Pender Harbour was one of the feel-good stories of 2011 in Canadian racing as the three-year-old gelding’s exploits touched many people in places far and wide.

Owned by Albertans Denny Andrews, Sandra Lazaruk and Bob and Roberta Giffin, Pender Harbour was guided through a stellar campaign by Caledon, Ontario resident Mike DePaulo and ridden by Mexican-born Luis Contreras, who joined the Woodbine jockey colony just two years earlier.

The chestnut son of young Ontario sire Philanthropist – Uproar, by Hail the Ruckus won two-thirds of Canada’s Triple Crown, finished third in the Queen’s Plate and collected over $800,000. Foaled at Gardiner Farms in Caledon East, Ont., Pender Harbour was a stakes winner as a two-year-old, taking the Kingarvie Stakes at 1 1/16 miles late in the 2010 season. ‘Before he ran, he was breezing well and looked like the type of horse that could run from day one,’ said DePaulo, who was on hand to purchase the horse, along with Gail Wood, as a yearling for $20,000 at the C.T.H.S. (Ont.) sale in 2009.

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