The Canadian Sportsman
Dave & Dave
Back To Dave & DaveNovember 12, 2009
It was already past the witching hour when the secret ladder was found hidden behind an ordinary closet door. This could not wait until morning.
Muscling open the hatch, Dave Landry and I clambered out onto the roof and into a ghostly night.
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A full moon hung above one of the two chimneys standing sentry on opposite ends of the long, wooden catwalk; the glow diminished by the haze of a warm summer evening.
We were not alone.
E.P. Taylor’s spirit was palpable on the roof of his former Maryland mansion as we plunked ourselves down on the planks, backs against the wobbly white railing.
A handful of fireflies popped in and out like tiny fireworks accompanied by a soft chorus of crickets. Nearby, horses shrouded by darkness, announced their presence with occasional snorts and nickers.
We sat in silence for nearly two hours and filled our ears, immersing ourselves in the magic of a farm at night. And not just any farm. The old Windfields Farm, now known as Winbak.
Thoroughbreds have given way to standardbreds, but this farm has been home to numerous champions — from the incomparable Northern Dancer to harness stars such as Muscle Hill, Rainbow Blue and Bettors Delight.
But it is E.P. Taylor’s former mansion which exudes the most history, particularly for a pair of Canadian boys who appreciate the profound impact he had on horse racing in our country. Built in the 1960s by the same people who constructed Taylor’s Lyford Cay estate in the Bahamas, the current owners have preserved the home much in the manner in which one imagines it was when Taylor haunted the roof with coffee and binoculars, watching his horses train on a nearby turf track.
That track is gone now, though the dirt track remains. In those days, this farm was Taylor’s private training facility and, it is said, his favourite vista came from this rooftop perch.
It is also said, the man who built the modern Woodbine Racetrack is rolling over in his grave now that harness racing has invaded his beloved plant. What then, would he make of his Maryland farm overrun with standardbreds? Or, for that matter, the main entrance road new owner Joe Thomson cheekily named Standardbred Way.
Noreen Taylor, believes her late father-in-law would have approved. “He was, above all, a realist,” she said. “This was wonderful horse country. It’s marvelous that it continues to be wonderful horse country, whatever the breed is there.”
Landry has mixed emotions about all this. He seems slightly maudlin about the passage of time as it pertains to this farm, yet is delighted Winbak has not discarded its thoroughbred roots; ones in which he happily entangles himself now. Landry spent his childhood tagging along with his father and brother — jockey Rob Landry — to Woodbine. There is no more iconic racing figure in Dave’s life than E.P. Taylor.
When the pull of sleep yanks us, grudgingly, from the roof at last, Landry stuffs his hands in his pockets, bows his head slightly and sheepishly asks if he can sleep in Taylor’s old master bedroom, the one festooned with floral patterns. The draw isn’t the pretty sheets. He wants to wrap himself in the warmth of history’s blanket for one night.
It is a slightly strange request, but how could you deny the man that? E.P. Taylor slept there.
“Whatever,” I said with a shrug. “Knock yourself out.”
It is only the next morning, over coffee with Winbak staff, that Landry learns Taylor rarely, if ever, used the master bedroom. Instead, he preferred to bunk in the more masculine guest bedroom next door; the one with the closet containing the secret ladder.
The room where I had the accidental pleasure of sleeping.
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