Hall of Fame

J. Elgin Armstrong was born on a farm near Brampton, Ontario in 1897. He made a good living as a farmer, cattle breeder and later as a contractor-builder of many of Canada's highways and airport runways. When he turned to racing harness horses he was equally successful. His filly Helicopter was the first Canadian-owned horse to win the Hambletonian. She later produced Ontario's leading trotting sire Armbro Jet, as well as Armbro Flight, winner of the 1966 Roosevelt International. Armstrong-bred horses have won many major stakes, including the Little Brown Jug, the Cane and the Messenger. A member of The Hambletonian Society and trustee of The Trotting Horse Museum/Hall of Fame of the Trotter, now known as the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, J. Elgin Armstrong died in 1978 in Pompano Beach, Florida.