As a hockey player, Serge Savard ranks among the top 100 players ever to lace up his skates. As a horse owner, it may have taken 40 years, but Savard is taking the harness racing world by storm, treating each big win like he treated his eight Stanley Cup victories... with great importance.
Story by Chris Lomon
Although he’s not the one in the driver’s seat, Hockey Hall of Fame legend Serge Savard continues to be a driving force on the standardbred racing scene.
His performance at hockey’s highest level is undeniable. His career accomplishments are the envy of any player. An eight-time Stanley Cup winner (1968-69, 1971, 1973, 1976-79), a four-time All Star, the recipient of the 1969 Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP) and a Hall of Fame inductee, the honour coming in 1986, Savard thrived against the very best over 17 NHL campaigns.
The defenceman also shone on the international stage, suiting up for Canada in the famous 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. Team Canada sported a record of 4-0-1 when Savard, who missed two of the eight games with a leg injury, was in the lineup
But it’s not only on the ice where the 68-year-old Savard, who was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1994 and a Knight of the National Order of Quebec 10 years later, has enjoyed great success.
Owning standardbred horses began as a hobby nearly 40 years ago for Savard, a casual fan of the sport during his teenage days.
“When I was around 17 or 18, playing for the Junior Canadiens, (fellow NHLer) Carol Vadnais, one of my best friends, took me to Richelieu Park to watch the races,” recalled Savard. “I loved it. And I’ve always loved horses.”
Savard, along with his closest friend and Montreal teammate, John Ferguson, who passed away in 2007, would often spend hours at the racetrack whenever they were afforded the opportunity.
“I would go to the races with John and we’d have a great time,” said Savard. “The more I went, the more I enjoyed it. I even remember the times when John and I and other hockey players would drive in exhibition races at different racetracks. We had a lot of fun doing that, too.”
Eventually, Savard decided to test out the ownership ranks. He began purchasing horses in the mid-1970s, starting with modest-priced claimers, all while he patrolled the blueline as a key contributor to the Canadiens.
It was trainer Jack Kopas that helped put Savard on the racing map, in the form of Keith Lobell, a $15,000 purchase by the conditioner for the player.
Keith Lobell got out of the gates quickly and equaled the world mark for a two-year-old colt pacer on a half-mile track. He went on to record over $220,000 in lifetime earnings.
When Savard was handed the reins as Canadiens General Manager, a post he held from 1983 to 1995, he put his horse racing pursuits on hold.
If he couldn’t devote the time to it he felt he needed to, it would have to wait.
Savard, who still followed the sport intently during his GM days, had no doubt he would eventually get back into the racing game.
It was a trip to eastern Canada that reaffirmed his affinity for the standardbred world.
Savard made the decision to move a junior hockey team he owned to Charlottetown. The franchise started in 1999 in Montreal as an expansion team before he and his family moved it to Prince Edward Island for the 2003-04 season.
He was instantly charmed by the people of P.E.I. and by their love of racing.
“I was so impressed with everyone and their passion for the sport,” he recollected.
It was there where he met respected horsemen, Dr. Ian Moore.
“Dr. Moore had some success with good horses like Astronomical and I asked him, ‘If you buy a horse, I’ll be interested in buying a piece of it,’” recalled Savard. “He came back to us one year later and said, ‘I got one.’ It was Shadow Play.”
Shadow Play made his racing debut on June 21, 2007 in Charlottetown. With Moore at the controls, he pulled away from his rivals with ease to win by 4-1/2 lengths.
The son of The Panderosa - Matts Filly - Matts Scooter would win three times and earn a little more than $30,000 in that freshman campaign that saw him race-timed in 1:51.3 in the $1 million Metro Final, and he would become Savard’s North America Cup contender for 2008. He didn’t advance to the final of that big event after drawing PP #9 in his elimination, but the best would be yet to come.
Shadow Play earned $1,559,822 with a record of 20-9-5 in 49 starts for owners Savard, Moore, and R G McGroup Ltd.
It was Shadow Play’s scintillating score in the famed Little Brown Jug in World Record fashion for two heats (a then-sizzling 1:50 stakes record in the first heat and 1:50.1 in the final) that still brings a smile to Savard’s face.
He sees that triumph as his most prolific sporting moment outside of the arena.
“I have been very fortunate to have experienced so many great accomplishments in my career,” said Savard, who won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to ‘the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey’ in 1979. “As a hockey player and GM, I’ve been involved in celebrating 10 Stanley Cups.
“Winning the Little Brown Jug, it’s different, but still a great thrill,” recalled Savard. “When I won the Jug, it’s probably the best thrill, sports-wise, in my career after hockey.”
He likens Shadow Play to one of the greatest players to ever skate in the NHL.
“To me, ‘Shadow’ was like (Maurice) ‘Rocket’ Richard,” offered Savard, of the legendary Montreal forward and fellow Hall of Famer. “He was all heart. He gave everything he had every time he was on the racetrack.”
It’s obvious just minutes into a conversation with Savard that he still has the same passion and pride for both hockey and harness racing.
As current ‘Special Advisor To The Team President’ of the Montreal Canadians, the thought of seeing the city of Montreal celebrate a 25th Stanley Cup is his hockey dream, but it’s the thought of celebrating a win in standardbred racing’s biggest events that motivates Savard, the horse owner.
Savard and his stable of horses are certainly showing they’ve still got game.
In 2012, Eighteen (named after the number Savard wore throughout his hockey career) took Atlantic Canada’s premier harness racing event, the Gold Cup and Saucer, stopping the teletimer in 1:51-flat.
Recently, Arthur Blue Chip (a son of Shadow Play) took home the hardware for top two-year-old colt pacer at the 25th edition of the annual O’Brien Awards in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
“I love Shadow Play, he’s my favourite,” lauded Savard, who still has a stake in the horse, who was retired to stud in 2009, and whose first crop of two-year-olds impressed greatly in 2013 with progeny earnings of over $1.7 million. “And you can see in Arthur Blue Chip that he has that same big heart.”
Arthur Blue Chip, a $135,000 acquisition at the Harrisburg Yearling Sale, recorded six wins in 11 starts and earned just over $400,000 in his freshman campaign.
His biggest payday didn’t come in victory, but courtesy of a runner-up finish in the $534,500 Governor’s Cup where he was beat just a half-length in 1:51.4. The colt also won three Ontario Sires Stakes Gold events, an elimination of the Metro, The Battle of Waterloo and a division of the Nassagaweya. He took his mark of 1:51.2 in the Metro elimination at Mohawk before being scratched from the $683,000 final.
“My partners weren’t so sure we were going to win the O’Brien Award,” noted Savard, whose son, Serge Jr., was on-hand to accept the award. “But one day, I happened to see a poll on the Standardbred Canada website about our horse and the other finalist (Luck Be Withyou) that made me believe we had a good chance to win. He’s a great competitor who had some tough luck last year.”
Savard, who owns shares of eight horses (six are racing), doesn’t need to be prompted when it comes to likening a young racehorse to a young hockey player.
“I enjoy buying young horses and then bringing them to races,” he said. “Buying a colt, drafting a player, I’ve done both. As a GM, I relied on scouts to help me make good decisions. In racing, I look to the people that know that side of it more than I do. Just like hockey, where you want a build a team through the draft, all with the goal of winning the Stanley Cup, the same applies to racing.
“It’s trying to build a champion,” continued Savard. “It’s not an easy to thing accomplish and just like life, you deal with those ups and downs. But I love the challenge.”
Savard also relishes being part of another winning team.
“I have a great deal of respect for my partners,” he offered. “I am very fortunate to be part of this group. Ron MacLellan is the best guy in the world to pick out a horse. This is not luck. It’s knowledge and hard work. He’ll go back four, five or even six generations to find the right horse. What he brings to the table is invaluable.”
All of which gives Savard reason to believe there is more success to come for him and his partners.
“The goal is to be the best in business,” said Savard. “I just feel very, very lucky.”
It’s something No. 18 could easily apply to both of his sporting success stories.