The 64-year-old thoroughbred owner and breeder has been a force in British Columbia racing for decades. His Canmor Farm has stood many of the province’s top stallions and he has raced numerous major runners. In fact, the farm and his 20-strong racing stable was to be his sole focus come 2011 until a fateful meeting last fall with friend Glenn Todd.
Nielsen, who has been a crusader of the success of the industry in B.C. told Todd he was concerned the horse population was dwindling. Within a couple of months, Nielsen was president of the newly founded British Columbia Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
“I was enjoying myself with the horses,” said Nielsen. “I turned down the job a couple of times but I agreed we needed to get a new group together with new business blood to help the industry.”
Nielsen was born in Aalborg, Denmark. His grandfather was involved in capturing wild horses in Iceland, bringing them to Denmark, domesticating them, and selling them.
A love of horses was easy for Nielsen to come by and after moving to Edmonton, Alberta with his family, it was not long before he was in a riding club. He studied law and commerce at universities in Alberta and B.C. (he met his wife Lynne at the University of Alberta) and it was at law school when he entered into horse ownership. “Between my first and second year I went to a horse sale, had too many beers and bought a horse,” laughed Nielsen.
That horse, the filly Winning Green, never made it to the races but Nielsen took on a partner, Marty Chess, whom he met on the university golf team. One of their first purchases was Decidedly D, a $10,000 yearling who went on to win the prestigious B.C. Derby for the pair in 1972.
Canmor Farms, which comes from a juggling of initials from Nielsen and Chess and has kept its name despite Chess leaving the farm in 1978. Nielsen who had bought the current Canmor property in the late 1970s, leased it to Crown West Farm for about a decade when the horse business sunk North America-wide, but then leased it back in 1999 from new business partner Lorne Embree. The current Canmor property, about 100 acres of more than a dozen white and red barns, is about 40 minutes from Vancouver.
Every year it seemed Nielsen had a top local runner, a lot of times one that was purchased at auction. Interestingly, it seems Nielsen has had an eye for the fillies as most of his big guns such as B.C. Horses of the Year Monashee and Ever Lasting, plus Never Wood, Sky Borne, Tense Moment, Winmore Miss and Barkerville Belle, are all girls.
Monashee is the best horse Nielsen has ever owned. A $14,000 (U.S.) purchase, the big, grey daughter of Wolf Power won 11 straight races in B.C. and Alberta and later won a stakes event at Santa Anita. She earned over $693,000. Her first foal is the two-year-old Monahee, who will race at Hastings in 2011.
Nielsen, who was inducted into the B.C. Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2005, has had a lot of expert help along the way. Trainer Tracy McCarthy and her husband, former jockey Chris Loseth, have been with the farm since 1999 and have played an integral role in the development of his horses.
Canmor, which brought Queen’s Plate winner Regal Intention to B.C. to be a leading sire, today is the home to three stallions including the hotshot Forest Grove (by Forestry), one of the most promising studs in Canada.
And thanks to the BCTOBA, under Nielsen’s guidance, the provincial government has already promised the industry a few years of regular grant money ensuring that for now, there is money available for owners and breeders such as Nielsen to, as he said, “breathe some life into our business.” CT
