Frank Stronach set to face trial in Canada

Frank Stronach, the billionaire founder of The Stronach Group, which has had substantial racing and breeding interests in North America as well as ownership of major racetracks such as Santa Anita, Pimlico and Gulfstream Park, will face trial for historic sexual assault charges in Canada this week.

The start of the initial trial of the 93-year-old in Toronto has been delayed until Thursday because his defence has been receiving “voluminous amounts of new items of disclosure and needs more time to review them”.

Stronach is accused of sexual offences against several women, with some of the allegations dating back nearly 50 years.

The allegations by seven complainants span the period between 1977 and 1990 in Toronto, while he is also set to face a separate trial in Newmarket later this year.

His legal counsel has said he will plead not guilty to all charges.

Frank Stronach is no longer involved with 1/ST, which operates the racetrack interests of the Stronach family. The breeding interests are being split and sold following a bitter family dispute, during which his daughter, Belinda, took control.

Stronach bred and raced more than 225 individual stakes winners, including 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, while he won the Eclipse Award under his own name in 2000 as Outstanding Breeder, then a further seven times under his Adena Spring Farms banner.