Businessman Ernie Samuel was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame long before he became a big shot on the Canadian horse racing scene. The key that opened the Hall of Fame’s door to the owner of Samuel and Son Steel Company (a long-time familiar business location at the intersection of Dixie Road and Queensway) during the inauguration year in 1975 was a horse named Canadian Club – one of the all-time outstanding show jumpers and a gold medal winner in the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City.

     As a businessman, Samuel makes sports his business in more than one way. For one thing, his firm has been a sponsor to teams in a wide range of minor sports in Mississauga. His thoroughbred racing stable has became the most successful in Canada. For several years until shortly after the 1976 Montreal Olympics, his stable also loomed large on the equestrian scene.

     In 1968, Jimmy Day (the same man who has become the key figure to the Sam-Son Farm’s thoroughbred successes) rode Canadian Club to victory in the Prix Des Nations Team competition. It was the only gold medal Canada won at the Mexico City Olympic games. Four years later, Day finished fourth in individual show jumping aboard the appropriately named Steelmaster in the Munich Olympics. In the Montreal Olympics in 1976, another Samuel owned horse, Simpatico (once again with Day in the saddle) was part of the Canadian team that finished fifth in the Prix Des nations.

     Samuel’s Sam-Son Farm had some big years in thoroughbred racing, none bigger than 1991. This was the year of a horse named Dance Smartly, regarded as the greatest since the legendary Northern Dancer. At home, Dance Smartly won Canada’s Triple Crown (Queen’s Plate, Prince of Wales Stakes and Breeders’ Stake). Then, for an exclamation mark, Dance Smartly also captured the Molson Million race. The filly, who led North America in earnings of nearly $2.9 million, capped an undefeated season with a win in the U.S. in the prestigious Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Sam-Son Farm led North America with earnings of nearly $7 million for the year.

    

     Samuel’s success was recognized when he was voted North America’s Owner of the Year for 1991 and Sam-Son Farm’s colour-bearer Dance Smartly was named the continent’s top 3-year-old filly at the 22^nd Eclipse Awards. “With a good plan and good people, it has all come together and I’m very proud of what we have done,” said Samuel after receiving the Eclipse Award.