Windfields Farm

Windfields Farm is a six square kilometre (1,500 acre) thoroughbred horse breeding farm founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated with a property near the city of Toronto known as Parkwood Stable when it was owned by Colonel Sam McLaughlin of McLaughlin Automobile fame. The property was purchased by Taylor and became known as The National Stud of Canada until he sold it and bought a new property in Oshawa he called Windfields Farm in honor of his first great champion. As population growth overtook the operation, it eventually expanded to include a second farm in Chesapeake City, Maryland, United States.

The farm is the birthplace of racing great and champion sire Northern Dancer, whom the National Thoroughbred Racing Association states is "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history." A national icon in Canada, Northern Dancer died in 1990 at Windfields' Maryland farm but was returned to his birthplace in Oshawa for burial.

Windfields Farm bred Northern Dancer's sons Nijinsky II, Secreto, and The Minstrel, all of whom won the Epsom Derby. For the entire decade of the 1960s, the farm was the number one breeding operation in North America. In the 1983 Keeneland, Kentucky horse auction, one of Windfields' colts became the first $10 million yearling.

Horses owned by Windfields Farm have won eleven Queen's Plate races, as well as the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Their horses have won the Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing twice, in 1959 and 1963. Windfields Farm and/or E. P. Taylor has bred a world-record 48 champions and 360 stakes winners. [http://www.windfields.com/history.php]

In 1980 E. P. Taylor was incapacitated by a stroke and his son Charles took over management of Winfields Farm.E.P. Taylor died in 1989 but Charles died in 1997 after which his widow Noreen and sister Judith Taylor Mappin took charge of running the business. The Maryland farm was eventually sold and Rowland Farm and the Northern Stallion Station occupy the land.

In recent years, large portions of Windfields Farm were sold to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Durham College, which has erected sports fields and parking lots on the farm's southeast corner. Farmlands on the east side of Simcoe Street have been destroyed and are now housing developments. It is believed that once the farm is completely taken over by subdivisions and the university, only the burial plots of the horses will remain as part of a small park.

Burials at Windfields Farm, Oshawa:
* Archers Bay (1995-2002)
* Canadiana (1950-1971)
* New Providence (1956-1981)
* Northern Dancer (1961-1990)
* South Ocean (1967-1989)
* Vice Regent (1967-1995)
* Victoria Park (1957-1985)
* Windfields (1943-1969)

Windfields Estate

Windfields Estate was the home of E. P. Taylor and was situated at 2489 Bayview Avenue in North York, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. It now houses the Norman Jewison Directors School and the Canadian Film Centre. The 10 hectare (25 acre) estate has been preserved as a heritage site.

References

* [http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Graves/cem/GraveMattersWindfields.html Grave Matters: Windfields Farm] at the National Sporting Library's Thoroughbred Heritage website
* [http://www.windfields.com/ Windfields Farm official website]
* [http://www.ntra.com/stats_bios.aspx?id=3407 Windfields Farm at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA)]