Golden West Farms was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 stable and breeding

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 farm at Okotoks, Alberta

Okotoks, Alberta

Okotoks is a town situated on the Sheep River, south of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The town is a member of the Calgary Regional Partnership, a cooperative of communities within the Calgary Region. Okotoks has become a popular bedroom community for the City of Calgary...

 owned by Frank McMahon

Frank M. McMahon

Frank Murray Patrick McMahon was a Canadian businessman best known as the founder and first chairman of Westcoast Transmission Co. Ltd...

 and Max Bell

Max Bell

George Maxwell "Max" Bell was a Canadian newspaper publisher, race horse owner and philanthropist. He was best known as the co-founder of FP Publications, Canada's largest newspaper syndicate in the 1960s. He built his newspaper empire after inheriting the Calgary Albertan, and its $500,000 debt,...

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Both partners were successful businessmen who invested in Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorses. Frank McMahon most notably owned U.S. Racing Hall of Fame

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 colt Majestic Prince

Majestic Prince

Majestic Prince was a Thoroughbred racehorse purchased by Calgary, Alberta oilman Frank McMahon at the Keeneland yearling sale in September 1967 for a then record price of $250,000...

, winner of the 1969 Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 and Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

. Max Bell owned successful horses including the colt Meadow Court

Meadow Court

Meadow Court was a British Thoroughbred racehorse.-Background:He was bred by the American heiress Elisabeth Ireland Poe who owned Shawnee Farm in Harrodsburg, Kentucky as well as a racing and breeding operation in Ireland. Meadow Court was sired by Court Harwell, and out of the mare Meadow Music...

 in a partnership with friend, Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

. Meadow Court raced in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 where he won the 1965 Irish Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

According to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and thoroughbred horse racing in Canada....

, Golden West Farms was "by far the most elaborate thoroughbred breeding farm between Ontario and British Columbia". The operation campaigned at race tracks across Canada. In 1967 their horse Gilmore won the Canadian Derby

Canadian Derby

The Canadian Derby is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Northlands Park in Edmonton, Alberta. A Grade III event held near the end of August, it is open to thee-year-old horses and is raced on dirt over a distance of one and three-eights miles...

 at Edmonton's Northlands Park

Northlands Park

Northlands Park is the "Alberta A circuit" horse racing track at Northlands in Edmonton, Alberta. The horse racing season generally consists of a spring harness meet from February/March, a Thoroughbred meet from May/June to September/October and a fall harness meet to mid-December. Northlands Park...

. Trainer Roy Johnson campaigned horses for Golden West Farms at Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack is a Canadian racetrack for Thoroughbred horse races located at 555 Rexdale Blvd. in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is the only horseracing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horseracing programs on the same day...

 during the 1960s where they won numerous stakes races including the Coronation Futurity Stakes

Coronation Futurity Stakes

The Coronation Futurity Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old horses foaled in Canada. It is run annually in early November at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario at a distance of 1 1/8 miles on dirt...

 and the 1968 Plate Trial Stakes

Plate Trial Stakes

The Plate Trial Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred flat horserace for three-Year-Olds, foaled in Canada run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario...

 then Canada's most prestigious horse race, the Queen's Plate

Queen's Plate

The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...

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The partnership was dissolved on the death of Max Bell in 1972.