Lynn Chouinard of Bar None Ranches dies at 75

Lynn Chouinard, owner of Bar None Ranches in Dewinton, Alberta, Canada, died Dec. 7 after a 12-year battle with cancer. He was 75.

An investment advisor by trade, Chouinard founded Bar None Ranches in the early 1980s, and developed it into one of western Canada’s leading racing and breeding operations over the next three decades.

Bar None Ranches is a perennial top owner and breeder in Alberta, having bred or raced Grade 3 winner Code Name Fred, stakes winners Silver Baubles and Fuhr Ore, and stakes-placed Gone in a Flash.

Chouinard, racing as Bar None Ranches, won 686 races since 2000 for earnings of $8,631,302. He added another 66 wins to his record with horses raced in partnership, most of them coming with Central City Stable. Their most successful runner together was multiple stakes winner Canaveral Leader.

Chouinard won meet titles at Northlands Park, Stampede Park, the Rocky Mountain Turf Club in Lethbridge, Evergreen Park, and at Century Downs’s inaugural meet this fall.

His accolades include the Ken Cohoe Trophy for Horseperson of the Year, awarded to him in 2005 for contributions to Alberta’s Thoroughbred industry.

Bar None Ranches also developed into a top stallion operation in the province, and stands Gayego and Schramsberg. The farm’s biggest recent success has been Gilded Time, who was Alberta’s leading sire by progeny earnings each year from 2009 to 2011. Gilded Time now resides on the farm as a pensioner.