Horse community comes together to honour victims of tragic stable fire

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It was just after 12 a.m. on Tuesday morning when Bill O’Donnell, president of the Central Ontario Standardbred Association, received the call at his home in Guelph, Ont.

Ben Wallace, a horse trainer at Classy Lane Stables, said “we lost everything.”

O’Donnell had no idea what he was talking about.

“Barn fire,” Wallace said.

O’Donnell drove to the familiar stable where he owns a horse, and arrived to see the fire in full force. He remembers there was a lot of smoke and everyone was there watching. There was nothing they could do.

“Your heart sinks when you see something like that,” he said. “It is just devastating … those poor horses.”

Forty-three horses died in the devastating fire that night at the stable located in Puslinch, a community that is united by their love of horses.

“These people spend 24 hours a day with these horse seven days a week, they all have personalities,” he said. “It’s tough on them when you work with them every day.”

Classy Lane Stables is a training centre for harness racing and is home to high-end racehorses. The barn was one of five at the stables and crews were able to save the other four buildings.

The morning after the fire, O’Donnell wanted to create a way to raise money to help the trainers get back on their feet. O’Donnell, along with his colleagues at the Central Ontario Standardbred Association, started a GoFundMe page knowing people would recognize and trust their name.

In just two days, the GoFundMe campaign has raised over $118,000, surpassing their original goal of $100,000.

“The horse people really step up when they have to,” said O’Donnell.

Word spread rapidly, and people started coming to the COSA office to drop off cheques and cash.

O’Donnell added that there is a lot of pride involved in the horse community.

He said that Woodbine Racetrack has already pledged $10,000, the Ontario House Racing Industry Association pledged $10,000 and Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protection Association of Ontario pledged $5,000.

Many people have been giving donations anonymously as well.

O’Donnell said that he is working on getting a board together to help, and has called on some people who have had to deal with a similar incident: In 1992 a barn fire took the lives of 69 horses at the Mohawk Racetrack.

“There is a history here because of a fire in the past at Mohawk,” O’Donnell said.

The money raised will be going towards the seven employees of the stable to look after them and get them back on their feet.

O’Donnell hadn’t been to the stable today as he was getting ready for the tribute tonight at Woodbine Racetrack, which feature a short video with the names of the horses and a moment of silence.

O’Donnell said the tribute offers people clarity.

“I think it (tonight) is a good thing,” he said. “People are grieving and we’ve been getting lots of calls about the horses and people who trained them.”

A bus was organized to bring people from Peterborough to the memorial, something that didn’t surprise O’Donnell in the least.

“A lot of those people race over here,” he said. “Everyone knows everyone; it is a small community. We race over there [Peterborough], they race over here, we go all over the province together.”

When he was at the farm yesterday he said the Ontario Provincial Police offered their victims services unit to talk with the trainers and said they had organized time for them to talk together today.

O’Donnell said the money is secondary; it is more important how the community has stepped up and come together.

“I’ve been in this business my whole life I am not surprised I’ve seen it happen time and time again with people.”

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