There are spurs on his boots, but John Snobelen stops short of wearing his cowboy hat. Instead, the interim director of the new group called Ontario Horse Racing (OHR) has chosen a well-worn Singing Saint baseball cap from Adena Springs to cover his clean dome prior to saddling up a bay Quarter Horse mare named Josie at the Georgetown, ON farm that has been in his family for more than 42 years.
Is Snobelen’s choice of hats a coincidence or a smooth political move by a former provincial cabinet minister? You make the call. But to be fair, despite the fact Snobelen is a talented horseman who was inducted into the National Reining Horse Association’s Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City in 1994, he has been reluctant to share his lifetime passion for horses with the racing crowd lest anyone think he is trying to portray himself as an expert on the sport.
“I didn’t want to try to match belt buckles with them,” Snobelen said. “What’s the point?”