When Sid Martin wandered onto the Exhibition Park racetrack in 1943, it was known as Hastings Park at the time, little did he realize he would be gainfully employed on the same patch of ground 47 years later.

Martin finished second in the trainer standings in 1990, a position he also held back in 1963 when he was runner-up to Troy Taylor. However, Martin won seven races at Sandown Park to finish in a dead heat with Taylor as the top conditioners in British Columbia.

It is almost lost in the mists of time the Martin’s first success on the track came as a jockey. Riding for Vancouver businessman cum racetracker George Irvine, Martin was second leading rider at Longacres in 1947 – behind the redoubtable Merlin Volzke – and then was the top jockey at Playfair in Spokane.

He rode in Vancouver the following year, nut an increasing weight problem forced him out of the saddle at the end of the 1948 season. The last meet he rode was at The Willows in Victoria, which also was the last hurrah for that old calvary ground.

After four years working as a valet in the jock’s room he started training for Vancouver businessman Chuch Charles and it heralded a steady climb to the top of that profession. By the mis-60s he had put together a strong public stable, filled most notably with tunners from Mike Glaspie’s Fairmeade Farm.

These Included 1964 Futurity winner Clockless, the outstanding filly Faironda, and the good handicap runners Costa Rica, Fleet Runner and Nevasco. In the 1965 Premier’s championship Costa Rica and Fleet Runner completes a rewarding season for Martin with a one-two finish.

California had beckoned Martin and packed up his young family and headed for the big time to train for Vancouver construction man Colin Campbell.

Martin quickly established his credentials by saddling Everything Lovely (a daughter of British Columbia-bred Glenzel) to capture four stakes at four different distances, and by winning three straight allowance races with Nechako. Nechako was one of the favourites for the 1967 Santa Anita Derby when he was sidelined with an ankle injury.

In 1970 Martin ended his exclusive association with Campbell and formed a public stable. The main sponsor in the new arrangement was Vancouver industrialist Frank McMahon. He won stakes with Crown The Prince. Gold Standard and achieved his most notable success with Diablo.

Diablo won the Del Mar Futurity and the California Derby and then completed the Triple Crown in 1975, finishing third to Foolish Pleasure in the Kentucky Derby, third to Master Derby in the Preakness, and fourth to Avatar in the Belmont.

In all, Martin won 20 stakes in Southern California before returning to Vancouver in 1985. He developed Uncle Blan into one of the top three-year-olds in 1987, won the 1989 Futurity with Golden Pursuit and among his 52 winners last season was Liberation heroine Aero Duchess.