Grasshopper Flats (Hamilton Twp. Raceway)

Submitted by: Jay Sherwin

Hike references: 4.7 km: Racetrack Rd./Rose Rd.; 8.9 km: Racetrack Rd./Crossen Loop

The first formal race meet at Hamilton Township Raceway took place in 1951.

This hike route passes by a property that was once known as Hamilton Township Raceway. The former raceway is located southeast of the Ferguson Road/Racetrack Road intersection (W3W regimented.reconsider.nicked).  

For over 70 years, Hamilton Township Raceway served as a training site for Harness horses.  Harness racing, formally known as Standardbred racing, evolved from the informal competitions that were common among the early rural residents of southern Ontario and Quebec. Prestige and bragging rights were at stake in the friendly races that took place among horsemen in buggies and light carts on the way to town or the road home from church.  As the informal competitions evolved into race meets, standards were established for the type of horse that qualified to race as a harness horse. The standards were very strict and the horses that met the standards became known as Standardbreds and by those standards were differentiated as a breed from Thoroughbreds, the type of racehorse that was ridden. One of the standards that had to be met to qualify as a Standardbred was gait. The Standardbred horse had to stay on gait; either trotting (opposite legs forward at the same time) or pacing (legs on the same side forward together). Galloping like a Thoroughbred was not acceptable.

Many farmers in Hamilton Township shared a passion for Standardbred harness racing. Their common problem was they had no suitable place to train their steeds other than township roads and rough tracks through farm fields. In 1949, three local farmers – Cliff Hie, Jack Gordon and Basil Samons – pooled a total of $300.00 to purchase a 28-acre parcel of flat sandy land from Clarence Giddings. The land was worthless for farming but perfect for development of a half-mile oval track.  

In 1950, the track was constructed using farm tractors and volunteer labour. Training then began in earnest. The three partners either drove their horses to the track or trucked them in to train at top speed over the half-mile oval.  

With a track in place there was no reason not to have a race meet. A judge’s stand was built in the infield, a set of bleachers were constructed at the finish line and the first formal race meet took place in the summer of 1951, a Field Day as it was called at Hamilton Township Raceway. The men raced the horses and their wives and other local women prepared and sold hot dogs, drinks and home baking.   Five double dashes, 10 races in total, made up a card of racing. Six to eight horses competed in each mile-long race. Horses came from as far as Orono, Peterborough and Norwood.  

Purse money was minimal. Sixty dollars was typically split among the top finishers of each race. Each entrant paid an entry fee and the rest of the purse money was generated from spectator admission fees of 75 cents, hot dog, sandwich and coffee sales. Costs of staging the Field Days were minimal as the food and coffee were donated and the announcing, track maintenance and race starting services were provided at no charge. Needless to say, no one was getting rich, but the horsemen received their rewards from the pleasure of participating and satisfaction of pursuing their passion. Those who did it loved it.   

For spectators, at a time when television was in its infancy, the Field Days provided a local source of drama, excitement and entertainment. A festive atmosphere prevailed. The races were sanctioned by the Canadian Trotting Association. A highlight of the Field Days at Hamilton Township Raceway was participation in one of the race meets by renowned Standardbred driver and trainer Keith Waples from Victoria Harbour, Ont.  Waples was later named a member of both the Canadian and U.S. Harness Racing Halls of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. For the times, to have Waples take part was equivalent to having Gordie Howe drop into the local rink for a game of pick-up hockey. The last Field Day was held in 1960.  

The real benefit of the track to the horsemen was the training facility. The coarse gravel of township roads and rough tracks over farm fields were poorly suited for bringing a trotting or pacing horse up to full speed. Shortly after construction of the track a barn was built so horsemen could stable their stock at the track, eliminating the efforts of trucking them in for training. With the conditioning attained by training on a real track, many local horses were able to be competitive at fall fairs and the best of them went on to be winners at Toronto and larger centres.  

As the popularity of harness racing grew in the 1960s and ‘70s, more barns were built and more horsemen began to use the Baltimore track as a training base. A blacksmith shop was added to the grounds to service the need for keeping the horses properly fitted with racing shoes. Veterinarians visited on a regular basis to doctor the horse’s aches, pains and injuries. It was during the 1970s when one visiting horseman who noted the proliferation of grasshoppers in the dry grasses surrounding the track nicknamed the facility Grasshopper Flats.    

Prominent horses trained at Grasshopper Flats were:  Homestead Dan, a trotter who set the Canadian record for 3 year old trotters in 1958;  Johnny Dale, the winningest Standardbred in North America in 1961; and Sal Harbour, who garnered the honour of Canadian 3 year old Pacing Filly of the Year in 1989 and won purse money of more than $400,000.00  

By the early 2020s, the popularity of Standardbred racing was in decline and only a few trainers were using the facility regularly. In late 2020, the property was sold and the use of Grasshopper Flats as a communal training facility and a place of fun and friendship ended.