My First Woodbine Win with John LeBlanc, Jr.

John LeBlanc, Jr. is a graded stakes-winning trainer whose career began in 1992. His father, John LeBlanc, Sr., a prominent jockey, won the coveted Avelino Gomez Memorial Award in 2006. LeBlanc, Sr.’s career spanned from 1961 to 1990, and he won four Canadian Triple Crown races. LeBlanc Sr. was the regular jockey of La Prevoyante, a talented filly who was named Canadian Horse of the Year in 1972.

LeBlanc Jr., who has 203 career wins to date, began his training career at Greenwood Racetrack, where he celebrated his first career win in November 1992 with Canada First. His top horses include Moonlit Beauty, who won the Grade 3 Maple Leaf Stakes in 2013, Sophia’s Prince, Green Doctor, and Teresa’s Pride.

His first win at Woodbine came on May 13, 1993, with Scotty’s Halo. Todd Kabel rode, and Kingsbrook Farm owned the horse. At the time of LeBlanc, Jr.’s first win at Woodbine, LeBlanc, Sr. was a valet.

What do you remember about the first Woodbine win?

“He was a challenging horse. He had all kinds of talent and all kinds of stamina, but it was difficult to put it together the way that you would normally put a horse together for a race. He wasn’t just a point-and-shoot kind of horse. It took a lot of mind games with him.  My childhood friend (Gordon McLeod) and I ended up owning that horse.”

“He used to try and run to the front all the time – in his workouts and then in the race. He never seemed to finish it up well. We would have to ask him to sit in behind and make a late run down the stretch, but you had to keep hold of his mouth. If you just released him, he would run only a little bit and stop. So that was a bit of a challenge to get the jockeys to do that. He had the talent, but he didn’t seem to put it together in the right way.”

What impact did that win have on your career?

“The impact was a learning experience of having to deal with a horse that had to change his normal running style to change it to a winning style. He couldn’t win the way he wanted to race. I had to change the way he raced so that he could win. He needed to be covered up at the back, where he wanted to run out front and as fast as he could, as long as he could, but he couldn’t sustain it. So, I had to really change his running style that suited a win as opposed to his preference. I learned a lot and used that technique quite a bit with other horses.”

How did the horse push you as a trainer?

“What resonated for me was the different techniques to actually get him to rate in behind. He was a very strong horse, and you had to finesse him at the same time. He was strong, but you had to finesse him.”

“Bug’s Boy was [my son] Douglas’s horse. He wanted to run up front in the races but couldn’t sustain. Using what I learned from Scotty’s Halo, I taught him to come from off the pace, and he went from a $12,000 claimed and ended up allowance-level and then a stakes winner.”

What did it mean to share that first Woodbine victory with Gordon?

“What I recall most about Scotty was the excitement of my friend Gordon McLeod, who I grew up with. He didn’t know anything about horse racing except that he knew my dad was a jockey and that I worked with horses. We got involved with Scotty (owner partnership). He was over the moon when he first raced, and he was so excited. He said, ‘I never had that kind of feeling, that excitement, that adrenaline rush for two minutes, it was incredible.’ And we didn’t even win at the beginning. He said it captivated his enjoyment and his passion for the races. He couldn’t believe it, how much excitement there was to it. When I think of Scotty’s Halo, that’s what I think of.”

Sophie Charalambous, for Woodbine