Dr. Ian Moore

best and to be in the top class and on top of the game. I striye for excellence in eyerything I do with horses and I want to

get there the right way."

l)r. Moore remembered talking to Mark .\lacl)onald when the latter \\'as a young- ster seeking adyice. ’l'he Veteran replied. "Horse racing is a pretty tough business but it is one that can giye yotr a lot of rewards and many ftrlfilling and reward— ing moments. You must work hard and take the long route to strccess. There are no oyernight successes in this game: ho\\'e\'e1‘. success means yotr must leaye the Atlantic proyinces for bigger and brighter centers in Quebec and Ontario. You can get a good foundation here but you rntrst eyentually leaye."

In 2008. Ian Moore had been a practicing equine yeterinarian for .20 years. He was able to earn a good liying from his pro~ fession and still haye a lot of ftrn racing horses. He was able to enioy the best of both worlds. He saw a lot of things and learned a great deal abotrt horses and people and he was still learning. llis hobby helped his career and \‘ice \‘ersa. He kept his stable small becatrse he \\'as concerned abotrt the possibility of a coir flict of interest. liyen if he were in the same race as his client‘s horse. he \\‘ould perform his duties to the best of his abil- ity with no thought of whether he was

going to beat his client's horse.

lan worked for a number of experienced

and astute horsemen. They included

24

3? Arm

Behind the Gate

George Sobey. Ron .\1ac;\rthur. llughie .\lacKay. (Iecil Champion. Basil \V'helan. \V'alter \\'helan. Stanley .\Iayhe\\'. Bill Companion Sit. (Tyril Smith and Dr. Russ Furness. Some of the \\'orkers in the .\Ioore Stable oyer the years were Alphonse l’ineau. Raymond Kelly. Parnell Kelly. Gerald Kelly. 'l‘erry Gallant. Albert Bernard. Lennie .\Iyers. Vaughn Doyle and (Iharles Hall.

I asked lan to name the person he respected the most in the industry and to explain why he chose that person He ans\\'ered. "()\‘er the years there were a lot of horsemen that l respected for dif— ferent reasons. Some of them were (ledon \V'illis. liarl Smith. Albert Bernard. Ron Matheson. Ken Arsenault. loe llennessey. (}illis Barrieau. Basil \‘(r'helan Archie .\IcNeil. l)r. Russ liurness. and I am sure I missed someone: hoyyeyer. the person I respected the most and the one that l learned a lot from and the horse— man that was a true gentleman and who cared for and trained his horses properly

\yas (iyril Smith."

Examine Ian .\Ioore's statistics oyer the years and you must conclude that he \\‘11s a very capable driyer and trainer. He enjoyed both roles but thought of himself as a better trainer than driyer. He had some strong opinions about both roles lle asserted. ~~.\ driyer can pick up a horse some but you strre got to haye sortie horse-po\\'er in front of you. If you got horse—po\\'er and you do the right

moyes. your horse is going to get you