Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Driver of the Month
for October 2006

Stephane Bouchard

Quebec native Stephane Bouchard is another transplanted Canadian who has made the successful transition to driving in the United States. Born December 21, 1966 in Montreal, Quebec, Stephane's green and white colors are now a familiar site at American raceways such as The Meadowlands and Freehold, among others.

Stephane Bouchard

Stephane is the son of a successful barrel racer and followed in his father's footsteps, starting his Western riding career in rodeos at age ten. While attending college, Bouchard began hanging out with his friends at Blue Bonnets Raceway (now the Hippodrome de Montreal) and was soon spending more time at the racetrack than in the classroom.

He first began mucking stalls with trainer Pierre Touchette and Jean Paul Gauthier in Canada and then spent time working in Italy and Germany before returning to the states, where he worked in Florida before finally settling in Goshen, New York. He quickly became one of the top drivers at Yonkers Raceway and in 2000 began driving at Freehold as well, eventually working his way to The Meadowlands in 2001.

Stephane receieved the United States Harness Writers' Association Rising Star Award in 2000 and was named Harness Tracks of America's Driver of the Year in 2001. That season he scored a record-setting 755 wins with earnings of over $5 million. He currently divides his time between driving assignments at Freehold and The Meadowlands.

Stephane Bouchard's Career Driving Statistics (through October 1, 2006)
Year  Starts/Wins/2nds/3rds    Earnings     UDRS
2006 2085      435   330    287      $3,817,057     .342
2005 2979      489   458    431      $3,607,976      .298
2004 2900      549   488    389      $4,068,635      .328
2003 3376      656   552    464      $4,588,188      .331
2002 3122      559   486    396      $4,238,676      .308
2001 3411      754   562    423      $5,088,373      .354
2000 2928      671   538    376      $3,768,891      .374
1999 1376      185   185    194      $1,242,960      .256
1998 1164      168   131    146      $1,573,452      .249
1997 728         99    93       82      $453,696         .245
1996 1435      166 212    183      $1,203,594      .240
1995 1591      218 211     217      $1,331,316      .256
1994 1177      133 152    150       $866,565         .227
1993 225         21    20     35       $91,343           .195
1992 743         93   86    86        $442,829         .228
1991 122        19    10    17       $74,531           .248
1990 199        38    28     29       $107,844         .318
1989 101        28   14    15        $54,760           .404
Total           5,281                     $36,620,686

2006 Archives
September:  Dean Magee
August: Mike Lachance
July: Sam Widger
June: Yannick Gingras
May: Rick Zeron
March: George Brennan
February: Brent Holland
January: Mark MacDonald