- Joined
- Apr 24, 2010
- Messages
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- Golden Thread
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- Location
- Upper Canada 🇨🇦
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 1
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 3
- Detector(s) used
- XP Deus, Lesche Piranha 35 Shovel & 'Garrett Carrot'
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
Windfields Farm was a 1,500-acre thoroughbred horse-breeding farm founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario. The site was sold a few years ago to a homebuilder who is currently developing the property. It’s located about 3kms north of where I live and I’ve been detecting here on and off for 2 years now. This past spring I received permission from the construction site supervisor allowing to detect some of the outbuildings that have yet to be demolished, “as long as I stayed outside the construction site areas”. Local farmers are currently leasing the land from the developer and are still planting these fertile farm fields. This week the soy crop was harvested from this field and the demolition is about to begin as the heavy equipment has been moved onsite … so I figured it’s now or never!
My first find was an odd-looking oval iron horseshoe; if anyone can tell me more about this I would appreciate it!
Next, I found the brass racehorse halter nameplate engraved … Lake O'Hara. With online research, I discovered that she was a Bay Horse and was foaled Feb 18, 1994 in Ontario – unraced. ‘Bay’ is a hair coat colour of horses, characterized by a reddish brown body color with a black mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs. Bay is one of the most common coat colors in many horse breeds. I found the aluminum racehorse shoe next; this has the numbers F-5 stamped inside it. My last find of this 2hr hunt was a nice surprise! It was a very small shovel, likely made of pewter or lead as its rather heavy for its size! 
History of Windfields Farm
The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated with a property near the city of Toronto known as Parkwood Stable when Colonel Sam McLaughlin of McLaughlin Automobile fame owned it. 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. Windfields Farm in Ontario is the birthplace of racing great and champion sire Northern Dancer, winner of the 1964 Kentucky Derby, in stakes record time, the Preakness Stakes, and the Queen's Plate. Retired from racing after the 1964-racing season, he went on to an even more brilliant career at stud.
Led by Northern Dancer, in the 1960s Windfields Farm earned more prize money than any other stable in North American Thoroughbred racing. Windfields bred Northern Dancer's sons Nijinsky, Secreto, and The Minstrel, all of whom won England's most prestigious race, the Epsom Derby In 1968, a barn fire at the Maryland division resulted in the death of thirteen horses that had just arrived from the Canadian farm. Included in the horses that died were twelve mares, three of which were in foal to Northern Dancer and one to Nearctic. Northern Dancer spent most of his years at stud at the Maryland division, which also became home to other sires such as Dancer's Image and Assert. A national icon in Canada, Northern Dancer died in 1990 at Windfields' Maryland farm but was returned to his birthplace in Oshawa for burial. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association states that Northern Dancer is "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history," and the Daily Racing Form calls Northern Dancer the most influential sire of the 20th century. Northern Dancer is regarded as the 20th century's best sire of sires.
This concludes today’s history lesson, thanks for reading my book!
Dave
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