Gil Rowntree, 1997 Thoroughbred Trainer inductee into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, passed away May 24 at the age of 92.
Rowntree's training achievements include a Sovereign Award as Canada's Outstanding Trainer in 1975. That same year his client, Stafford Farm received the Sovereign for Outstanding owner, the inaugural year the Sovereign Award for either trainer or owner was presented.
Rowntree and Stafford Farm were victorious three times in the Queen's Plate with Royal Chocolate (1973), Amber Herod (1974) and Sound Reason (1977), all with Rowntree's close friend and future fellow Hall of Fame member, jockey Robin Platts, in the irons.
In 1984 Rowntree captured the 125th running of Canada's Classic with Key to the Moon for Bahnam Yousif's BKY Stables.
While Overskate, the horse often considered the best ever trained by Rowntree, missed out on winning the Plate by a short neck, he went on to a brilliant career, twice being named Horse of the Year and accumulating a record nine Sovereign Awards.
Rowntree also developed Canadian champions Ten Gold Pots, Deceit Dancer, Allan Blue, Key to the Moon and Sound Reason. One of his best fillies was Tudor Queen, a stakes winner in the U.S., and the colt Ambassador B. In 1973 his Stafford Farms' entry of Tara Road, Good Port and Royal Chocolate swept the board in finishing one-two-three in the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, the second jewel in Canada's Triple Crown.
The native of Toronto had a brief career as a jockey, working for trainer Art Halliwell, initially as a hot walker and groom. When he became too big for the saddle he became a jockey's valet. He honed his training skills while working as an assistant to another future fellow Hall of Fame trainer Lou Cavalaris Jr., and went to work for Stafford Farms in 1967. Rowntree's career, which concluded in 2012, included 1,036 wins and $17,574,804 US in purse earnings.
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