McKnight enjoying fast start to Woodbine meet

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Norm McKnight has gotten off to a hot start through the first six weeks of the Woodbine meet, with 10 wins from 28 starters. McKnight entered Friday’s card one win behind Mark Casse for the lead in Woodbine’s trainer standings.

McKnight, 59, said he has been surprised by his quick start to the season and credited his staff, including son and assistant trainer Brad McKnight, for the stable’s success.

“We do our due diligence when we take them over [to the track],” Norm McKnight said. “We like to make sure everything’s proper before they go over to the races. We try to get them in the right races where they’re going to be competitive and then hope for the best.”

McKnight has had a lot of early success with jockey Alan Garcia, who moved to Woodbine for the 2015 season. They have won seven of their first 13 starts together.

“We’ve always had a good relationship with [Garcia’s agent] Tony [Esposito],” McKnight said. “Tony called us early in the year and said he had Alan coming, and would we consider riding him? We figured we’d give him a shot. We’ve gotten off to a great start, so it’s made our relationship very good.”

McKnight has been around horses since childhood while growing up on his family’s farm in Alymer, Ontario. He began showing horses when he was 8 but quickly caught the racing bug four years later, when his father, Norm McKnight Sr., purchased his first Standardbred horse. By age 16, the younger McKnight had taken out his license to drive Standardbred racehorses, and he had a solid career, winning almost 1,500 races, including the 1991 Confederation Cup with Arcane Hanover at Flamboro Downs.

McKnight also trained Standardbred horses and had a string of 15 at Mohawk Racetrack when tragedy struck in 1992. He said he lost all but one of his horses in a barn fire that claimed a total of 69 horses.

“It kind of wiped me out,” McKnight said. “I lost everything.”

McKnight continued to drive for other owners, but the fire ultimately led him to Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine. McKnight began helping out trainer Rita Schnitzler with a horse named Steady Blonde, who steadily improved her form once McKnight got involved.

Lou Donato, an owner of Standardbred horses at the time, was looking to get into Thoroughbred racing and arranged a meeting with McKnight after taking notice of Steady Blonde’s improvement.

“He said he wanted to claim a Thoroughbred and asked if I would like to train it,” McKnight said. “I said I’d love to, but I really didn’t know anything about Thoroughbreds as far as dirt, turf, sprinting, and routes. It was all foreign to me. I approached Rita and asked if she wanted to start a partnership. She would be the trainer of record, and she could teach me the ins and outs of the business.”

Schnitzler eventually agreed to the partnership, and the trio claimed Hail Little Star for $16,000 in July 1992. From there, McKnight and Schnitzler’s Thorough-Stand Stable began to take off after Donato met Gino Molinaro.

“Gino had always wanted to get into the business, so Lou told him to buy half his horse,” McKnight said. “Lou became a stable manager for Gino, and from July to December, Gino had claimed 15 horses. I just got too busy and had to make a decision – Thoroughbreds or Standardbreds?”

McKnight chose Thoroughbreds, and the decision has paid off. The stable saw success with Dawson’s Legacy, who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and was named Canada’s champion 2-year-old male in 1997, and Kristy Krunch, who finished third in the 1996 Queen’s Plate.

McKnight eventually went off on his own in 1999 and took over the training duties of Dawson’s Legacy, who would score Grade 3 wins in the Play the King and Sky Classic handicaps in McKnight’s first full season as a Thoroughbred trainer. In all, McKnight has won 329 races, including 10 stakes.

Over the years, McKnight has trained for Sid Cooper of R.M.C. Stable, Steve Barbarino of SJB Stables, Brian O’Leary, and Tallyho Racing, a partnership made up of members of the Caledon Hunt Club. One of McKnight’s biggest clients is Bruno Schickedanz, who has 18 horses in training with McKnight.

McKnight has 26 horses at Woodbine and said he expects his stable to fill his 30-stall allotment at some point this season. He hopes his early success can carry on throughout the meet.

“That would be a lovely thing,” he said. “We’re going to remain optimistic.”