Local family’s name is synonymous with harness racing

by C. Scott Holland

For several decades, one local family was among the who’s who of the horse racing industry in Canada and the US.

Baseball has Ruth, while hockey has Gretzky, and football has Brady.

For harness racing fans, that name is McIntosh.

Brothers Bob and Doug McIntosh both owned stables.

Bob had one near Windsor and Doug’s was just north of Wheatley. Both inherited their horsemanship abilities and love of horses from their father, Jack.

“He (Jack) raced horses as a hobby until he died,” said Doug. “Upon retiring, he turned to training horses and became well known in the Canada-US racing circles.”

While Doug’s stables are north of Wheatley, Jack’s stables were once a part of what is now Wheatley Provincial Park.

Doug began working with horses at age 12, and spent many years as a trainer.

As a driver, he would race five out of seven nights during the winter and seven out of seven during the summer.

He has competed in some of harness racing’s biggest events, including the Breeders’ Cup and Hambletonian.

Local trainer, Doug McIntosh, with one of his charges at Leamington Fairgrounds in the 1980s. Photo courtesy of Scott Holland Collection

He’s won races in both as well, with Yankee Paco winning the 2000 Hambletonian, becoming the first Canadian-bred horse to win that prestigious harness race (held at the Meadowlands track in New Jersey.)

That year, Yankee Paco brought in $1,360,000, however as McIntosh explained, “The food for a horse during a year is expensive and I have 20 employees to pay.”

The really good horses which make money are bought by owners in New York and New Jersey who enter them in races with a higher purse.

As well, Doug’s wife Kathy began as a groom, became a trainer and then entered the administrative end of the sport, which included brokerage and syndication, which gets people to buy a horse.

“It takes a minimum of roughly $7,500 to purchase a part ownership,” said Kathy. “I had 10 women who bought a horse and formed a stable called Femme Fatale.”

“Horses can be no different than an athlete,” Doug added. “They have aches and pains. And like humans, have different personalities.”

Doug retired from horse racing in 2015 to concentrate on his line of all-natural McIntosh Pro Line products for horses, pets and people, which he started in the 1990s.

At one time, he served on the Windsor Raceway board of directors under the late Tom Joy and was a VP for the Ontario Harness Horseman’s Association.

He’s certainly come a long way since taking Princess Barbara - his first race horse - out on the circuit.