John Joseph Thorpe

1885 - 1974  (89 years)

• Name	John Joseph Thorpe
  Born	1885	, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2, 3]
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1901	Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Horseman
  Occupation	1911	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	trainer
  Died	1974  [2]
  Honoured	2002	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada
  	Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
  Name	J. J. Thorpe
  Name	Johnny Thorpe
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-42223
  Buried	Mount Hope Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Person ID	I42223	Generations
  Last Modified	28 Jan 2025

  
  

  Family	Sybilla Sophia Peppler,   b. 28 Jul 1888, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 1960  (Age 71 years)
  Married	13 Jun 1911	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada   [3]
  Children	1. John Joseph Thorpe,   b. 1911,   d. 1999  (Age 88 years)   2. Robert Lloyd Thorpe,   b. 1919,   d. 4 Mar 2012, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 93 years)   3. Eileen Thorpe,   b. Abt 1920, Of, Elmira, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	29 Jan 2025
  Family ID	F11246	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  John Joseph Thorpe

  
  

• Notes

  John J. Thorpe trained race horses in Waterloo Yesterday's Heroes By Jeff Hicks, Record Staff If John J. Thorpe were still around, he'd likely light a cigarette to celebrate his recent induction into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Of course, the late head trainer for the once-mighty Seagram Stable of Waterloo would first have to find someone to bum a smoke from. For Thorpe, who died in 1974 after suffering a stroke at age 89, that was a quirky trademark of a man considered to be one of Canada's greatest thoroughbred trainers. "He never bought a cigarette but he sponged off everybody," chuckled 79-year-old Eileen Dreisinger, a Waterloo resident and one of Thorpe's three children, including Bob Thorpe and the late Jack Jr. "But, you know, he never inhaled. He would just puff on them. I guess that's what saved him because he lived a good, long life. And he had a remarkably successful and lengthy career: Thorpe galloped and exercised winners of 13 King's and Queen's Plates, Canada's pre-eminent prize in thoroughbred horse racing. He took over as Seagram's headman in 1933 and saddled Queen's Plate champion Sally Fuller two years later. Thorpe, who was born in Toronto's Cabbagetown in 1885, first went to work as an exercise boy for the famous Seagram Stable at the age of 13. He was initially hired after Joseph E. Seagram, patriarch of the Canadian whiskey distiller, saw him hanging around the old Woodbine track in Toronto. After being hired, Thorpe moved to Waterloo, where the main Seagram stables were located off Bridgeport Road for more than 80 years. The last beams of those barns, which once housed 160 horses, were removed in 1969 to make way for an apartment tower at Lincoln Road and Weber Street. The Seagram family's connection to the racing dynasty faded by the late 1970s. By that time, Seagram horses had won the Queen's Plate 20 times. Still, the legend of John Thorpe endures, as his October induction into the Hall of Fame at Woodbine proves. Thorpe served 62 years for the Seagram family before retiring in 1960. "He was a very wise horse guy," said Bob Thorpe, an 83-year-old Waterloo resident who worked with his father for 21 years. "He was never thrown off a horse. The only time he came off, the horse had fallen. And he was back on before the horse could get up. He could handle any kind of horse. It wasn't strength. It was all horse wisdom." As Bob recalls, his father's favourite horse was Canada's first great race horse, an ill-tempered rogue named Inferno. That horse kicked down so many wooden stall gates at the Waterloo stable that an iron door blocked the entrance to Inferno's stall. Thorpe regularly galloped Inferno, the bay colt which won the King's Plate in 1905. For Dreisinger, memories of her father and the Seagram Stable remind her of a happy childhood in Waterloo. "As children, we lived over there," she said. "That was our playground, the Seagram stables." But there are sad memories too. Thirteen years ago, Dreisinger's son, Mike Chris, was killed on the training track at Woodbine after being thrown from a horse into a rail. Chris, an exercise rider at 39, had been following in the footsteps of his grandfather and his father Bill, also a trainer. "Michael, like his grandfather, loved horses," Dreisinger said. "He was a fantastic young lad with horses too." And that's how John Thorpe will be remembered. A fantastic horse man who had a young man's mischievously-playful attitude, especially when he was conning colleagues into giving him free cigarettes. "He wouldn't have cigarettes with him, although he did smoke all his life," said Bob, who once pressed his father on the issue of his tobacco habit. If he didn't inhale, why did he smoke? That's what Bob wanted to know. Thorpe's answer was simple. "I just enjoy it," he said. \bThe Record, Sports, December 14, 2002

  
  

• Sources

  [S135] Census - ON, Waterloo, Waterloo City - 1901, Waterloo (Town/Ville) D-2 Page 9. [S192] Cemetery - ON, Waterloo, Waterloo City - Mount Hope CC#4500 Internet Link. Thorpe/ in loving remembrance (A) John Joseph/ Thorpe/ 1885-1974/ (B) Sybilla Peppler/ 1888-1960/ beloved wife of/ John J. Thorpe/ (C) Henry Wurm/ born Feb. 15, 1875/ died Mar. 13, 1905/ all the pain and grief is over/ every restless tossing passed/ I am now at peace forever/ safely home in heaven at/ last/ (D) John Joseph/ Thorpe/ 1911-1999/ (E) Frances J. Thorpe/ nee Hergott/ 1911-2003/ beloved wife of/ John J. Thorpe [S721] Vit - ON - Marriage Registration, marriage certificate 21176 (1911), John Joseph Thorpe-Savilla Sophia Peppler. John Joseph Thorpe, 24, trainer of Toronto, s/o Robert Thorpe (Jeweller) & Annie Connelly married Savilla Sophia Peppler, 24, residence. Town of Waterloo, d/o George C. Peppler (clerk) & Dorothy Trapp married 13 Jun 1911 Toronto.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1885 - , Ontario, Canada Occupation - Horseman - 1901 - Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - trainer - 1911 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Married - 13 Jun 1911 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Honoured - Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame - 2002 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Buried - - Mount Hope Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth