Johnny Gaudreau’s legacy honoured as two namesake horses meet at Belmont

Johnny Gaudreau’s impact will reach beyond the rink this weekend, as two racehorses named in his honour line up in the same Grade 1 event. On Saturday at Belmont Park, two-year-old colts Johnny Hockey and Gaudreau will contest the Champagne Stakes, a key prep race that awards the winner a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Childhood teammate and Columbus connection fuel tributes

The idea for Johnny Hockey came from Vincent Conanan, who grew up playing hockey with and against Gaudreau as teenagers. Conanan buys yearlings each year for his Next Level Stables operation and, after his young son kept asking about "Johnny Hockey," he committed to naming a promising colt after the former NHL star. When a trainer at his Ocala, Fla., farm told him one horse always tried hard and “had a big heart,” Conanan felt it matched Gaudreau’s reputation as an undersized but determined player and chose the nickname for that colt.

Devon Bradley of Bradley Thoroughbreds arrived at a similar tribute from a different path. Having gone to school in the Columbus, Ohio, area, where Gaudreau finished his NHL career with the Blue Jackets, Bradley was struck by the praise that poured in after his death. She registered both Johnny Hockey and Gaudreau as potential names, inspired further when U.S. Olympic players brought Gaudreau’s children onto the ice to skate with his No. 13 jersey after winning gold in Milan.

When Bradley later moved to name the son of Nyquist — a horse whose name also resonates in hockey circles because of Gustav Nyquist — and Free Cover, she discovered Johnny Hockey was already taken. She instead chose Gaudreau for the colt now owned by a partnership including Tanglewood Thoroughbreds, Thirty Year Racing, Rodeo Creek Racing, Laura Leigh Stable and Swift Thoroughbreds.

Racing spotlight after a tragedy that shook hockey

Johnny Hockey and Gaudreau were foaled about a month apart in the winter of 2024. Months later, on Aug. 29, 2024, Johnny and his brother Matthew were killed when they were struck while riding bicycles near their New Jersey hometown on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding, a loss that resonated far beyond sports.

On the track, Gaudreau broke his maiden on Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course, winning his debut. The following day at Monmouth Park on the Jersey Shore, Johnny Hockey earned his first victory in his fifth start. Conanan says his expectations are high, citing trainer Antonio Arriaga’s reports of a horse that trains relentlessly and wants to keep going around the track.

Favourite versus long shot in the Champagne Stakes

Gaudreau enters the Champagne with significant backing. The colt is trained by five-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown and will be ridden by jockey Flavien Prat, and he has been installed as the second choice on the morning line at 8-5, behind 3-5 favourite U.S.S. Valor. Johnny Hockey is listed at 30-1 in the six-horse field.

Bradley hopes Gaudreau’s talent can help keep Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau’s legacies in the public eye. Conanan, meanwhile, is already thinking ahead to the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., later this fall and hopes to invite Johnny and Matthew’s parents, Guy and Jane Gaudreau, if Johnny Hockey can spring an upset. For him, “this horse is something special,” and a way to reflect the competitive spirit of his late friend.