Wise Dan, Casse among Canadian Hall of Fame inductees

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame added 10 members during the 2016 induction ceremony at the Mississauga Convention Centre on Wednesday night.

The Thoroughbred-racing inductees are Wise Dan, Dahlia, Mark Casse, Michael Colterjohn, and Daryl Wells Sr.

Wise Dan was North America’s Horse of the Year, champion older male, and champion turf male in 2012 and 2013. Among his 23 victories were back-to-back wins in both the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Woodbine Mile for owner Morton Fink and trainer Charlie LoPresti.

Nelson Bunker Hunt’s Dahlia captured the Canadian International in 1974, with the legendary Lester Piggot riding for trainer Maurice Zilber. She won Group 1 or Grade 1 stakes in five different countries.

Casse has won the Sovereign Award as Canada’s outstanding trainer seven times and has led the Woodbine trainer standings on 10 occasions. He has conditioned numerous Canadian champions, most notably Horses of the Year Lexie Lou and Catch a Glimpse.

Colterjohn was the president of Gardiner Farm during some of its most productive years in the 1990s and early 2000s. Following the sale of Gardiner Farm in 2008, he launched Paradox Farm with some partners, a group that bred 2014 Queen’s Plate winner Lexie Lou and the millionaire Pender Harbour.

Wells was the Ontario Jockey Club’s track announcer when Woodbine opened in 1956 and remained in that position until the mid-1980s. He called Northern Dancer’s Queen’s Plate triumph in 1964 and Secretariat’s last race, the 1973 Canadian International.

The Standardbred-racing inductees are the horses San Pail and Odies Fame, along with John Ferguson Sr., Yves Filion, and Bruce Johnston.