aime choquette
Trainer Aime Choquette was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada on October 31, 1914, the second son in a family of eight children. As a youth after World War I, Choquette’s life revolved around horses, as they were still being utilized for transportation. When he finished his schooling in 1930 at age 16, he found work at the hosiery mills, but still devoted his free time to horses.
In the 1940s, Choquette and his brother Robert opened the Fair Play Stables at the local fairgrounds. They turned the stable into a thriving business for years, and Aime became one of the best show horse and jumper trainer/riders in Canada.
In 1952 at the age of 38, Choquette decided to leave Sherbrooke and head south to the United States to work in the increasingly popular sport of harness racing. At Ben White Raceway in Orlando, Florida, he was promptly hired as a groom by Jimmy Arthur, who was second trainer for the Delvin Miller Stable. Miller was one of the premier trainers in all of harness racing, with world champions Tar Heel p,4,T1:57 ($119,148), Lusty Song 3,2:02 ($124,941), Arndon 3,T1:54 ($272,023), Helicopter 3,2:02.3 ($99,559), Countess Vivian p,3,1:59 ($43,262) and Stenographer 3,T1:59.1 ($169,434) all in his stable. Miller also stood the great stallion Adios p,T1:57½ ($33,329) at his Meadow Lands farm in Pennsylvania.
Miller selected Choquette to take his top trotter at the time, Great Lullwater 5,2:00.3 ($259,997), to France to compete in the 1959 Prix d’Amerique. The horse did not fare well, but when they returned Miller promoted Choquette to second trainer. Choquette worked with Miller for 52 years and helped develop some of the greatest Standardbred racehorses in the sport. During that span he helped with the training of world champions Dancer Hanover p,4,T1:56.4 ($87,746), Tarport Hap p,4,1:56.3f ($688,664), Meadow Skipper p,3,1:55.1 ($428,057), Tyler B p,3,1:55.1 ($687,388) and many other top racehorses.
Perhaps the shining moment of Choquette’s career at the stable was when Miller sent him with trotting mare Delmonica Hanover 6,1:59.2 ($832,925) back to France to compete in the 1974 Prix d’Amerique. With the talented Hans Fromming driving, Delmonica Hanover won the event over the great Une De Mai and sixteen other rivals.
Along with training horses, Choquette also trained and educated many caretakers who went on to become familiar names and prominent executives in harness racing. The list includes Andy Grant and Tom Charters of the Hambletonian Society, John Cashman of Castleton Farm, Jerry Monahan of the Red Mile, Bob Luehrman of the USTA, and Jim Moran of Vernon Downs.
Choquette retired from training in 1984 and settled in Pompano Beach, Florida. In 1991 he was awarded the Dick Baker Second Trainer Award by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA). In 1998 the Florida Chapter of USHWA honored Choquette as the first recipient of the Delvin Miller Award, and in 2010 inducted him into the Florida Harness Racing Hall of Fame. In 2014, honoring his 100th birthday, the Keystone Chapter of USHWA presented Choquette with their most prestigious honor, the Mary Lib Miller Award.
Aime Choquette passed away on January 24, 2017 at the age of 102.