Trainer Antonio Arriaga with trainee Johnny Hockey at the Saratoga Race Course on July 17, 2026 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Skip Dickstein
The United States’ Zach Werenski (8) poses with Noa, the daughter of late player Johnny Gaudreau, after a men’s ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026.
Petr David Josek/AP
United States players pose for pictures with the jersey of the late Johnny Gaudreau (13) with his daughter Noa and son Johnny after their win over Canada in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026.
David J. Phillip/AP
Nearly two years ago, on Aug. 29, 2024, Vincent Conanan’s phone started blowing up with text messages. That’s how he learned that his high school friend and hockey rival Johnny Gaudreau and Gaudreau’s brother Matthew had been killed when they were struck by an allegedly drunk driver as they were biking in New Jersey on the day before their sister’s wedding.
Conanan was thunderstruck, as was the NHL community. A forward for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, Gaudreau began his professional career in 2014 with the Calgary Flames, a career that seemed unlikely for a kid from New Jersey who stood at 5-foot-9.
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It was in New Jersey that Conanan and Gaudreau met when they were 13 years old. Conanan played for the Red Bank Generals, an elite youth hockey team based in New Jersey. Gaudreau played for the rival Little Flyers from 2004 to 2009.
“We played against each other for five years,” said Conanen, who grew up on Staten Island and now lives in Colts Neck, N.J. “All of the best players in the Atlantic District would get together for development camp, and the 10 best would go to the U.S. player development camp in Rochester.”
Conanan was one of those 10 players selected to go to Rochester, as was Gaudreau. They were both scouted for the pros, as were three other of their friends and teammates.
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“Out of the five of us, I was the only one that didn’t get drafted,” said Conanan, a touch ruefully.
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He did play junior hockey until he was 21, first as a forward and then as a defenseman, with the U.S. Premier Hockey League’s New Jersey Hitmen and the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League’s Metropolitan Moose in Brooklyn.
Columbus Blue Jackets’ Johnny Gaudreau plays during an NHL hockey game, Jan. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia.
Matt Slocum/Associated Press
When he was done playing hockey, Conanan went into the construction business, through which he met thoroughbred owner/breeder Robert Bruno.
“He got me into horse racing,” said Conanan. “That was five years ago.”
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Now Conanan owns about 40 horses, including six broodmares that he foals at Stonegate Stables in Fort Edward.
Last October, he bought a chestnut yearling colt for $72,000, and to honor Gaudreau, Conanan named the colt Johnny Hockey, the nickname Gaudreau picked up while playing for Boston College’s team. The two had stayed in touch until Gaudreau went to college, occasionally seeing each other during summer training camps.
“I’m still a big hockey guy,” he said, noting that he was vacationing on the Jersey Shore with his family and the families of some of his former teammates, an annual tradition. “I wanted to name a horse after my childhood friend who made an impact in the hockey world.”
Johnny Hockey runs in the first race at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday. He’s the longest shot in the field at 30-1, and he’s up against a potential monster in 8-5 morning-line favorite Powerline, a son of Flightline that sold at last summer’s Saratoga yearling sale for $1.8 million. Conanan has also entered Jack’s Golden Goal in the race, named for Jack Hughes’ overtime winner against Canada in this year’s Olympic gold medal game in Milan.
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After Hughes’ winning goal, the members of the U.S. men’s hockey team brought Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey onto the ice, then brought his two oldest children onto the ice to join in the team photo.
The United States’ Dylan Larkin (21) holds Johnny, the son of the late playe Johnny Gaudreau while posing with teammates after a men’s ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Petr David Josek/AP
Jack’s Golden Goal is 6-1, and both horses are trained by Antonio Arriaga.
Johnny Hockey has raced three times in the last month, most recently on July 11 at Saratoga, when he was a well-beaten fourth-place. His best result so far is a distant third at Aqueduct on June 25. On Saturday he returns to the turf, stretching out to six furlongs, after running his last two races on the dirt.
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“I do think he’ll improve when he stretches out,” said Conanan. “I think he wants a mile on the turf.”
Conanan’s 7-year-old son plays hockey, too, and he said that he frequently reminds him that win or lose, the game should always be about fun. And while Conanan applies that maxim to horse racing, too, a game with which he’s fallen in love and invested heavily, a Johnny Hockey win, on Saturday or in the future, would be especially meaningful.
“Johnny was one of the humblest people you’ll ever meet,” he went on. “He was the smallest guy on the ice, and nothing ever stopped him. People told him that he’d never make it in the NHL, but he just grinded it out his whole life. Johnny Hockey is on the small side, and we hope that he’ll make it, too.”
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