Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Driver of the Month
for December 2009

Mike Saftic

Driver Mike Saftic in action

Mike Saftic did not hail from a harness racing family, but found his calling nonetheless at his hometown’s Sudbury Downs. Beginning as a groom and advancing first to training and then driving, Saftic gained racing experience at Sudbury.

In 1984, the rising talent moved on to the Toronto circuit, where he hooked up with the Garth Gordon stable to become second trainer and fill in driver — a role which has burgeoned in the years since to bring him wide recognition as a top rate teamster.

Saftic’s face became increasingly familiar on both sides of the border in 1989. He drove Soft
Light in all but two of the horse’s 29 starts on the year, including triumphs in no less than four legs of the North American series, as well as an upset win over Horse of the Year Matt’s Scooter in a Free For All at Mohawk in September.

"It's the people you drive for that makes me successful. It's a trainer's game, and there have been a lot of them. If you don't get the quality horses that are properly trained, it doesn't matter who you are, you will not win. I have been fortunate to be connected with the right people at the right times who have put me in the right situations. You still have to go out and win though when you've been given all that." -----Mike Saftic

Top horse for Saftic in his career was the outstanding pacing mare Ellamony. In 1994, as a 4-
year-old, the daughter of Cam Fella had 12 wins in 19 starts and bankrolled $162,685. Her biggest victory came when she scored in 1:52.3 in the $108,250 Roses Are Red Final at Woodbine.

In 1995, as a 5-year-old, Ellamony was nearly perfect as she recorded 18 wins in 22 starts, with earnings of $527,890. Saftic piloted her to triumphs in the $250,000 Cadillac Breeders Crown Open Mare Pace, the $150,000 Milton Stakes (in the process equaling the national season’s record of 1:53 on a five-eighths-mile track), and the $133,000 Roses Are Red Final. Her spectacular season earned Ellamony the Mare Pacer of the Year title in the year-end balloting.

Saftic was also the exclusive reinsman for the pacing filly Luck Of Michelle. As a freshman in 2006, she was an O’Brien Award winner as the top horse in her class in Canada. The Camluck miss hit the board in each of her 13 starts that year, with nine wins and $615,091 in purses. Luck Of Michelle was victorious in a trio of $114,000-plus Ontario Sire Stakes Gold Finals, as well as $99,858 Robert Stewart Stakes and $94,280 Eternal Camnation divisions. She also earned second place money in the $679,050 She’s A Great Lady Final and the $264,000 Ontario Sire Stakes Super Final. During her sophomore campaign, Luck Of Michelle hit the board in six of 14 starts and banked $181,478. Her biggest payday came with a second place finish in the $231,325 OSS Gold Final at Rideau Carleton.