As a curler, Pierre Charette is no stranger to the national spotlight, finding world class success on numerous occasions. Away from the rink, Charette’s passion is harness racing, and his goals are no less
ambitious.
Story by Perry Lefko.
Pierre Charette could walk into a curling venue or competition in Canada and chances are someone would probably stop to talk to him about his career or maybe even ask him for an autograph, but he could wander around a racetrack and no one would have any idea who he is or what he’s done in his accomplished athletic career.
Back in the ‘90s, Charette played on a Quebec team that made it to the final of the Brier, the national men’s championship, in back-to-back seasons and was led by a quirky teammate who became famous for his funny antics and his unkempt hair. Charette also holds the Brier record as the only person to have participated as a skip, third, second, lead and alternate. He was, and to a certain degree still is, a star in a sport that is uniquely Canadian. He is still actively involved as the president of the World Competitive Curlers Association and occasionally plays in an elite event. Between that, managing two golf courses, running a small business and being a husband and a father, his schedule is fairly busy. But his hobby is buying, racing and breeding standardbred racehorses.
Charette owns horses himself and in partnership with others, including trainer Luc Blais, a longtime friend, his brother Jacques Blais and his uncle Michel Blais. Their best horse is Frankies Dragon, a four-year-old colt by Dragon Again, who has raced 49 times and has won more than $161,000. In 2013, Frankies Dragon has won four of 19 starts, his most important victory in the $43,500 Beat the Heat Stakes at Mohawk in July by 4½ lengths and taking a mark of 1:48.4.
“I’ve only got so much money to put into this (hobby), and if it runs dry, it runs dry,” Charette said. “I’ve been lucky that I’ve done well with horses with the little amount I paid for them, but even then it’s hard to make ends meet every month.”
Charette became acquainted with Blais through hockey. Charette coached minor hockey in Quebec after playing competitively as a centre at a level just below Major Junior. Blais’ other brother Charles, played on the Midget team coached by Charette, while Luc played on a Bantam team.
Charette, Luc, Jacques, and Michel Blais would go on to own a Quebec-bred together, Illico Grade, that raced in the late ‘80s. The horse won a cheap stakes race as a two-year-old in Trois-Rivieres, but flopped as a three-year-old and was sold. Charette decided at that point to exit from the game.
Charette worked as a golf pro and curled competitively, skipping a Quebec entry in the 1989 Brier, his first time playing in the event. He skipped another Briar team in 1993. But it was in 1998 and ’99, while playing third for Guy Hemmings, that Charette enjoyed his greatest success as a curler. Charette had approached Hemmings with the idea of a starting a new team in which he (Hemmings) would skip. Charette did not mind dropping back one spot in the rotation because he wanted to win regardless of his position, but understood strategy and how to impart that to Hemmings. In the ’98 Brier in Winnipeg, Hemmings, a somewhat shy and reserved individual, morphed into a colourful personality, making critical shots and becoming the centre of attention of the adoring crowds and media. In the final, a power outage in the arena caused the lights to turn off and temporarily suspended the game in which Hemmings’ team was trailing. Hemmings, looking to have some fun, changed the scoreboard to put his team in the lead. While the Quebec team lost the game, they began a torrid streak the next season on the cashspiel circuit and advanced to the Brier final again. The crowd wanted the team to win, but once again it came up short. Hemmings decided to make a change in the lineup after that and Charette wasn’t part of the new team. Hemmings qualified for the Brier in 2001 and 2003, but didn’t enjoy the same success. Charette, meanwhile, continued to curl and appeared in two more Briers, as a skip in 2007 and an alternate in 2013.
The magical time spent with Hemmings remains etched in Charette’s memory, if only because it was so surreal.
“We had those two fantastic years and wherever we were in Canada everybody would recognize us, but when we got back home people didn’t even know I curled,” he said. “When you went out to curl in Western Canada or Ontario, you knew you’d sign autographs, you knew you’d be bothered in the restaurant, but when you got back home you would get back to normal. It was like curling didn’t exist around there. People will come up to me now and talk about the Brier in ’98 and how much fun we were to watch, and ask me for autographs and it’s been 15 years.
“We were just four guys that clicked. It didn’t matter what the score was part way through, we always found a way to win. It was pretty amazing. When Guy made a draw to the button against Saskatchewan to win the semis in front of over 17,000 fans in Edmonton, it was the loudest cheer I’ve ever heard in curling. That was a moment in time I’ll never forget. It was pretty special. To this day, a lot of people call me Guy. Or they’ll come up to me and say, ‘You’ve got to tell me how Guy’s doing.’ A lot of people will say ‘You guys are the reason I started watching curling.’”
In 2008, Charette re-entered the horse racing game, teaming up with Jacques Blais, buying a couple of yearlings at the Harrisburg Sale: Mood Rings a $7,000 Artiscape filly, and Dans Ideal, a $7,000 Western Ideal colt. Luc was the trainer.
“I’m a gambler at heart,” Charette said. “It was at a point where I could afford it. I didn’t want to go in there with just anybody. I would not be in the horse racing business if Luc was not my trainer.”
Mood Rings earned just over $20,000 in two years of racing, mainly at Rideau-Carleton in Ottawa, was sold privately, and has just had her first foal. Dans Ideal was sold, and still races in the Maritimes, with lifetime earnings of just over $20,000 also.
In 2009, Charette once again attended the Harrisburg Sale and paid $4,000 for Done Fooln Witcha, a filly by I Am A Fool out of the Real Artist mare Real Fool.
The filly was big but well proportioned. Taking a mark of 1:54f at age four, she would become the foundation of Charette’s stable as a racehorse, and hopefully in the future as a broodmare. The now five-year-old has banked almost $70,000 in 59 career starts and will likely be bred next year.
In 2010, the yearling half-brother to Done Fooln Witcha was consigned to the Harrisburg Yearling Sale and also caught Charette’s attention. Smaller but stockier than his half-sister, the Dragon Again colt drew impressive praise from horseman Yves Filion, a friend of Charette’s who gave the colt a full examination. Charette paid $9,000 and changed its name from Frankie and Dana to Frankies Dragon. The young horse had some initial problems, hitting his head and taking some chunks out of an area near one of his eyes in a training collision with the gate while being broken. Then he cut up both of his back legs in a paddock mishap. Slowly the colt rounded into a racehorse, and today he counts as the 7th fastest son of Dragon Again.
In 2010, Charette was also part of a 10-person group, Les Ecuries Meritas, that invested $10,000 a piece and bought two three-year-old racehorses at the Harrisburg Mixed Sale. A Bettors Delight colt called SNP Blue Chip that cost $32,000 and a Ken Warkentin colt called Celebrity Ferrari that cost $26,000. The group also purchased a $17,000 Kadabra yearling filly, Parlor Trick. The partnership had little success because the racehorses didn’t perform to expectations and the filly never made it to the races. SNP Blue Chip was claimed for $12,000 and Celebrity Ferrari eventually sold privately for just $3,000. A year and a half after the partnership began, it dissolved.
Frankies Dragon has given Charette his biggest thrill so far as a racehorse owner, winning the stakes race in July. He had finished second in the first leg of the series and won the next… going into the final as the 1-2 favourite. During the race, Charette thought the horse was in trouble when parked to the half in 53.3 from post seven. “I just thought, ‘Shoot, we’re dead. Who can survive being on the outside for a half a mile in 53.3?’” Charette said. The bay horse then tripped the teletimer past the ¾ pole in an astonishing 1:20.2 and was on top by three lengths. But even off of those hot fractions he only widened the margin from thereto the wire. “It was amazing (to win). It was exactly what we hoped for getting ready for that race. In the winter time, we said our goal was to win that race. We figured he was good enough to win it. We knew he had lots in the tank. Luc is one of the best at preparing a horse for a big race. He proved it with Intimidate time and time again. We think alike when it comes to horses.”
Charette understands that it’s important to keep his expectations reasonable. But that doesn’t stop him from mentioning his top pacer in the same breath as Foiled Again, one of the greatest standardbreds ever to race.
“You can’t compare Frankies Dragon to Foiled Again, but Foiled Again was not great at three,” Charette said. “But he got better and better as he got older, and I was reading a story in Trot that said he sleeps in his stall a lot, and he lies down a lot, and that’s exactly what Frankie does, which is not too common in horses. Every day he takes a nap, which is kind of funny.”
Charette became fascinated with Real Fool, the dam of Done Fooln Witcha and Frankies Dragon and was able to acquire the mare from her previous owner, who was based in B.C. and had a personal rule of not breeding a broodmare more than four times. He was looking for a good home for her and agreed to give her to Charette, who paid for the shipping to Luc Blais’ farm in Quebec. Charette bred her to No Pan Intended and the result produced a colt that is now a weanling and will be registered with the name Fore Real. Real Fool is currently carrying a foal by Big Jim.
Charette and Luc Blais also co-own a two-year-old Dragon Again colt pacer, What I Believe, purchased for $5,500 as a yearling at Harrisburg. “He’s my next prospect. I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Charette said. “He was born in June and was small at the auction and Luc wasn’t sold on him, but I followed my gut and bought him anyway. We took our time with him and now he’s a monster. He looks like a beast. Luc became a partner and that shows me that he has a lot of confidence in him.” In his first pari-mutuel start at two, the colt toured Mohawk in 1:56.1, closing a final quarter in :27.1.
Charette is also part of a four-person syndicate with the Blais family in Face To Face, a two-year-old Camluck filly pacer purchased at Harrisburg for $17,000 as a yearling. She is expected to race as a three-year-old.
“I’m not in this to make a lot of money, but it’s fun if everything pays for itself and every once in a while you have a good horse,” Charette said. “I’ve got an amount of money I’m willing to put in every year and right now it’s kept me going for five years. Sometimes the well is running close to dry, but at the end of last year Frankie won five of his last seven and won some races in July and we’re giving him a break. I’m hoping we’ll be okay with Frankie and he’ll keep me going again.
“The industry is very difficult and the purses recently went down. It costs a lot of money to get a horse trained in Toronto. I really believe in young horses. I would not claim a horse. You don’t know what you’re buying. You don’t know if the horse, was hurt or sick. We bought two racehorses that had absolutely nothing in the tank. I’d rather take a chance on a yearling and know what I fed him, what he does in training and what he’s capable of than buying somebody else’s.
“It’s not Luc’s bag (to claim horses). He loves young horses. All of the horses Luc had success with, they were either born on his farm or he bought at auction. I know Luc. He takes so much care of his horses. He would never race a horse that’s hurt or is sick that he knows about. He takes care of his horses like they were his kids. I respect that and that’s the way I want my trainer to train my horses. Some trainers race and race and race them until the tank is empty and then your horse is done for six months. When Luc’s horses stop at the end of the year, their recuperating period is not too long.
“The only thing is with the business being as tough as it is, I think we have to evaluate the horses really quickly,” Charette added. “We can’t wait and wait and wait. We have to pick the ones we think are going to make it and the other ones we’ve just got to get rid of them. It costs the same thing for a horse that never wins a race and a horse that wins. I don’t know how many races I’ve won so far with my horses, but I’ve probably won more than my fair share compared to a lot of people in horse racing. I’ve had a lot of really good thrills, but the biggest thrill is when you go to an auction and pick one out of one thousand and he does better than most. I’m pretty proud of that. Obviously, there is a lot of luck involved,but at every auction there are some bargains out there. You do your homework, you deal with a great trainer and add sound management, you have a chance.”