It’s known as a great place to grow up and not just for the human residents but the thoroughbreds that come to Shannondoe Farm.
It was established in 1963 by James and Janeane Everatt just east of Union.
Their daughter recalled the early history.
The farm became home to its first thoroughbred mare in 1971.
Around the same time Arika was the recipient of a pony.
Shannondoe’s initial foray into the commercial sales arena came the following year when that mare’s first foal was sold for three times her purchase price. The Everatts were inspired not only by that success, but by the process of raising a good horse.
An inspiration that remains as strong today.
Now the Everatt family is well known for producing polished commercial sales yearlings and exceptional race horses under the Shannondoe Farm banner.
They expanded their Ontario operation around 2003 with the purchase of a 150-acre farm in Kentucky.
Colton Springs Farm was developed to help produce more precocious horses.
Over the years the Everatts found that raising young horses down south produced better bone density and provided a head start over the Ontario-wintered horses.
Moving forward, that purchase greatly altered the way Shannondoe Farm raises the foals, explained Arika.
In 2010 they became one of only six Canadian thoroughbred operations to make the Top 100 North American Breeders list.
Over the years the Everatts have bred champions like Horse of the Year, Caren, with over $820,000 in earnings; millionaire and Champion Older Male, Sand Cove; Champion Older Male, Terremoto (over $700,000 in earnings; and Breeders Stakes winner, Miami Deco (over $440,000 in earnings).
Shannondoe offers a state-of-the-art facility structured to raise and prepare sales yearlings.
Arika has developed a training regime that meticulously prepares a young horse for the physical and mental challenges to come. Yearlings are ponied, exercised in a covered walker and are hand-walked to learn all the things they need to be ready for the sales ring and the racetrack.
Shannondoe Farm currently stands perennial Top 10 Canadian stallion Society’s Chairman on the Ontario property. Society’s Chairman raced at Churchill Downs, Gulfstream Park, Keeneland and at Woodbine in Toronto between 2009 and 2011.
Stakes winner and Sovereign Award finalist Code Warrior and Caren are daughter’s of Society’s Chairman.
But the winds of change are blowing across Shannondoe Farm. With creeping urbanization and a dwindling number of thoroughbred race tracks remaining in Ontario and smaller government subsidies, Arika is forced to re-think the future of the park-like property.
To learn more about Shannondoe Farm, visit http://shannondoefarm.com .
You can hear more with Arika Everatt-Meeuse below.
