The sad and sudden news came a week before the Hambletonian and at first it was hard to fathom how one of the sport’s all-time leading trainers – Bob McIntosh – had passed at such a young age. The Hall of Famer had played an active role in this sport both training and breeding champions. Though many of the stars he raced came at an earlier point in his career, Bob had a knack for coming up with a homebred every year with the capacity to compete at the highest level. There are those who can tell more personal stories of the majority of Bob’s career with standardbreds based in Windsor and throughout the Province of Ontario, but my relationship with Bob first began as a bettor and follower of his horses at The Meadowlands in the early 80’s. By that time handicappers had seen a host of horsemen from the Michigan-Ontario border arrive at The Big M and prosper. The initial flow provided us with people like Ray Remmen and Greg Wright to flourish over the mile track. They paved the way for many more, with McIntosh’s arrival perhaps a bit more unique in that he came with a smaller set of horses that were ultra-consistent and won a high percentage of the time. It was that precision which was hard not to notice, as well as the capacity to take the lesser-bred or less expensive young horses to the highest level while defying the odds in the process. The near-$1 million winner Lustra’s Big Guy was the quintessential example to me of what Bob represented on the training side of the sport; a rather small gelded son of Big Towner that was blessed with high speed and determination that exceeded the expectations of his humble pedigree. Our paths had crossed on a number of occasions prior to 1985 as he began to make more appearances with horses at The Meadowlands and I became a regular columnist for this publication [Sports Eye]. It was that year when l first met the late Joe Gerrity Jr. At the time his Little Farm in Kinderhook, New York had a young stallion in Sundance Skipper and a small group of broodmares. More active in the thoroughbred business, Mr. Gerrity asked me for assistance in managing his breeding and racing stock on the standardbred side. At the time it was more about purchasing and culling breeding stock but there was a yearling colt on the farm that like Lustra’s Big Guy was kind of on the small side but at the same time had the quickness in the field that made dreamers out of all of us. Sunset Warrior, the 1986 upset winner in the Breeders Crown, was that colt. Mr. Gerrity had sent him to a veteran trainer to break as a yearling and the initial reports on his training were extremely encouraging. In May of 1986, I saw him train in South Florida and thought he could become a good New York Sire Stakes horse. It was then that I contacted Bob and asked if he had room in his stable for Sunset Warrior, without the certainty that his answer would be yes. While I could easily paint a rosy picture with the benefit of hindsight, the meeting and marriage of this relationship had more to do with a mutual respect for each other’s knowledge. Thankfully Mr. Gerrity accepted my recommendation and Sunset Warrior moved to Bob’s Windsor operation. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Though Bob gave good reviews of Sunset Warrior when he got settled, he was in no hurry to show him off with dazzling miles in training or for that matter when qualifying. That style and strategy would work well throughout his entire career. In the case of Sunset Warrior, it wasn’t until September of 1986 in the $78,712 Champlain Stakes at Greenwood Raceway that I would see firsthand what Bob had been hinting at for four months. Sunset Warrior made a breath-taking move in that race, circling the field on the backstretch and then just got run down by a quality colt in Rumpus Hanover that entered the event as a top horse from the Maritimes and showed it on this night. Bob and I spoke after the race with him eager to buy into the horse solely owned at the time by Mr. Gerrity. An arrangement was constructed with Bob purchasing 25 percent interest based on one price with a bonus required should Sunset Warrior capture the Breeders Crown. As he had been pragmatic prior to the Champlain, Bob charted a course that included a winning New York Sire Stakes race at Yonkers before ultimately making the decision to tackle the best in the November 14 Breeders Crown at Garden State Park, a $614,700 final that at the time was the richest in the young history of the championship series. In 1986 eliminations and finals were held on the same night and Sunset Warrior would be carefully raced from off the pace, closing sharply for third in his elimination. He would come back later that night and go wire-to-wire in the final, giving Bob and Mr. Gerrity their first Breeders Crown wins. It was a first of what would be many trips to the winner’s circle in the Breeders Crown for McIntosh, whose 16 wins rank him third behind Jimmy Takter and Ron Burke in the standings. What followed Sunset Warrior for Bob proved much larger in the scope of the sport as George Segal’s confidence in him would lead to the champion mare Delinquent Account teaming with Bob after she completed her sophomore season. Delinquent Account’s success gave Segal the confidence to make a key decision moving Artsplace, the world-champion Breeders Crown juvenile star of 1990, from Hall of Famer Gene Riegle to McIntosh for his 4-year-old season in 1992. Artsplace was dominant in 1990 but not so much as a sophomore and the move was made in hopes that the horse could be resurrected and become a more valued stallion. Under Bob’s training Artsplace would dominate like no other in 1992, winning all 16 of his races including another Breeders Crown, and earning Horse of the Year honors. Along the road of Bob’s life have been countless training titles and a long list of great horses that reached their full potential under his tutelage. To me though, I will always remember one Hambletonian Day where Bob wasn’t winning the trotting race but sending out a horse in the rich U. S. Pacing Championship. The homebred Thinking Out Loud to me showcased Bob’s enormous talent of quietly preparing a horse and then seeing them soar on the biggest stage. As a 3-year-old in 2012, Thinking Out Loud was in with what I consider one of the greatest generations of sophomore pacers, with Sweet Lou, A Rocknroll Dance, Warrawee Needy, Pet Rock and State Treasurer among the standouts. At the same time, horses like Heston Blue Chip and Bolt The Duer added incredible depth to the division. Thinking Out Loud would not be the star in that group but he would be the colt that won on the biggest stage when he captured the North America Cup with a ferocious rally for Randy Waples in June of that year. A year later, the 2013 Hambletonian had already been completed and The Meadowlands saved the $213,650 U.S. Pacing championship for its last race of the day. Thinking Out Loud had advanced to the final having finished fifth a week earlier in one of two elimination races, but he went to post as a 23-1 outsider in a field that included most of those top 3-year-olds from the previous year. It was an epic race for those fans that hadn’t left the track, with action from start to finish. While fans may have overlooked Thinking Out Loud, his driver John Campbell had not and managed to work out a perfect cover trip behind a contentious pace. In the stretch, Campbell got out of Thinking Out Loud the maximum performance that would catapult him to a 1:47 2/5 triumph. For me it was one of those epic moments that separated Bob as a horseman. In all the major races and some of the minor ones, Bob had a knack for showing up when he thought he could win and being in the money when he did. The sport has lost one of its all-time greats. Rest In Peace Bob McIntosh.