On the 60th Anniversary of Dancer’s Derby Win, You May Visit Windfields Farm

Doors Open Oshawa provides in-person tours of twenty-two historical sites, including Windfields Farm, on May 4.

Northern Dancer, the most well-known racehorse in Canada and the most influential stallion globally, is interred at Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Ontario, the place of his birth. Doors Open Oshawa will offer tours of Windfields on May 4, 2024, the day of the Kentucky Derby and the 60th anniversary of the Dancer's valiant victory in the "run for the roses."

The old Windfields Farm no longer resembles the place where Northern Dancer was conceived in 1961.

Large chunks of Windfields Farm were sold to Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) as part of the downsizing that started after E. P. Taylor passed away in 1989. Durham College constructed parking spaces and sports fields on the southeast corner of the farm. East of Simcoe Street, farmlands were developed into housing complexes. By 2008, the small private farm had housed 600 Thoroughbreds. A year later, Windfields, which was still owned by Judith Mappin and Noreen Taylor, sold its horses at auction and parted with its other assets.

Urban growth caused Windfields to shrink, and in 2012, if you saw a property you would be surprised at how fragile the farm and its remaining barns had become. Wheelbarrows and feed bins were in the shedrows of barns, and books and worn-out furniture were scattered throughout the houses. Long grass nearly obscured the Dancer's tomb.

What was left of the Windfields "core" property, where E.P. Taylor rode his favourite horses and saw his blue-blooded yearlings parade, slowly changed as a result of negative media coverage. With the enclosure of the Dancer cemetery, the magnificent equine rests in peace among several other horses:

Archers Bay (1995–2002) Canadiana (1950–1971) New Providence (1956–1981) Northern Dancer (1961–1990) South Ocean (1967–1989) Vice Regent (1967–1995) Victoria Park (1957–1985) Windfields (1943–1969)

The adjacent Trillium Cemetery, which is home to numerous outstanding broodmares like Lady Angela and Taylor's riding horse Philip, is also conserved.

Ten years later, Doors Open Oshawa will provide tours of the renowned farm, which is now an Ontario Tech University centre for Sustainable Agricultural Research. This outdoor research facility preserves wildlife, introduces alternative energy sources, and pioneers novel farming techniques. You may get to the location from Ontario Tech's Campus Ice Centre via a shuttle bus in honour of the City of Oshawa's centennial.