Michel "Mike" Lachance (born December 16, 1950 in St. Augustin, Quebec) is a retired harness racing driver. Widely recognized as among the best drivers of all time, his outstanding career began in 1967 in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

. At retirement, he had won 10,253 races and purses totalling $187,710,149. He has been inducted into both the United States and Canadian Harness Racing Halls of Fame.

National Driving Championships and Triple Crown win

The holder of leading driver titles at major racetracks in Canada and the United States, Lachance began driving harness horses as a young boy and in 1967 began driving professionally at age seventeen in

, Quebec. He went on to win driving championships at

Blue Bonnets Raceway The Blue Bonnets Raceway (later named Hippodrome de Montréal) was a horse racing track and casino in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed on October 13, 2009, after 137 years of operation. Demolition of the site began in mid-2018, after sitting ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec. His success in Canada led to a move to the major tracks in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

area in 1982. In 1984 he became the first driver to win 200 races in a single year at both

Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Rooseve ...

and

Yonkers Raceway Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino, founded in 1899 as the Empire City Race Track, is a one-half-mile standardbred harness racing dirt track and slots racino located at the intersection of Central Park Avenue and Yonkers Avenue in Yonkers, New Y ...

. In 1988 Lachance made the

Meadowlands Racetrack The Meadowlands Racetrack (currently referred to as Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment) is a horse racing track at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The track hosts both thoroughbred racing and harness ...

his base. At the mecca of American harness racing he would rank in the top five drivers for fifteen straight seasons. Lachance was the U.S. National Champion in wins for four straight years from 1984 to 1987. In 1986 he set a new North American record with 770 wins. On July 14, 1995, he set a new record for most wins on a single race card with eight. Among his many major career wins were five in the prestigious Little Brown Jug, four

Hambletonian Stakes The Hambletonian Stakes is a major American harness race for three-year-old trotting horses, named in honor of Hambletonian 10, a foundation sire of the Standardbred horse breed, also known as the "Father of the American Trotter." The first ...

and three

North America Cup The North America Cup is an annual harness racing event for 3-year-old standardbred pacing horses which is held at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Campbellville, Ontario, Canada. The race replaced the Queen City Pace run from 1964 to 1983. From 1984 to ...

races. In 1997 he won the

Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers The Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers consists of these horse races: # Cane Pace, held at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey #Messenger Stakes, held at Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York # Little Brown Jug, held at ...

with Western Dreamer, the only gelding of any breed to ever win a Triple Crown.

Post driving career

Retired from driving, Lachance and his wife Micheline live on their rural farm property in

Millstone Township, New Jersey Millstone Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. It is located within the Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York Metropolitan Area. The township was named for the Millstone River (a major tributar ...

. Still involved as an owner of Standardbred racers, his sons Patrick and Martin have careers in harness racing.''Standardbred Canada'' – December 19, 2015 article titled "Lachance Retires From Driving"
Retrieved September 27, 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lachance, Michel 1950 births Living people Canadian harness racing drivers American harness racing drivers Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductees United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Quebec People from Millstone Township, New Jersey