As President of Anderson Farms, Robert Anderson had been involved with the breeding, racing and selling of thoroughbred and standardbred race horses for 41 years in Canada, Europe and the United States. He passed away suddenly in November 2010 after succumbing to the effects of a serious heart attack while vacationing in Florida.
Anderson Farms bred over 1,400 thoroughbreds and raised and raced numerous thoroughbred and standardbred champions.
Included in that list of Champions was Pinafore Park. Raced in partnership, she won the 1998 Breeders’ Stakes, beating the boys in the last of the triple crown races. Anderson also bred her sire, Ascot Knight who sold for $1.4 million in 1985. Standing at Windfields Farm, Ascot Knight quickly made a name for himself by producing top fillies Pennyhill Park (champion older mare in 1994) and Hey Hazel (winner of Molly Pitcher, G2) in his first crop. His other fine progeny included two-time G1 winner, Influent, who earned close to $1 million lifetime and Canadian Oaks winner, Plenty of Sugar, both of whom solidified his reputation as an excellent sire of fillies.
Alydeed and National Assembly were other successful sires bred by Anderson Farms. The latter, by Danzig, was sold as a yearling for $2.5 million in 1985 during a period when Anderson Farms sold more than $65 million worth of horses and was leading consignor at Saratoga and Keeneland Sales.
A lengthy list of stakes winners were bred by Anderson Farms including: 1996 Sovereign Award Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Larkwhistle; 1984 Champion Turf Female, Bounding Away; 1983Champion Two-Year-Old Male, Prince Avatar; Graded Stakes winner Triple Wow; Grade 3 winners A La Reine and Raymi Coya; and most recently, 2008 Wonder Where Stakes winner, Northern Craze and 2010 Northern Dancer Stakes placed winner, Fifty Proof.
In the year 2000, Anderson Farms became involved in Standardbred Racing and immediately found success with stars such as Pampered Princess, a champion at two and winner of $1.74 million in career earnings; as well as champions and world record holders Southwind Allaire, a trotting filly co-owned with David Willmot and winner of more than $875,000 lifetime and Cabrini Hanover, a pacing filly who earned close to $1.5 million.
With a wealth of experience and knowledge, Robert Anderson immersed himself in the business side of horseracing. He was a Director of Woodbine Entertainment Group (formerly the Ontario Jockey Club) since 1984, serving as Chairman of WEG’s Thoroughbred Racing Committee and the Chairman of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Foundation.
He was also a past president of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (CTHS) Ontario Division as well as a former National President of the CTHS and a member of the Board of Directors of the Hambletonian Society (Standardbred). He was a Board member of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) in the US as well as a Member of the Jockey Club of Canada, and the Ontario Racing Commission Advisory Board. Robert was the First Chairman of the Guelph Centre for Equine Research and a Member of the E.P. Taylor Equine Research Fund.
Outside of racing, Robert was involved in his hometown community of St. Thomas, Ontario, where he served as Vice-President of the St. Thomas Chamber of Commerce, Cofounder of the downtown St. Thomas Development Board and past president of numerous charity organizations.
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