Shawn Steacy’s Mohawk milestones and Hambletonian dreams
by Melissa Keith
When trotter Outbound Train crossed the finish at Woodbine Mohawk Park on June 24, he brought driver Bob McClure across the line and trainer Shawn Steacy over the $10-million (CDN) mark in career earnings. The Lansdowne, ON native relocated to Guelph in 2011, after getting his start alongside father Mark Steacy at Rideau Carleton Raceway and Hippodrome de Montréal.
Shawn’s first official training victory was with pacer L Weather B on Feb. 28, 2019 at Mohawk, but he said with a laugh that he’s not someone who tracks his own statistics closely. In fact, on Monday (July 14), he told HRU that he was completely unaware he was on the brink of the $10-million breakthrough.
“I had no idea until the day after it happened, when I walked into the barn and someone said it to me,” Shawn said. “A friend, Barry Drury, Jonathan Drury’s father, was the first one to tell me. I didn’t know what to make of it. It hadn’t really registered to me, because we’re a family business.”
The 38-year-old trainer added that he welcomed the news, but he considered it part of the Steacy Stables’ combined efforts.
“It’s really more of an addition to my dad’s lifetime stats,” he said. “It’s a family business. Anything under the Steacy name is a cumulative statistic, in my eyes.”
In 2020, Shawn was awarded his first Johnson Cup for being the leading Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) trainer by seasonal points. He repeated in 2023, following in the footsteps of his father Mark, who had previously brought home three consecutive Johnson Cups (2016-18).
After earning his first OSS training title, Shawn described his horses’ under-the-radar progress in an interview.
“We never really had that one killer kind of horse, we just had a large group of good horses,” he said. “They kind of picked away and picked away all year, compared to maybe some other stables that took big chunks of the pie all at once… They had a couple of really flashy horses, where we just had the lunch pail team.”
Shawn said that the same was true this year.
“It’s kind of the same style of barn, a lunch pail team overall,” he said. “We don’t have any major superstars in the barn… I think we’ll just be a team that chips away this year… Typically, we’re always two weeks or so later to the party [with young horses]. We try to go for freshness late in the season, for the OSS Super Finals.”
Sylvia Hanover’s beginnings reflect that approach. She first qualified July 12, 2022 at Mohawk and broke her maiden there in her first career start, July 26, 2022, in the first leg of the Whenuwishuponastar for driver Bob McClure.
“With our stable, you can ask a lot of the guys who drive for us regularly, typically, as the season goes on, our stable gets stronger when other stables may have plateaued,” Shawn said. “We always find that if we’re not too hard on 2-year-olds, they make better 3-year-olds. That’s what’s worked for us, in a general way.
“We have horses at First Line [Training Centre in Nassagaweya, ON], and our farm in Lansdowne is where they all develop. My brother Clarke [Steacy] starts them, then they come up to First Line to qualify and race. We have a small stable of seven horses in New Jersey right now, so 45 to 50 horses overall… We usually start out with around 60 [per year], and we try to focus on younger horses. That’s kind of the business model that my dad’s had for the past 20 years; sell most of them after the 3-year-old year and replenish with new ones.”
In 2023, Sylvia Hanover (p, 4, 1:47.3m; $1,927,219) was voted Canada’s O’Brien Somebeachsomewhere Horse of the Year, raising Shawn to greater prominence. The striking Always B Miki—Shyaway mare owned by Hudson Standardbred Stable Inc. of Hudson, QC earned O’Brien and Dan Patch Awards at ages 2 and 3. Her two wins so far this year came in the June 7 Mohawk filly and mare preferred for McClure and the Perfect Sting at The Meadowlands June 28 for Tim Tetrick.
Saturday night (July 12), Twin B Joe Fresh turned the tables in the Dorothy Haughton Memorial at The Meadowlands. Shawn said that while his father handles U.S. training duties, he was also there for Sylvia Hanover’s place finish.
“She raced fantastic again, leaving from the 9-hole in :26.1 and still closing in :25.4,” Shawn said. “You couldn’t ask any more of her. Hopefully we reverse post positions next week, if all goes as planned.”
Sylvia Hanover’s next start is in the Clara Barton pace at Plainridge on Sunday (July 20). She dominated the 2024 edition in 1:48.2 for Tetrick.
Monday (July 14) evening at Mohawk, three of the Steacy Stables’ 2-year-old filly trotters went behind the gate in OSS Grassroots action.
Green Moni Queen was an 8-1 winner for McClure in her first lifetime start, drawing clear down the stretch for a 1:56.2 maiden victory.
The Green Manalishi S—Essence of Lindy filly was a $70,000 Harrisburg yearling purchase, owned by the Landmark 18 Racing Stable of Lansdowne, ON, Stephen Downey of Quispamsis, NB, Dan Mogridge of Coldwater, ON, and Mark Steacy.
Sweet Mama T (Muscle Mass—Sweet Ashley T) was a $40,000 Harrisburg yearling, also making her pari-mutuel debut Monday night at Mohawk. Shawn said he was hopeful about her potential.
“She’s a big, powerful filly with a lot of upside to her, I believe,” he said.
Owned by Landmark 18 Racing Stable of Lansdowne, ON, Bertrand Gilhespy Stable of Lake Country, BC, Stephen Downey of Quispamsis, NB, and David Reid of Sydenham, ON, Sweet Mama T faced an outside post position and overland trip, finishing 10th.
Elbows Up (Muscle Mass—Vegas Virgin) captured the final Grassroots leg, winning by a half-length in a front-end trip and taking a mark of 1:58.3 for McClure and Steacy.
“She’s a sister to a really nice filly, Mischevious Rose [4, 1:52.2s; $413,588],” Shawn said. “She’s a pretty athletic filly and will make a nice OSS horse.”
A $30,000 Harrisburg purchase, Elbows Up is owned by Doug Clark of Mississauga, ON, Guy Haskell of Guelph, ON, Mark Steacy, and Cara Steacy of Lansdowne, ON, the wife of Shawn’s brother Clarke.
These wins follow another for Shawn Steacy; he was re-elected as a Central Ontario Standardbred Association (COSA) director on June 30. Eight candidates ran for four positions on the board, Steacy and Woodbine Mohawk Park outrider Joanne Colville were both chosen by voters for another 3-year term. Mohawk driver Tyler Jones and Princeton Farms owner/operator Jesse Belore were newly elected to join them on the board of COSA, which was founded in June 2009 to represent the interests of Ontario harness racing participants.
Shawn said he has additional future goals, but driving is not among them, despite blowing up the Mohawk tote board with Armored Dove (3, 1:54.4s; $13,578) on May 30, 2024. At odds of 78-1, the filly was Ontario’s longest-odds winner last year.
“Usually, I drive to work out little quirks and problems, or to set them up for catch drivers later on,” Shawn told HRU. “I’m too big and too old to drive [regularly], but I drive when I need to figure things out. I trained that horse a lot and I had more confidence in her than anything else. It proves that lightning can strike anywhere.”
His long-range goals include working towards one specific race.
“I want a strong, successful stable and I want to win the Hambletonian,” he said. “If I need to live to be 300 to do it, I will win a Hambletonian.”
Mark Steacy trained the show finisher in the 2014 Hambletonian, Harper Blue Chip (3, 1:54.3s; $882,951), later voted 2014 O’Brien 3-Year-Old Trotting Colt of the Year. His sire, Majestic Son (3, 1:52.2s; $1,756,883), was also trained by Mark; the eventual 2006 O’Brien Horse of the Year was ineligible to the Hambletonian.
As for Hambletonian hopes this year, Shawn told HRU that the Oaks was closer to reality.
“We have a filly that’s on the fence, Grand Reserve [3, 1:53.4f; $44,005],” he said. “She got away a little bit back and the flow didn’t work out [July 12 in the Del Miller Memorial]. She’s got one more start this week to decide, and then we’ll see about the Oaks. Between the owner [Hudson Standardbred Stable] and us, we’ll figure out if we’re going to take that plunge or not.”
