Horse Person of the Month for September Presented by New Holland: Kevin Honsberger

For Kevin Honsberger, there is no place quite like home as Barn No. 39 on the Woodbine backstretch.

The short walk he makes from his dorm room to the shedrow each morning is not long, less than 5 minutes, to be precise.

Rain or shine, it is always a happy stroll to where Hall of Fame trainer Josie Carroll and her Thoroughbred band reside during the racing season.

“I love it,” said Honsberger. “It is a world-class barn. Everyone has been there for years, and everyone gets along. We have everything we need. I enjoy going to work because they are all my friends.

The 63-year-old sees his horses in the same light.

“I always get such nice horses. I can’t see not going into work. I know they are waiting for me.”

Honsberger’s introduction to horses came 40 years ago.

Born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario, visits to Fort Erie Racetrack became a staple for the teenager, his brother, and their father.

It was, of all things, a profitable day at the betting windows that put Honsberger on a path to a career in racing.

“One weekend, I hit a bunch of triactors, so I took a leave of absence from my job. I didn’t work for about a month and then I started thinking that finding one in racing might be a good idea. I had never been around horses, other than watching them in the paddock.

“My friend, who worked in the kitchen at Fort Erie, said that there was a trainer, Paul Griffo, who was hiring. I ended up starting as a groom with him in 1987.”

Honsberger’s initial plan was to earn his trainer’s license.

He read every book on the subject matter he could find, eager to pursue a life in the conditioning ranks.

While that didn’t pan out, it did nothing to diminish Honsberger’s zeal for Thoroughbred racing and its equine stars.

“Dr. [Ralph] Biamonte was our neighbour and he offered me a job. It was near the end of the season, so I told him I would come work for him the next year because I don’t like to hang out people to dry.

“Ralph was from Niagara Falls [Ontario] – and so I am I – and he was hockey coach there too. He was one of the top trainers, so I went to work for him and that was for a number of years.”

His time with Biamonte included work in the Mountain and Buckeye states.

“I worked for Ralph in West Virginia and Ohio for a couple of seasons. He called me back to Fort Erie in 1996 and said that he had a good job for me, after I was in the U.S. on my own.

“We did very well when I came back. He had a bunch of nice 2-year-olds. Ralph did some restructuring and was changing his assistant trainer, so I moved on.”

Honsberger found work with one of Canadian racing’s most iconic outfits.

His one summer as a hotwalker with Sam-Son Farm included one-on-one time with an accomplished, yet agitable gelding.

“I used to walk Tot of Rum as a 3-year-old,” recalled Honsberger of the graded stakes winner, who posted 35 top three finishes in 46 career starts. “All the hotwalkers would wait for the 2-year-olds and we are all standing there. I was the new guy there and I remember I asked, ‘Who is going to take this one?’ They were all hiding from this guy. He broke the arm of the hotwalker before, so no one was interested in walking him.”

Honsberger was.

“We got along very good. He was tough to handle, but we were good together.”

After Sam-Son, Honsberger worked one season for trainer Sanford Champagne.

Soon after, his career was unexpectedly put on hold.

“My sister was very sick from cancer, so I left the track to help take care of her kids, driving them to school, taking them to soccer practice – those types of things.

I was off the racetrack for a couple of years. When she passed away, I knew I had to get a job and go forward with my life. There was nothing in Niagara Falls. The horse racing jobs were all taken.”

And then he had a thought, one he wasn’t so certain would pan out.

But, like those triactors he had hit, Honsberger felt it was worth taking a shot.

“One day, I said to myself, ‘Maybe I will take a shot at working at Woodbine.’ I went online and [trainer] Tino Attard was looking for help. I called him and met with him, and he hired me. He got me a room at the dorm on the backstretch, and I started grooming for him.”

“Not long after I started, I told Tino that I felt I was too old to be a groom and that it was too fast paced for me.”

Hotwalking, however, was a good fit.

“A friend of mine, Heather, was working for Josie Carroll, and she mentioned they needed a hotwalker – that was back in 2009.

“I found out they didn’t need a hotwalker, but they did need a swing groom. I started in that role, and not too long after I started, I was swing groom for Inglorious, who won the 2011 Oaks and Plate. I was also the swing groom for Careless Jewel, who was a multiple graded stakes winner.

“So, when their grooms were away, I took over for them. But it was a stressful position to be in because Josie’s staff had been there for so many years and I was the new guy. I hadn’t fit in yet.”

Not long after, that all changed.

A chat with the boss brought Honsberger back to the groom role.

“After being a swing groom, I asked Josie if I could have five horses of my own. And that’s what I ended up with and that’s what I have had ever since.”

One of those horses, Ami’s Mesa, is Honsberger’s all-time favourite.

Also holding status as a multiple graded stakes winner, the Ivan Dalos homebred enjoyed an outstanding 2017 campaign, one in which she won four straight races – three of them graded events – to go along with a second in the Grade 1 Fillies and Mare Sprint at Del Mar.

The only unfortunate part for Honsberger was that he wasn’t able to see all of the mare’s triumphs in person.

“Just before she went on to win a couple of stakes before she went to the Breeders’ Cup, I had to go in and have heart surgery. I got stents put in. That was a life-changing moment for me because I felt 20 years younger after the procedure. I could handle five horses in a fast-paced environment.”

And to this day, he still does.

“He is a valuable member of our team,” said Carroll. “He is a very caring person, and he truly loves his horses.”

Honsberger is grateful to ply his trade at a place he views as the very definition of home, sweet home.

“Woodbine, of all the places I have been to, is the finest facility for training horses anywhere – it’s a world-class place. The people who run the dormitory are amazing, the staff who run the kitchen are great – it’s a wonderful place to be. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

He also can’t, not even for a fleeting moment, entertain the notion of leaving.

“I love it. I would stay here forever if I could.”

Chris Lomon, Woodbine