Trainers step up fundraising efforts for victims of Ontario horse barn fire

Record-setting harness trainer Ron Burke had been busy jogging young horses all morning at a Florida track on Tuesday when he returned to the barn and encountered Canadian trainer Tom Durand.

“Have you seen this?” Durand asked of the fire at Classy Lane Stables near Puslinch, Ont., that had destroyed a barn, killed 43 horses and put about a dozen harness grooms and trainers out of work.  

The news hit Burke hard. The leading harness trainer in North America for the past seven seasons, Burke often races horses in Canada. He knew the trainers that had lost horses in the Barn 1 fire.

“Ben Wallace [who lost 17 horses in the fire] and us have bought and sold horses between us,” Burke said Wednesday. “Same with Roger Mayotte [who also lost horses].”

Brad Grant, the owner of Wallace trainee Apprentice Hanover, which died in the fire, also has horses with Burke, who immediately called the Canadian to ask him if he had lost any.

“I can’t imagine,” Burke said. “It’s just a horrible thing. And the other people in the small stables, I think it will be even harder for them. It’s an unbelievable feeling when you wake up and everything is gone.”

Burke has quickly stepped up to help rebuild Classy Lane, through a Meadowlands Raceway fundraising drive on Friday and Saturday night at the New Jersey track. Burke has pledged 2.5 per cent of his trainer earnings plus 5 per cent of the money earned by the stable on those two nights. Burke, based in Pennsylvania, set a trainer earnings record of $28.4-million in 2014.  

American trainers Julie and Andy Miller (a wife and husband team) have also pledged anything they earn on Saturday night at The Meadowlands to the fund. They are racing one horse, Up Up and Out, a favourite, on Saturday night.

“When we travel to Canada, we actually stay at Classy Lane,” Julie said. “We know Ben and Dan [Lagace]. It’s already a tragedy, but to know the people involved and the ramification of what happened to them, it’s hard. They are not just losing their livelihood, but your horses are like your kids. “

Meadowlands chairman Jeff Gural has donated $10,000 to start the fund. “This is every horseman’s absolute worst nightmare,” said Meadowlands general manager Jason Settlemoir.

Almost immediately, about three or four other fundraising plans popped up around the continent, said Bill O’Donnell, head of the Central Ontario Standardbred Association, which has just set up a GoFundMe campaign. O'Donnell, who wrote a personal cheque to start it off, said COSA thought it best to start one immediately, so that the money from the rest of them could be funnelled into one site. As of Wednesday afternoon, the campaign had raised $73,000.

COSA already has a benevolence fund, which will help the grooms out of work.

“We have to make sure they are okay, because they are living day to day,” O’Donnell said. “They are just like zombies walking around right now. They still come to work every morning. And you can’t expect them to go to work tomorrow. They became pretty attached to their horses.”

The Ontario Fire Marshall’s office has four members on site investigating the cause of the fire. The wiring in the barn had been inspected a few months ago for insurance purposes and was in working order, said facility owner James Millier.  

In 2014, the most recent year that statistics are available, the Ontario Fire Marshall’s office reported 150 barn fires, 45 per cent of them housing animals. Losses were estimated at $28.4-million.

Possible causes and ignition sources were mostly undetermined. The next most common cause was “mechanical or electrical failure.” The next most common ignition source was “electrical distribution equipment.”

Barn fires represent 4 per cent of dollar loss estimates in structure fires.