Frank's Passion

Oh that Frank!

Yesterday, Frank Stronach and the team came up with an integrity plan for Magna racetracks. I'll let you have a look at it and you can formulate your opinion (if you have not seen it).

Frank is an enigma. He is an excellent businessman, obviously, but at horse racing sometimes we wonder. I have often felt he has not done as well in horse racing because of his passion for horse racing, if that makes sense.

One comment on the link above at the PR kind of mentions it.

• Mr. Stronach is trying to restore integrity in horse racing. And if anyone wants to view how he treats his own horses, he takes good care of his retirees. None of the horses that he personally owns end up in slaughterhouses. He even has had retired race horses have surgery to make them more comfortable; and I am speaking of geldings and not stallions.

That does not surprise me one bit. If a Magna car parts plant is suffering and production has to be cut, Frank is very capable of doing what has to be done, as much as he may not want to. That's business.

If a horse he owns needs expensive surgery to live comfortably, that might not make "business sense", because after all, everyone tells us "they're not pets". But he does it anyway.

I don't think horse racing is a business to Frank, nor has it ever been. It's a passion. That can get him into trouble sometimes. However, judging from the early reaction of his plan, he has a lot of people hoping he, and his passion, succeeds.