For more than three quarters of a century, the CFL championship game has been accompanied by the clip-clop of a horse from Calgary.
This was no different this past Thursday, when steed Tuffy Nuff trotted into the lobby of a hotel in Vancouver in advance of Sunday’s Grey Cup matchup pitting the Toronto Argonauts against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Here’s a look at Tuffy’s travels across Canada, bringing a touch of Western hospitality wherever he goes.
Rande Allison kisses Tuffy Nuff as the horse enters the lobby of the Holiday Inn and Suites Vancouver Downtown hotel in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday, Nov. 28, 2014.Ian Kucerak/Postmedia file
Tuffy the horse makes his way into a hotel in downtown Winnipeg on Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, a visit organized by the Calgary Grey Cup Committee.Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press
Drumroll, please! Calgary Pipes and Drums usher in a tradition of the Calgary Grey Cup Committee, with a horse brought into the lobby of the Holiday Inn Downtown Toronto Centre on Friday November 25, 2016.Ernest Doroszuk/Postmedia file
Bill Lundigan, chairman of the Calgary Grey Cup Committee, rides Tuffy into the Metcalfe Hotel in downtown Ottawa on Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, where the horse was officially checked in by desk clerk Waylan Smith. Each year for the Grey Cup, Calgarians bring a horse to the host city — a tradition that dates back to 1948.Julie Oliver/Postmedia file
Tuffy the horse at Chateau Lacombe Hotel ahead of the 106th Grey Cup in Edmonton on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press file
Fletcher Armstrong, past chairman of the Calgary Grey Cup Committee, rides Tuffy the horse to check in for a staycation at the Hilton Garden Inn on Thursday, November 21, 2019. The Grey Cup was held in Calgary that year.Azin Ghaffari/Postmedia file
Diane Wensel rides Tuffy Nuff, the Calgary Grey Cup Committee horse, who is flanked by the Calgary Stampeders Outriders as he arrives at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Regina to check in on Thursday, November 17, 2022.Troy Fleece/Postmedia file
Tuffy the horse is offered some healthy treats in the lobby of a hotel as the annual tradition kicks off Grey Cup festivities ahead of the 110th CFL Grey Cup in Hamilton, Ont., on Thursday, November 16, 2023.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press file
