pride. “He’s the first horse to be accepted into the Scugog Athletic Hall of Fame,” Glenn says. “He met all the criteria: born and raised in the county, and achieved international fame.” San Pail is not the first horse owned by the couple, or even the first to achieve success on the race track. But San Pail’s dazzling career, Glenn says, has been the ultimate owner- ship experience. “He was truly the horse of a lifetime.” From humble beginnings – the in- jured horse who remained in Scugog almost by accident – San Pail carved out a career which would be the envy of any human athlete. His resumé, after all, reads like a human hall of famer: he just refused to lose. By Scott Mercer, Focus on Scugog San Pail Races to Canadian Hall of Fame IRON HORSE PHOTO/ CANADIAN HORSE RACING HALL OF FAME Randy Waples finishes first with San Pail at the Maple Leaf Trot in 2011. Glenn and Donna Van Camp during the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Induction for San Pail, August 2016.