Surrounded by family, lifelong horseman Blake Bennett passed away peacefully at his home on April 23 at the age of 91.
A resident of Belmont, Ont. Bennett was born into a family of farmers. His mother, Mildred, was an artist and horsewoman who would often bring home ribbons from the county fair won by her driving team of horses. Bennett's father, George, dipped his feet into harness racing when he retired from farming and built a training track that is still in use to this day in Mossley, Ont.
Despite a love of horses and racing instilled in Bennett, he decided dairy cattle would best pay the bills which led him to spend the majority of his young adult life building up a herd of Holsteins and building a family with his wife Evelyn.
In 1980, at the age of 51, Bennett purchased a trotting yearling by the name of Armbro Agile (1:58.4f, $582,624) for a hefty price of $20,000. A son of Dream Of Glory, Armbro Agile missed his freshman season when fire ravished the Bennett dairy farm and the colt suffered a knee injury while trying to escape the fire.
As a three-year-old Armbro Agile began his career at Western Fair Raceway in London, Ont. with a third-place finish in an Ontario Sires Stakes event. Armbro Agile quickly began to be a force to be reckoned with on the racetrack and by the end of the season, Bennett was able to pay off the borrowed money he obtained to re-build his dairy barn.
Throughout his illustrious career, Armbro Agile was invited to represent Canada at the Elitloppet which gifted Blake and Evelyn the trip of a lifetime.
Bennett will be remembered as having a knack for picking out young horses as it was his eye that scouted the likes of Village Kid, Armbro Worldwide and Fletchwins Gal, who, with the help Armbro Agile, gifted Bennett with Bennett Express and Comeaneat. Bennett was known for the ability of naming trotting bloodlines at the snap of his fingers.
Blake Bennett was also the all-around horseman. Being a self-taught blacksmith, Bennett rarely trusted his favourite horses with anyone else. Even at the age of 90, Bennett could still be found cleaning stalls on a daily basis, fussing over his favourite from that year -- Pennys Delight, a Muscle Mass filly that traces back to the family of Armbro Agile.
He enjoyed speaking horse more than English, avoided parties and restaurants whenever possible but enjoyed many of the people he met over the years at the track. Bennett also cherished special memories of Trevor Ritchie, who accompanied Bennett on the Europe trip, Ron Topping, and the O’Brien family.
Survived by his wife Evelyn, Dr. Barb and Dr. Ansel Chu , Brian and Jackie Bennett, Dr. Brenda and Ed Woods, Brad and Christine Bennett, Beth and John Fabrizio, Blake and Josephine Bennett, Karen and Dr. Wayne Carroll.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date.
Memorial donations may be made to:
SARI Therapeutic Riding
12659 Medway Rd,
Arva, Ont. N0M 1C0
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Blake Bennett.
Our deepest condolences to
Our deepest condolences to all the Bennett family. Blake was a real gentleman and a great horsemen, he will be sadly missed in the horse industry. Daryl and Susan Dickieson
A nice story indeed involving
A nice story indeed involving the head of one of our great racing families. I remember driving past their farm on Hwy. 73 countless times and seeing the track. Many years ago I came into possession of a picture of Mr. George Bennett taken at the fair in Simcoe, perhaps with his mare Stewarts May. I got in touch with Brian Bennett his grandson and secured an address where I could mail it which I did . I soon received a nice letter (long before emails) thanking me for the picture and also telling a short story which I have since forgotten but I believe it involved another senior member of the family. I hope they still have the picture.
The following item appeared on this website in a 2010 Rewind:
"1958 - Veteran horseman George Bennett of Mossley, Ont. has been rewarded for his patience. His now seven-year-old trotting mare Stewarts May made her first lifetime start August 13 at Melbourne, Ont. At season's end she had racked up 14 victories to go along with three second-place finishes in 20 starts. They raced at Melbourne, Woodstock, Tillsonburg, Petrolia, London, Shedden, Rodney, Wallacetown and finished the campaign at Simcoe Thanksgiving weekend with a two heat winning day. For all of his efforts Mr. Bennett banked $823 in purse money but I am sure his satisfaction was worth much more than any dollar amount."
We are saddened to read of
We are saddened to read of Blake's passing. You oldtimers will know what a wonderful horse Armbro Agile was & I will forever be grateful that Blake put his trust in me to drive such a great animal for most of his career. Agile gave both Blake & his lovely wife Evelyn along with Gemma & myself the chance to experience one of the great racing events in our sport when we represented Canada in the Elitlopp in Sweden & the following week the Copenhagen Cup in Denmark. It was a 10 day trip that has never been topped. Blake was a man of few words & was as down to earth as a man can be. No phony with Blake, just a wonderful man. My condolences go out to Blake's family & friends. RIP
Gemma & Trevor
So sorry to learn of Blake's
So sorry to learn of Blake's passing.
Remembering how I would tease Blake as he (and my dad) would never wear gloves to warm up horses until it was 0 degrees out. He would just laugh and say "It's not cold enough yet!"
The world has lost another one of the great ones.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Lori Topping