Person Record

Metadata

Name

Stafford, John Howard ("J.H." "Jack")

Other Names

Stafford, Howard
Stafford, Jack
Stafford, J.H.

Born

July 5, 1894

Birthplace

Saugeen Township, Ontario

Deceased

June 14, 1981

Father

Dilmon Bricker Stafford

Mother

Sarah McKinnon

Spouse

Florence Gordon McInroy

Children

Howard Stafford
Gordon Stafford

Relationships

Jack had seven siblings.
Florence was Jack's second wife.

Occupation

Jack was born on the Town Line of Saugeen and Bruce Townships in Bruce County. He attended public school at S.S. No. 14 on the 12th Concession of Bruce Township.
At age 13 he got a job at a bakery in Paisley and then got a job at a factory making whisk brooms. Stafford then took a six month business course in Owen Sound, which sercured him a job at a bank. After a few year he took a sales poition in Winnipeg

After his mother passed in 1907, Jack left school and helped on the family farm until he obtained work at Martin's Bakery, Port Elgin. The next year, he worked making whisks at Stevens-Hepner broom and brush factory in Port Elgin. After saving for two years, Jack took a six-month business course in Owen Sound, Ontario. Upon course completion, he worked at a branch of the Bank of Hamilton. After a couple of years working at the bank, he went to Winnipeg and got a job selling on commission.

Jack then started Stafford Foods Limited, and its jams, jellies and other products were eventually sold from coast to cost in Canada and in Bermuda and Nassau. By the late 1940s, he was residing on a farm 25 acre property a few miles west of Toronto's city limits. He was first exposed to the sport of horse racing in 1949. He purchased a Khorasan colt in the fall 1949 and named him "Lord Bruce" after Bruce County in which Jack grew up. He gradually began purchasing more horses and in 1950 they began winning races. What began as a casual hobby grew to the point that around the late 1970s, he sold Stafford Foods in order to put all of his time into the thoroughbred horse-racing and breeding business.

In Bruce County, the Stafford horse farm was located on Concession 6, Saugeen Township, and Jack owned another farm on Highway 21. Many of his money-winning horses were housed on the Bruce County farms. One example is Royal Chocolate, 1973 winner of the Queen's Plate, Canada's then oldest Thoroughbred horse race. Royal Chocolate was owned by Stafford Farms, trained by Gil Rowntree and ridden by Ted Colangelo. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip attended the Queen's Plate race that was won by Royal Chocolate. In an article from 1976, he said, "It's good training and that good old Bruce County air that made him (Royal Chocolate) the horse he is, plus the fresh and energy-building grass of Saugeen Township."

Stafford Farms won the Classic Queen's Plate in 1974 with Amber Herod. In 1974, Jack Stafford met Her Royal Highness, the Queen Mother in 1974 in the winner's circle. In 1977, his thoroughbred Sound Reason won the Queen's Plate. In 1980, Stafford horse Overskate was named the leading money winning Canadian horse of all time.

In 1981, he was named "Man of the Year" in horse racing in Canada.

Jack was also involved in sports. As a teenager he used to speed skate in Port Elgin and played lacrosse in Port Elgin and Winnipeg. When residing in Toronto, he helped form the Ontario Minor Hockey Association. In the 1930s the J.H. Stafford Trophy was awarded to the team winning the All Ontario Major "A" Midget Ice Hockey Championship (Ontario Minor Hockey League). From 1938-1943 he was Executive Director of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association. In the 1940s he was President of the Toronto Marlboros Hockey Team. He eventually owned the Stafford Senior Hockey Team in Toronto, playing at the Maple Leaf Gardens. He pulled back from involvement in other sports when the horse business began to take up too much time for Jack to continue pursuing these interests.

Places

Port Elgin, Ontario
Saugeen Township, Ontario

Sources

Grant, Joy Bedson. "Stafford Farms." The Thoroughbred of Canada, June 1954.

Lindsay, Sandy. Through her love of horses, Her Majesty had a tie to Bruce County. Saugeen Times, September 10, 2022. https://saugeentimes.com/through-her-love-of-horses-her-majesty-had-a-tie-to-bruce-county/. Accessed May 17, 2023

Port Elgin Beacon Times obituary, June 14, 1981, page 1.

Stafford - Man of the Year. Bruce County Historical Society 1981 Year Book, pages 20-23