Dr. Richard ‘Dick’ Lister had a wonderful sense of humour when it came to breeding racehorses. Whether breeding horses for the commercial market or to race, Lister did a bit of both; the business is a tough one in which you wait several years to find out if you have had any success.
Dr. Lister passed away on March 12.
Lister bought his first horse in the mid 1970s — a filly from Windfields Farm who made a few starts and hooked him into the sport. When a reporter caught up to him at Woodbine in 2008 when his mare Danceroftherealm (GB) had just won the Giant’s Causeway Stakes at Keeneland and Initforreal, a filly he bred was getting ready for the Woodbine Oaks, Lister quipped, “I’m an overnight success after thirty years of being in the business.”
In fact, Lister’s horses won a number of important and valuable races for many different owners and trainers and he paid special attention to breeding a horse with a classic pedigree — breeding that was attractive at the sale and strong on the track.
It was a homebred of 2011, a dark day colt by Artie Schiller from his winning mare Athena’s Gift, who gave Lister the most thrills in a very successful career as breeder. Sold for $90,000 as a yearling, the colt, named We Miss Artie, raced for Ken and Sarah Ramsay and trainer Todd Pletcher in the United States, winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, the Spiral Stakes (G3) at Turfway as a three-year-old before finishing a respectable 10th in the Kentucky Derby (G1). He came to Woodbine to win the Plate Trial and if not for a disastrous start in the 2014 Queen’s Plate, We Miss Artie may well have done a lot better than his fourth-place finisher in Canada’s biggest race.
Lister later sold Athena’s Gift in foal to Sky Mesa for $300,000.
One of Lister’s first big runners for his Cinnamont Stable was multiple Grade 2-placed Talltalelady, a 1987 Naskra filly trained by Robert Barnard. He raced Talltalelady’s 2008 stakes winner Tell As It Is, trained by Jim Smith, who would be the last trainer employed by Lister.
Lister also bred 2004 Bison City Stakes winner Touchnow, by Pleasant Tap from Now Dance. Now Dance was then sent overseas by Lister to be bred to King of Kings (Ire) and the resulting foal was Danceroftherealm, a two-time stakes winner for Lister of over $300,000. Danceroftheream produced a few minor winners.
Lister’s prized mare Queen Martha, now owned by his longtime friend and consignor Bernard McCormack, produced 2021 Breeders’ Stakes winner British Royalty (English Channel). Lister also owned the Son of Briartic stakes winner Favored One, whom he purchased in foal to Real Quiet. That mating produced stakes placed Initforreal.
Lister’s last horse to carry his silks was Googly Eyes, a winner in 2022 and 2023 at Woodbine.
Perhaps one of Lister’s most popular homebreds, Lapochka, was recently honoured by LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society and Woodbine when he retired last fall from a career that saw him win 20 races. Lister raced the son of Absent Russian from his mare Russian Sweetiepie for most of his first few seasons before he was claimed in 2018.
His commitment to excellence and sportsmanship in horse racing was widely respected, and his contributions to the community were felt by many. Like his father, he found great joy in the thrill of the track, the horses’ beauty, and the racing world’s camaraderie.
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