Thoroughbred Horse Racing
A longtime thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast, Bell met future jockey Johnny Longden as a young man in Calgary, and later bought a horse from Longden, Mac Aurelius, whose victory in a Regina claiming race fueled Bell's interest in the sport. He invested in several ranches and was at least part-owner in three race tracks, including Balmoral Park, where he was the track's first Canadian president.
Bell partnered with Frank McMahon to form Golden West Farms near Okotoks, Alberta, and the pair joined with Vance Longden and Wilder Ripley in 1952 to form Alberta Ranches, Ltd., which raced in California. The stables won numerous races throughout North America, as well as England and Ireland. Among Bell and McMahon's biggest successes was Four-and-Twenty, whose victories included the 1961 Santa Anita Derby, and the Hollywood Derby.
Among his biggest victories, Bell won the 1965 Irish Derby with the colt Meadow Court, whom he had sold one-third shares of ownership to McMahon and Bing Crosby just prior to the race. Meadow Court then won two more races before being retired to stud following the season. The horse, purchased by Bell for $9,000 won over $280,000 in purses before being sold for over $1.2 million. He and McMahon won the 1968 Queen's Plate with Merger.
Max Bell was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1977.
Read more about this topic: Max Bell
Famous quotes containing the words thoroughbred, horse and/or racing:
“A thoroughbred business man cannot enter heartily upon the business of life without first looking into his accounts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goat’s cheese ... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)