As a young man playing lacrosse and soccer Cy Anderson was a big, tough and capable competitor. If he had a shortcoming it was that he was a little slow afoot.

It was a deficiency that seldom afflicted the horses he trained. Cy saddled winners of 43 stakes at Hastings, which placed him eighth on the all-time list when he retired in 1996 after being around the track, man and boy, for more than 50 years.

He was leading trainer at Hastings in 1976 and ’77 and dead-heated with George Cummins for the title in 1984.

“One of the reasons that Cy was such a good trainer was that he had been an athlete himself,” observed R.J. (Russ) Bennett, who presented his former trainer with his B.C. Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame plaque. “He understood how to get horses fit and when to give them a rest.”

Born in 1928, Cy was raised in Burnaby. Although he loved playing sports, he was drawn to the sport of kings as it was practiced by common men and women at nearby Hastings Park. When he was 15 he started working for trainer Paddy Harthorn and later apprenticed under Jimmy McDougal and Jim Douglas.

He took out his first trainer’s license in 1953 but for several years the racetrack was only part time. He drove a truck for Shell Oil to put bread on the table for wife June and their growing family.

Along the way he made casual but significant contacts that would influence the direction of his career. Bob Talbot came from his family farm in Westwold in the Okanagan to attend North Burnaby High and boarded with trainer Harthorn who had horses for the Talbot family. Cy and Bob became fast friends.

Years later Cy met Russ Bennett during a visit to the Talbot’s Red Rock Farm. R.J. was an accomplished show jumping rider and aspiring racehorse breeder. Cy was a racehorse trainer looking for clients. It became a match made in winner’s circle heaven.

One of the first horses Russ sent to Cy was the homebred Flying Magic. As a two-year-old Flying Magic was seriously injured in a tragic accident at the track and it appeared that his future was in jeopardy. But Cy nursed him back to health and at the age of five he scored a memorable upset in the 1967 B.C. Premier’s Championship.

Premier W.A.C. Bennett presented the championship trophy to his son R.J., whom he had once labeled as being “horse crazy”.

It was a seminal occasion for the 1 and 1A entry of Anderson and Bennett. Over the next three decades Russ and Lois Bennett would become the province’s foremost breeders and Cy was always among the leading conditioners as he got great mileage out of runners such as Skovinsky, Brandy Magic, Aunita Leswick, Dogwood Passport and Right Chilly.

The Bennett’s Kelowna nursery reached a pinnacle in 1976 when it won 10 stakes for two-year-olds. Tasty Victor was juvenile colt champion with five stakes victories and Brandys Quicker dominated the fillies. Cy won a grand total of 53 races.

Cy strengthened his credentials during winter sojourns to California where he enjoyed heady success with horses owned by Don Ursaki – Dogwood Passport, Snow Pearl and Motion Perfect. He also won note worthy races with Pole Position, Home Run Gal and Right Chilly, who finished fourth in the grade one Santa Marguerita Handicap at Santa Anita.

During one rain filled season at Santa Anita he won 13 races with the 30 horses he started. He was in the headlines in the Daily Racing Form.

Cy and June also contributed to the breeding industry and once stood as many as six stallions at the Doubleshoe Farm in Aldergrove.

Their contributions didn’t stop with the horses. Three children are deeply involved in the industry. Son Robbie already has trained three B.C. horses of the year – Travelling Victor, Sophie J and King Jeremy. Daughter Barbara Heads has moved into the upper echelon of trainers and son Mike, who has been a trainer and farm manager, is now a Hasting outrider.

The relationship between the Anderson and Talbot families was further consolidated when Robbie marries Suzanne Talbot, the daughter of Bob. Their champion mare Grey Tobe Free was a result of Red Rock breeding and Anderson training.