Norm McKnight is hanging up his stopwatch.
The 69-year-old veteran conditioner concluded his 29-year Thoroughbred career on December 14 after Woodbine cancelled the remaining five races of its closing day card due to extreme cold weather and subpar track conditions. McKnight had two more horses entered to run when the cancellation occurred, denying him the chance to add to his 1,012 career victories.
Despite the day’s premature end, McKnight says he headed to the races that day happy and content with it being his final trip to the grandstand to saddle his runners.
“It was a good day simply because there were a lot of people there for me,” he said. “We had a little get-together with friends, people from inside and outside the horse business. Knowing it was my last day they were all there to wish me well, so it was good.”
Before embarking on his Thoroughbred training career, McKnight was first an accomplished trainer and driver in Standardbred racing, winning over 1,500 races, making him one of a select few to find such great success with multiple breeds in the sport.
While the majority of his wins have come at his home base of Woodbine Racetrack, McKnight’s first career victory came in Florida at Gulfstream Park on January 29, 1999 with You’re Too Much. Under jockey Shane Sellers, the gelding pulled away down the stretch to win by three lengths, paying $27.20.
From that point on, McKnight’s stable continued to grow. His best year overall came in 2018, during which he saddled 149 winners, including a Woodbine meet record 128 wins en route to his second of three consecutive leading trainer titles (2017-2019) at the Toronto oval. He added eight stakes victories that year to go along with just under $4.1 million USD in purse earnings and astonishing win and top-three averages of 29% and 57%, respectively.
In total, McKnight retires with a career win percentage of 19%, finishing in the top three 45% of the time and with purse earnings over $28.5 million. Despite winning 23 stakes races (six of them graded), ask him and he’ll tell you that above all, it was a loss that he holds in mind as his greatest moment.
“I think definitely when we went to the Breeders’ Cup with Dawson’s Legacy was probably the highlight,” he remembers. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t win that day, but he ran terrific and finished second to Favorite Trick. It was a great experience and a lot of fun.”
After breaking his maiden first time out at Woodbine, Dawson’s Legacy’s second-place finish in the 1997 Juvenile at Hollywood Park as the 78-1 longshot was his third second in a row after runner-up finishes in the Summer Stakes and Grade 3 Grey Breeders’ Cup. It was the culmination of his two-year-old campaign, which ended with the son of Roanoke crowned Canada’s Champion Two-Year-Old Male at the 1997 Sovereign Awards, becoming McKnight’s first Champion.
The decision to call it a career isn’t one McKnight came to lightly, admitting it’s been in the works and one that he’s been discussing with his son and assistant trainer Brad for the better part of a few years.
“We kind of had it in mind three years ago,” McKnight said. “We discussed it and figured probably at the end of 2025 we would wrap it up. I kind of gave Brad a little heads-up and didn’t know whether he wanted to take the barn over or go on his own, so I gave him an opportunity and some time to figure out what he wanted to do.”
Ultimately, Brad has chosen to pursue other opportunities at this time, but with over three decades of his life invested in the business, he isn’t closing the door on the possibility of returning to horse racing one day.
“I’d rather try and get into a different capacity if I could,” Brad McKnight said. “But I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket. I know how to work, I’ve been around horses my whole life and I think I’m a pretty good horseman so I don’t think I’ll have a hard time finding something in any capacity, I hope. So whatever path kind of comes first.”
The duo has been a mainstay on the Woodbine backstretch since the mid ’90’s and the closing of this chapter certainly isn’t lost on the elder McKnight.
“It’s quite a bond between father and son,” Norm McKnight said. “And, you know, it’s meant a lot. It’s been very endearing to me. I wish that he would have maybe wanted to take it over, but that just wasn’t to be. So that’s all good, too.”
As for how Norm plans to spend all of his newfound free time, he and his wife Edee are busy planning for a January move to a new home in Leamington, Ontario, about an hour between Chatham and Windsor. After that, he’ll enjoy some much-needed travelling.
“We have a little trip planned in February to Mexico,” said McKnight. “In April we’re planning on going back to Hot Springs, Arkansas, back to Oaklawn, to visit friends that we’ve made down there. We’ve made a lot of nice friends and we’d like to keep in touch with a lot of those people. And maybe a trip to Ireland later on in the year, so a little travelling.”
But just like his son Brad, Norm was quick to point out that he isn’t ruling out the idea of staying involved in the business in some way.
“I’ve mulled around a little bit the possibility of doing some consultation,” McKnight said. “Going to the sales and consulting purchases for people, but we’ll see how that goes. I’m just not sure I want to do that yet, so I’m going to give that a little time and we’ll see how retirement is going and whether that’s something I want to pursue in the future.”
Asked what he’ll miss most about training – it was as easy an answer as it could be.
“The horses. Plain and simple, the horses.”
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