Life of Hall of Famer Larry Regan Celebrated

The Ontario horse racing community will celebrate the life of Larry Regan, a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee in the builder category who was active as an owner/breeder and instrumental in standing up for the rights of horsemen, at a gathering on Saturday.

Regan, who passed away at the age of 85 in July, won multiple stakes races, including one with homebred Road of War, a record-setter in 1994 at 1 1/16 miles on the grass at Fort Erie and subsequently sold for $600,000, which was a considerable sum sat the time. He also campaigned Fly Ash, a onetime track-record holder at a distance of 1 1/16 miles on the dirt at Woodbine.

Regan owned and operated a successful aggregate, general contracting and haulage business for 40 years. He was president of the Horsemen's Benevolent Protective Association of Ontario for 27 years and president of HBPA Canada for 12 years. The Jockey Club of Canada bestowed upon him the Man of the Year Award in 1987. Two years later, he was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

He was also a past director of the E.P. Taylor Research Fund, Avelino Gomez Foundation, Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society and Ontario Racing Commission Advisory Board.

“He was one of the most compassionate guys, despite his gruff appearance and personality and everything,” said Steve Klugman, who worked as the Ontario HBPA General Manager when Regan headed it. “There was never a more empathetic guy than him to the backstretch worker. He really understood it. He was always thinking on behalf of the horseman. I never saw anybody like it. He was well-respected for his efforts.”

Trainer/owner Conrad Cohen, who worked alongside Regan as V.P. of the Ontario HBPA, said Regan was instrumental in gaining horsemen a 50-50 split of the purse structure with the Ontario Jockey Club (now called Woodbine Entertainment Group) in the '80s. Previously, the OJC had a higher percentage of the purses. He also championed Cohen's push to legalize Lasix for race-day usage.

“With anything that was going on with racing, he was on top of every issue,” Cohen said. “He was a great guy to work with.”

Jim Whelan, who was the President of the Ontario Harness Horsemen's Association while Regan was President of the Ontario HBPA, said his Thoroughbred counterpart made significant contributions to horse racing.

“We worked very closely and he became a close personal friend,” Whelan said. “He was probably one of the most honorable guys I met in the industry. He was about sustaining horse racing and looking after the horse people and the horsemen. His biggest contribution was standing up for what was right in horse racing in North America, but especially in Ontario. It's just amazing the knowledge he had.”