With new meet under way, many will miss Todd and his passion for racing

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The 2022 Hastings meet got under way last Saturday with a large and enthusiastic crowd. For many in the industry, it was a day to remember the horseman Glen Todd, who died in late March. He was 75.

Todd’s love for horse racing began at an early age. His parents met at Hastings in 1939, and as a boy, Todd loved going to the races with his father. One of his first involvements with the industry was as a public handicapper as a teenager. After a close brush with death in 2006, he decided to get seriously involved as an owner.

“Horse racing is my passion and I have the money, so I am going to spend it on what I love to do,” he said at the time.

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With the late Troy Taylor, his best friend, as his trainer, Todd was the leading owner at Hastings six years in a row beginning in 2007. When Taylor became too ill to continue training in 2016, Todd started training his own horses and was the leading owner four straight years beginning in 2017. He raced under the stable name North American Thoroughbred Horse Company.

Todd won all the major races at Hastings as well as the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs with Taylor Said in 2012. Taylor Said was ridden by Mario Gutierrez, who was like an adopted son to Todd. Prior to his first Kentucky Derby win with I’ll Have Another, Gutierrez told Todd he was thinking about returning to Hastings after not having great success riding on the tough California circuit. Todd would have none of it.

“I told Mario he was as good as any rider there and to stick it out,” Todd said. “The rest is history.”

Todd was fully involved in every facet of the industry. As well as being an owner, breeder, trainer, and the Thoroughbred representative to the B.C. Horseracing Management Committee, he owned the Derby Bar and Grill, an offtrack betting facility near the U.S. border, and published a daily newsletter devoted to racing news. The Derby Bar and Grill is physically connected to Todd’s main businesses, Pacific Customs Brokers and ABC Customs Brokers, which he took over running from his parents in 1980. Todd treated his employees at Hastings well. He paid them top dollar and provided them with an extended medical and dental plan.

It is well documented Todd was prepared to loan the local industry $1 million to help keep the meet open last year.

“What a lot of people don’t know is that the last 10 years Glen contributed over $1 million of his own money to the stakes program at Hastings,” said Dave Milburn, president of the local Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “Glen was an icon. Larger than life. I can’t think of anyone that has contributed more to racing in British Columbia.”

Ole Nielsen of Canmor Farms will be taking Todd’s place as the representative to the B.C. Horse Racing Management Committee.

“I will do my best, but Glen will be sorely missed,” Nielsen said. “We are trying to organize a Glen Todd Day at the races and also working with Pacific Custom Brokers to fund a stakes race in his honor.”