Harness: Profile of trainer Shawn Steacy

What kind of car do you drive?

Chevy Impala.

Favorite dinner meal? Snack?

Steak and lobster; popcorn.

What is your favorite track to race at?

The Meadowlands. It has atmosphere and history. You feel like you are special when you win there.

What is your favorite big event in racing?

The Hambletonian. It is the mecca race and the one that truly shows horsemanship. If you can find a horse that is good enough to win the Hambletonian, I believe it shows that you are a good all-around horseman.

How often is racing on your mind?

Nearly 24/7.

What is your favorite thing to do outside of racing?

Relax at home with family. I'm engaged to be married and have a stepson. Along with my parents, we are a close family.

What is your favorite sport to watch? Team?

Hockey – Toronto Maple Leafs.

What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know?

I take the losses harder than I let on.

What is one word that describes harness racing for you?

Lifestyle.

How did you get started in the sport?

I'm second generation. I was born into it. My dad did it since he was a young kid. I’ve done it my whole life and it is the only thing I've really known.

Was there ever a chance you wouldn't have been involved in the sport?

No. This was the only thing I was ever meant to do and the only thing I've ever wanted to do.

What did all the years working under your dad, Mark, teach you?

Patience and hard work will help you persevere.

What changed in 2019 that you started training?

Nothing really changed for the overall operation. It is still an equally divided family stable/business between my dad, myself, my brother (Clarke), and all of our family. The only difference is the name on the paper.

I've seen you and your dad at the track and at the sales. Where is your brother hiding?

My brother stays closer to home. He runs our farm and handles the babies. He's a catch-driver, too. He's a good man. People don't hear about him as much, but he's the man behind the scenes that does as much hard work as anybody.

Has your role changed at all now that you are down as trainer?

I don't think it has changed overall. My dad and I divide the workload overall. He is responsible for a lot of the management stuff and I run a lot of the day-to-day operations. But it is a combined effort where we discuss everything before we do it.

Tell me about the LandMark Racing Stables. How does it work in terms of horse ownership?

I think we are on LandMark 12 or 13 now. The SBOA chose my dad to be one of the trainers for the organization about 13 years ago and since then we decided that we could do something similar and tweak it to make it more beneficial for the fractional ownership model.

People can buy a share of LandMark for $2,000 and that covers all of the expenses for two years. You get the enjoyment of watching your horses with no bills. Everything is pre-paid into the $2,000 share. The LandMark company owns usually 50% of three to five horses each year.

How many people are in LandMark each year?

Usually between 100 and 125 shares are sold. Some people buy multiple shares, so usually there are about 35 shareholders.

If you do the math, you are not making much money on this venture, are you?

Through experience of doing this a few years, we have pre-budgeted approximately what it will cost to keep those horses for that amount of time. That is what the $2,000 is for. We don’t distribute any money back until the company disperses at the end of the two years. You get two years of free entertainment watching your horses all over Canada and sometimes the United States. Usually people get a check back for about $1,300 to $1,500. If you have a good go with the right horses, you might get back $2,700 to $3,000. It is designed that people aren’t going to lose a lot of money and it is also unlikely that people are going to get rich off it, but it will provide plenty of entertainment.

Isn't it possible that the shareholders could hit that 'Home Run' type horse?

Around LandMark 9, we had a horse called Harper Blue Chip, and the shareholders had so much fun because he ended up as Ontario Horse of the Year and he finished third in the Hambletonian final. They packed up their families and came down to the Meadowlands to watch the race. There was a couple-hundred people in the stands. At the end of two years, they walked away with a substantial profit.

What is the best advice you've ever gotten about harness racing?

The highest are high and the lows are low. Just try to stay as level as possible through the course of it.

What was your favorite moment in harness racing?

I've had a few moments that have been really exciting. We won the Canadian Trotting Classic with Majestic Son in 2006. He was in with Glidemaster, Chocolatier and other good horses like that. He won convincingly and stamped him as not just as a Canadian champion, but a Grand Circuit champion. It was also nice to win a Million-dollar race.

Which is the best horse you've ever been involved with?

Majestic Son. He was in a freakishly special league of horse.

Which horse is/was your favorite?

I had a little horse called Priceless Edition. He ended up making about $500,000 in his career. He was a 'B' Track Preferred style horse, but he had the best demeanor and the best gait. I drove him a bit and he basically drove himself. You could ride him. He was more a great pet than anything. We got involved with him through a very special owner who is not with us anymore, Peter Heffering from Tara Hills Stud. That was another reason it made that horse special, being involved with Peter.

What’s the one race that you really want to win?

I'm not going to die until I win the Hambletonian. I might be 150 years old by then, but I'm going to win that race one day.

Do you have a current horse with a shot at that goal?

We have a nice colt named Nylander. He has a big engine in him. He has a couple of little quirks and flaws, but he has some of the characteristics of what a horse at that level has. He’s our best chance this year. We also have a couple of nice 2-year-olds that I’m hoping for the future, too, but nothing that jumps off the page at the moment.

How many horses do you have in your barn?

We have a total of about 65 right now.

You’ve driven a lot more in 2020. Any reason why?

No particular reason. I've been driving some of the greener horses on the 'B' tracks to take care of them and not abuse them in their first starts. When the money is down and the big races are on the lines, I usually pass the lines to someone good, like James MacDonald or someone like that.

Which are the horse(s) you are most looking forward to racing in 2020?

Nylander is a big excitement for us. We are hoping he will take us to that Grand Circuit level. We have a couple of 2-year-old trotters, a Father Patrick colt and a Muscle Mass trotting filly that looks pretty good right now for the Ontario Sire Stakes.

If you could choose any horse in history to train, which horse would it be and why?

I have two. Muscle Hill is one of, if not the greatest, of all-time. He was flawless in everything that he did. A horse like that would be special. Another one, who was a touch before my time, is Mack Lobell. Like Muscle Hill, he could've been the best ever, but he didn’t look as natural. Because of Chuck Sylvester and John Campbell, that horse was as good as he was. So I would've liked to have been involved to see what they did to keep him at the top level and the changes they made to make him as great as he was.

How did COVID-19 affected your life and business?

My day-to-day routine never changed, I just stopped racing in the evening and making money from purses. We kept a full crew the whole time. We never changed our routine with the babies. Our 3-year-olds and older horses, we just maintained them; full training, just never pressed the issue. On a personal level, it just made nights move a lot slower.

Do you have any worries about racing in the U.S. or being allowed here for the yearling sales?

The concern is being allowed to come and being allowed to come home as well, without having to quarantine. With the amount of races that everyone is involved in right now, nobody can afford to stay home and quarantine for two weeks. It is a scary thought to not be able to go. That Nylander horse and a couple of others, we would love to be able to take down and race in the Grand Circuit events and some Sire Stakes. I don't really like to send horses to other trainers. I don’t have anything against anyone, but I like to be hands-on and do things our way. I'm hoping we don’t have to send them to anyone else. We'll do what we have to in order to get horses raced.

If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be?

I'm not sure how, but we need to find a way to change how we market our sport to the general public and get them involved. I think that is the biggest thing we have against us right now, the inability to market our sport as a premier event. I don't know how poker can make it so big on television and harness racing can’t anymore.

Did you see the video Woodbine put out with Doug McNair talking about the race while he was driving?

Herve Filion used to do that years ago. It is interesting to see how people think in the heat of the moment. When you drive as much as a guy like Doug McNair or Herve, everything slows down for them because they are so in their element. They can probably speak clearly about their thoughts while they are happening. It helps the uneducated fan understand what is happening.

How do you view the future of harness racing?

Scary. I think we are in big trouble overall because we are shrinking at such a rapid rate. There are too many other forms of gambling and I think we are getting left behind. Also, more and more every day this is becoming a rich man's sport, where it becomes so expensive to be involved. It is not for the day-to-day people like it used to be. The fair circuit and hobby guys, they can't compete anymore, and it is unfortunate.

Time for the stretch drive:

Best Horse You Ever Saw: Majestic Son and Somebeachsomewhere

Best Driver Ever: John Campbell

Lasix – Yes or No?: No. I think it is overated.

Favorite TV Show?: Married With Children. I’ve probably seen every episode like 400 times. More recently, Two and a Half Men.

Trotters or Pacers?: Trotters. To me they show horsemanship. Pacers are all so fast. Anybody can make a good pacer go.