Bunty Lawless was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 who in 1951 was voted Canada's "Horse of the Half-Century".

Racing during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 of the 1930s, Bunty Lawless competed for purse money that was very small. At age two, Bunty Lawless finished first or second in all but one of his ten races. The one time he was out of the money that year was in the Cup and Saucer Stakes

Cup and Saucer Stakes

The Cup and Saucer Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race held annually in October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Open to two-year-old horses foaled in Canada, it is currently run at a distance of 11/16 miles on turf. The race was known as Mrs...

, when his equipment broke. In 1938, the horse was the top 3-year-old in Canada and his victory in the King's Plate

Queen's Plate

The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...

, his country's most prestigious race, was enormously popular with the public. In an era when millionaires still dominated Thoroughbred horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

, the owner and breeder of Bunty Lawless was the exact opposite. The working man's hero, Willie Morrissey grew up penniless in the poorest section of Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, worked as a newsboy

Newsboy

-Personal nicknames:* "Newsboy", a horse-racing tipster writing in The Daily Mirror* Jeremy Wells, a television personality-Other uses:* Newsvendor model, a demand forecasting model from operations research,...

, then went on to become a successful hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

 owner and boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 promoter. At the race track

Race track

A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...

 he sat in the cheap grandstand

Grandstand

A grandstand is a large and normally permanent structure for seating spectators, most often at a racetrack. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap all or most of the way...

 seats with the rest of the crowd and was frowned upon by the aristocratic

Aristocracy

Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...

 elite owners in their top hat

Top hat

A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...

s and tails

Black tie

Black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions. For a man, the main component is a usually black jacket, known as a dinner jacket or tuxedo...

, seated in their exclusive viewing boxes.

After winning the King's Plate, Bunty Lawless ran second to Mona Bell

Mona Bell

Mona Bell was an American rodeo rider, newspaper reporter, and the mistress of entrepreneur Samuel Hill.Born in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, she went for one year to the University of North Dakota across the state line in Grand Forks, North Dakota; she apparently stood out there for her skills at...

 in the 1938 Breeders' Stakes

Breeders' Stakes

The Breeders' Stakes is a Canadian stakes race for Thoroughbred race horses first run in 1889. Since 1959 it has been the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown for three-year-olds...

 then won the Canadian Championship Stakes

Canadian International Stakes

The Canadian International Stakes is a $2 million Grade I Canadian stakes race on Turf for thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and up held annually in October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario....

.

Retired to stud

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

, Bunty Lawless proved an exceptional sire

Father

A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...

 and was Canada's leading sire four times. His offspring includes the 1949 King's Plate winner Epic and 1946 Breeders' Stakes

Breeders' Stakes

The Breeders' Stakes is a Canadian stakes race for Thoroughbred race horses first run in 1889. Since 1959 it has been the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown for three-year-olds...

 winner Windfields

Windfields

Windfields was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who was the first stakes race winner bred by E. P. Taylor and for whom he would name his world famous Windfields Farm....

, for whom E. P. Taylor

E. P. Taylor

Edward Plunket Taylor was a Canadian business tycoon and famous breeder of thoroughbred race horses. Known to his friends as "Eddie", he is universally recorded as "E. P...

 would name his famous farm

Windfields Farm

Windfields Farm is a six square kilometre thoroughbred horse breeding farm founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated with a property near the city of Toronto known as Parkwood Stable when it was owned by...

. Bunty Lawless is also the grandsire of Mint Copy, the dam of Deputy Minister

Deputy Minister (horse)

Deputy Minister was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred horse racing Champion. At age two, he won eight out of his nine starts and was voted the 1981 Sovereign and Eclipse Award winner as North American Champion 2-Yr-Old, and was also voted Canada's Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year...

, who became an influential sire whose descendants include the famed fillies Open Mind

Open Mind (horse)

Open Mind was an American Thoroughbred racing filly. In 1988, at two years of age, she won the Eclipse Award for American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. In 1989, at three, she won the award as American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly...

 (winner of the 1988 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies

The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies is a 1 1/16-mile thoroughbred horse race on dirt for two-year-old fillies run annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships.-Automatic Berths:Beginning in 2007, the Breeders' Cup...

 and 1989 Triple Tiara

Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing

The Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing, formerly known as the Filly Triple Crown, is a set of three horse races in the United States which is open to three year old fillies...

) and Go For Wand

Go For Wand

Go For Wand was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse.Sired by Canadian Hall of Famer Deputy Minister, out of Obeah . Go For Wand was foaled and raised at Jane du Pont Lunger's Christiana Stables...

 (winner of the 1989 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies). His other descendants include Canadian Horse of the Year

Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year

The Canadian Horse of the Year is a thoroughbred horse racing honor given annually since 1951 by the Jockey Club of Canada. It is the most prestigious honor in Canadian thoroughbred horse racing....

 and Hall of Fame inductee Victoria Park

Victoria Park (horse)

Victoria Park was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse. A grandson of American Triple Crown champion Gallant Fox, he was the first Canadian-bred horse to place in an American Triple Crown race...

.