“Queen of Fort Erie” Francine Villeneuve dies at 61
June 10, 2026 at 4:50 AM
Francine Villeneuve, the first Canadian woman jockey to win 1,000 races, lost her long fight with cancer June 5 at 61, leaving Fort Erie Race Track to mourn the jockey it crowned its queen.
Villeneuve rode the Fort Erie oval regularly starting in the late 1990s, where she rode Red Hot Doll to her 1,000th career win on October 31, 2011–the same year she retired. The track now grieves the rider its fans crowned the “Queen of Fort Erie.”
She closed her career with 1,001 wins and 3,065 top-three finishes, the most ever by a Canadian woman in the saddle.
The track ranked her its second-leading rider in 2003, and she was inducted into Fort Erie’s Sports Wall of Fame in 2012.
Francine Villeneuve, who died earlier this month, trains horses at Woodbine on May 14, 2018. Credit: Thebackstretchobserver | WikimediaFort Erie Race Track posted a tribute the day after her death.
“A trailblazing pioneer, fierce competitor and true ambassador of our sport, Francine will never be forgotten at Fort Erie Race Track,” the track said in a statement posted June 6.
The Ottawa native, born in 1964, grew up on a farm in Winchester Springs, Ontario. She took a summer job as a hot walker at Woodbine in 1984, then got her jockey licence in 1987.
She rode more than 8,000 mounts across 25 years. Her horses banked close to $15.5 million US.
Her best partner, the filly Wilderness Song, ran second to Dance Smartly in the 1991 Queen’s Plate. Villeneuve then steered the same filly to victory in the Bison City Stakes at Fort Erie.
She guided Autumn Snow to second in the 2005 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.
The Canadian racing community honoured her in 2004 with the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award, given for a major contribution to the sport.
Villeneuve opened a training stable in 2013 and saddled 49 winners, two of them in stakes races.
With fellow rider Amanda Roxborough, she co-founded the Sport of Queens, a low-cost syndicate that let newcomers own a share of a racehorse for a small fee.
A 2022 cancer diagnosis required her to get surgery and chemotherapy. She still earned a jockey agent’s licence the following year.
“I love the sport and I love the horses. It’s my life,” Villeneuve told Woodbine Communications in 2023.
She leaves her husband Bruce Anderson and son Aaron.
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Andrew Hawlitzky
Andrew is a Niagara community journalist who has covered everything from local politics to annual festivals and breaking news. He works to make local news a platform where community voices lead the conversation. "If you don't like the news, go out and make some!"
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