by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Freehold, NJ — Serge Savard has hoisted the Cup. Now, he would like to raise a Jug.

An eight-time winner of the Stanley Cup as a player with the Montreal Canadiens from 1967-81, Savard is among the owners of Little Brown Jug contender Shadow Play.

The Little Brown Jug, for 3-year-old pacers, is the second jewel in the Pacing Triple Crown. The first leg, the Cane Pace, was captured on Labor Day by Art Official. The Jug requires a horse to win two heats to be declared the race’s winner.

Shadow Play won the $350,000 Adios in August and is history’s fastest 3-year-old on a five-eighths-mile track. He has won nine of 18 races this year and $335,678 for Savard, veterinarian Ian Moore, who also is the colt’s trainer, and the RG McGroup’s Ron and Gail McLellan.

“It’s like buying a lottery ticket to have a horse in that prestigious race. I’m really looking forward to it,” the 62-year-old Savard said. “We think we have a decent shot, so it’s fun. When you reach that level, it’s always very exciting.”

Serge Savard

Savard, a defenseman who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986 and helped Montreal win two more Stanley Cup championships as a senior executive with the club, first became involved in harness racing as an owner in the 1970s with trainer Jack Kopas. After more than a decade away from the sport, he returned with Moore and Shadow Play.

Fittingly, hockey led Savard to Moore. Savard and his son, Serge Jr., own a team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The team, named the Rocket after legendary Canadiens’ star Maurice Richard, was located in Montreal originally, but moved to Moore’s hometown of Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island a few years ago.

“Horse racing is very popular there. One day I told my son we should buy a piece of a horse with Dr. Moore just to be involved locally,” Savard said. “We told Dr. Moore and he came back to us a year later and said he’d just bought one, Shadow Play, and he sold me 25 percent.

Racehorsephoto.com photo

Shadow Play won his Adios elimination in a world record time of 1:48.2.

“It turned out to be a pretty good horse,” Savard added, laughing.

Not that Savard, who with Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe made up the renowned “Big Three” on defense for the Canadiens, is a stranger to good horses. In 1978, his Keith Lobell was third in the Woodrow Wilson while Armbro Vienna, Center Square and Rabbit Road all earned more than $300,000 in their careers.

Savard listed Shadow Play’s win in the Adios as his top moment as an owner.

“I’ve been to a couple big races, but I’ve never been to the Jug,” Savard said. “I cannot win Stanley Cup anymore, but I still have a shot at winning a big race. It’s fun when you’re involved with the right people, and I think I am. They just love the horses. It’s different (than hockey), but for this moment, it is a great thrill.”