Victoria Park (horse)
Encyclopedia
Victoria Park 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...

 racehorse
Thoroughbred horse race
Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...

. A grandson of American Triple Crown
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...

 champion Gallant Fox
Gallant Fox
Gallant Fox was a United States Thoroughbred horseracing champion.Foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky by Sir Gallahad III out of the mare Marguerite, Gallant Fox was a bay colt who became the second horse to win the U.S...

, he was the first Canadian-bred horse to place in an American Triple Crown race. At age two, the colt won the Clarendon Stakes
Clarendon Stakes
The Clarendon Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Held in early July, the sprint race is open to two-year-old horses foaled in the Province of Ontario and is contested over a distance of five and a half furlongs on Polytrack synthetic...

 plus the two richest 2-year-old races in Canada, 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 Cup and Saucer Stakes
Cup and Saucer Stakes
The Cup and Saucer Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race held annually in October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Open to two-year-old horses foaled in Canada, it is currently run at a distance of 11/16 miles on turf. The race was known as Mrs...

, and was voted Canadian Champion 2-Yr-Old Colt
Sovereign Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Male Horse
The Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Coltis a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing honor. Created in 1975 by the Jockey Club of Canada, it is part of the Sovereign Awards program and is awarded annually to the top 2-Year-Old male Thoroughbred horse competing in Canada.Past winners: -References:*...

.

Victoria Park finished 3rd behind Venetian Way
Venetian Way
Venetian Way was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1960 Kentucky Derby. Bred in Kentucky by John W. Greathouse, he was purchased by Chicago, Illinois businessman Isaac Blumberg who raced him under the nom de course of Sunny Blue Farm.Venetian Way was trained by Victor...

 in the 1960 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...

. In the 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...

, he finished 2nd to Bally Ache
Bally Ache
Bally Ache was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won one of the American Classics in 1960 but died shortly afterwards. In her book American Classic Pedigrees , author Avalyn Hunter wrote that Bally Ache was "a crowd favorite" who "won hearts by his sheer determination."Bally Ache was bred by...

, whom he had beaten in the Leonard Richards Stakes while setting a new Hialeah Park track record. His owner bypassed the Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 to return for Canada's most important 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...

, which Victoria Park won in a record time that stood for more than forty years. He was voted 1960's Canadian Champion 3 Yr-Old Colt
Sovereign Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Male Horse
The Canadian Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing honor. Created in 1975 by the Jockey Club of Canada, it is part of the Sovereign Awards program and is awarded annually to the top 3-Year-Old male Thoroughbred horse competing in Canada.Past winners:...

 and Canadian Horse of the Year
Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year
The Canadian Horse of the Year is a thoroughbred horse racing honor given annually since 1951 by the Jockey Club of Canada. It is the most prestigious honor in Canadian thoroughbred horse racing....

.

As a sire

Retired to stud
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...

, Victoria Park sired 25 stakes winners, including three Queen's Plate winners: Almoner (1970), Kennedy Road
Kennedy Road (horse)
Kennedy Road was a Canadian Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who dominated Canadian racing for three years before going to success in California.-Background:He was bred by Canadian mining magnate Arthur W...

 (1971), and Victoria Song
Victoria Song
Song Qian , better known as Victoria Song or mononymously as Victoria was born February 2, 1987, is a Chinese singer, dancer and model, leader of the 5 member South Korean girl group f....

 (1972). He is the damsire of The Minstrel
The Minstrel
The Minstrel was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse in Great Britain and Ireland. His performances led to him becoming the Horse of the Year in the United Kingdom, Horse of the Year in Ireland and being inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.Foaled at E.P...

 as well as the damsire of Northern Taste
Northern Taste
Northern Taste was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in France and who became a legendary sire in Japan. Bred by E. P. Taylor at his Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Ontario, Northern Taste was out of the mare Lady Victoria, a daughter of Canadian Hall of Fame inductee, Victoria Park. ...

, who led the Japanese leading sires
Leading sire in Japan
The list below shows the leading Thoroughbred sire of racehorses in Japan for each year since 1924. This is determined by the amount of prizemoney won by the sire's progeny during the season.-----References:* -See also:* Leading sire in Australia...

 list for ten years, and topped the broodmare sires list a number of times.

On its formation in 1976, Victoria Park was inducted into 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....

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