Up until the 1984 Queen’s Plate there had only been two women trainers to saddle a horse for the famous Canadian race; Estelle Giddings, widow of Henry Giddings, an 8-time Plate winner, took over her husband’s stable briefly and saddled a starter in 1950, and Olive Armstrong sent out a horse in 1953.
But three decades later JANET BEDFORD brought Mel Lawson’s LET’S GO BLUE to the 125th Plate in fine form. The son of Bob’s Dusty – Brunswick Dawn had been a precocious juvenile for Lawson, winning the Swynford Stakes and he blossomed at three for Bedford.
When he won the Plate Trial as a 3-year-old, Let’s Go Blue went to post for the 125th Plate as the 4 to 5 favourite, putting Bedford on the front pages of sports papers everywhere.
That year’s Plate will go down as one of the more controversial in its history as Key to the Moon edged Let’s Go Blue after some bumping in the race that led to an inquiry. The result stood. From The Plate, “I did stamp my feet, but just for a moment and I might have cursed quietly. But that’s horse racing,” said Bedford.
But Let’s Go Blue would go on to a fabulous career for Lawson and Bedford. He went from the Plate to win Alberta’s Canadian Derby and Hastings Racecourse’s Grade 3 BC Derby. As a 4-year-old the colt won the Grade 3 Dominion Day and the Speed to Spare at Northlands, a race he won again in 1986 along with the Fair Play Stakes. He was also third in the Grade 2 Stuyvesant at Aqueduct before retiring with over $750,000 (US) in earnings.
Bedford would go on to train many good runners for Lawson’s Jim Dandy Stable including champion Eternal Search who joined her stable in 1983 as an older horse and won the Nassau Stakes at Fort Erie among other races. She saddled almost 200 winners for clients that included the Tucci Stables.
Janet, born in England, was a pioneer in Canadian horse racing. She passed away last week after a lengthy illness. Thank you to Chaplain Shawn for the press clipping.
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