PROFILE
B
y now, you’ve likely heard of Pink Lloyd, one of the greatest Canadian sprinters of all time. He has won 26 of his 31 starts—23 of which have come in stakes events. He was named Canadian Horse of the Year for his 2017 campaign that saw him win all eight of his starts. In addition, he’s been the Canadian champion male sprinter the last three years from 2017 to 2019, and appears to be well on his way to earning that honor for a fourth time in 2020. This year, Pink Lloyd also hit a major earnings milestone, crossing C$2 million in career earnings with his victory in the Gr3 Vigil Stakes on September 5. Pink Lloyd’s trainer, 2008 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Robert Tiller, also recorded a personal milestone of his own back on June 19, when he captured his 2,000th career training victory. Tiller didn’t come from a horse racing background but has devoted his life to the sport. Born in Amsterdam, Holland, 70-year-old Tiller immigrated to Canada with his family in 1960 when he was 11 years old. At 16, he found his way to the racetrack, responding to an ad in a newspaper from the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association of Ontario looking for grooms and hot walkers at Woodbine. Tiller took a summer job with John Calhoun walking hots in 1966, and never left the racetrack. “I went straight from grade school to the University of Woodbine,” Tiller said. “I stuck after the summer was over. I basically got the upbringing on the racetrack, living in tack rooms. I always had a desire to be a horse trainer and started very young.” After a couple of years working for Calhoun, Tiller then went on to become a groom for trainer Glenn Magnusson. While working for Magnusson, Tiller had the opportunity to travel with horses to Blue Bonnets Raceway in Montreal, and while he was not officially a trainer at that time, Tiller said he was doing most of the training himself.
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