Bunny Johnson enjoyed a golden career training for two Diamonds.

He conditioned horses for Dave Diamond from 1955 until 1969 and then trained brother Jack’s powerhouse string from 1970 until the government pulled Hastings Park from underneath him in 1994.

At 73 he still dabbles with a couple of horses for friends. When you have spent more than half a century getting up at four in the morning it is hard to break the habit.

His parents christened him Harold, but almost from the day he was born he was known as Bunny. “When people call me Harry I don’t know who they are talking to,” he says. “I just keep on walking.”

The youngest of seven children, Bunny followed brothers Roy and Eddie to the racetrack and all three became jockeys. Bunny recalls that the Johnson brothers finished 1-2-3 a couple of times in Edmonton when they rode together in 1948 and ‘49.

In the summer of ‘49 John and Norma Kipling, who held his apprentice contract, came to Vancouver for the summer and eventually sold his contract to John Gormley of Lavender Stock Farm. He rode for Lavender and many others until weight sidelined him in 1952.

He exercised horses and assisted Sam Brunson for two years when he trained for Austin Taylor’s ACT Stock Farm. The stable was strong enough to make ripples in Southern California with runners such as Rolyat (Taylor spelled backwards), Liege and Sco.

Johnson’s industrious work habits caught the eye of Dave Diamond and he soon had a leg up on a long, successful career as a trainer. Diamond was one of the first local owners to buy yearlings in Kentucky and race them with notable success.

Had annual awards been given out in those days (They began in 1963) Johnson would have had a few champions. Certainly Black Balladier would have been one, and probably Junior Balladier and Royal Balladier. The Balladiers were all sons of Mr. Music.

His other notable stakes winners included Golden Briar, Dear Queen and Princess Vega.

In 1969 Johnson won the B.C. Futurity with the reformed rogue Destiny’s Favour, owned in partnership with Nels Jensen. That same year Dave Diamond decided to move his interests away from the track to concentrate on a breeding farm with his son Phillip.

By fortunate coincidence Jack Diamond, co-president of Hastings, was looking for someone to replace the wayward Dave Baxter and Johnson was a perfect fit. Diamond had a low patience threshold and sometimes would act impetuously. Johnson weathered the storms with equanimity and the two formed a deep friendship as Diamond mellowed with age.

The new owner/trainer combination got off to a happy start when Command Module was named champion 2-year-old of 1970. At three Command Module suffered narrow defeats in both the Longacres Derby and the Longacres Mile but prevailed in the B.C. Derby.

The last stakes horse he trained for Diamond was the best. Senate Appointee won 20 times in 31 starts and earned $543,000.

There were numerous others, of course. Battling Craig won a Longacres Derby; Market Surge won a Futurity, April Wine and Woman in Space won numerous stakes. Chieftain’s Command and Police Inspector started their careers with Johnson before being sold and going on to achieve much more success. Diamond sold a lot of horses to get people into racing or to keep them in the game.

Since 1960 he has won 58 stakes at Hastings, fourth behind Harold Barroby, Dave Forster and Don Morison.

What Johnson misses most are the trips the two would take to Kentucky yearling sales in the fall where they would purchase several prospects. “He was a different person down there,” says Johnson. “It was as if he didn’t have a care in the world, he would relax among a lot of people he knew. That’s one thing I really miss. We always went first class.”

Diamond paid Johnson a monthly salary plus 10 per cent of purses. “You know,” says Johnson, “Jack’s been out of racing for 10 years and I’m still getting paid every month. Since Jack died three years ago I get the cheque from (son) Charles.”

Bunny is the second Johnson to enter a Hall of Fame. Roy, the oldest brother whose success in Ontario included training 1965 Queen’s Plate winner Whistling Sea, was inducted into the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame last year.

Eddie was the best rider; he graduated to the California tracks before returning to Alberta for a solid training career.«