Game Changers – Priceless Edition

TORONTO, July 2, 2025 – Once a week, throughout the Mohawk harness racing racing season, Woodbine will profile a horse who has had a life-changing impact on one of their closest connections.

This week, trainer Shawn Steacy, who recently surpassed the $10 million earnings plateau for his career, and Priceless Edition, the now 21-year-old pacer who relied on savvy over sheer horsepower to outpace his competition.

The Millgrove, Ontario-based conditioner with nearly 500 victories to his name credits the sharp-witted bay for the lasting lessons he imparted to a fresh-faced horseman.

Priceless Edition

Foaled: March 17, 2004

Sire: Real Desire

Dam: Precious Delight

Wins-Seconds-Thirds: 67-31-20

Earnings: $627,104

Trainer: Mark Steacy

Owner: Sandra Beback (current)

Breeder: Peter Heffering

Describe the impact a horse like Priceless Edition had on you as a young horseman.

“He was a horse that taught me more than any horse could teach a person at that age. I was about 19 years old when he came into our barn as a yearling. Peter Heffering bred and owned him, and he was out of a really good mare in Precious Delight.

“For whatever reason, the horse was a little immature, but Peter was a good guy, and he was really good to me, so he ended up giving me a third ownership of this horse. I didn’t have any money at the time to buy a horse or anything like that. Peter gifted him to me to get me started and get me interested too.

“So, I got this horse Priceless Edition, trained him down at two, and took a real keen interest in him. I got to drive him when I was just getting my driver’s license, too. He was so smart – he was like push a button, you go, you can stop. He could basically drive himself.

“I had never been able to sit behind a horse that was so handy, and as good as he turned out to be.”

What was the greatest lesson he taught you?

“One thing he taught me about understanding a horse is that there are horses who are sometimes more talented than others, but brains will take a horse a long way. Brains, intelligence, and the ability to relax. That’s what he had that made him better than the average horse. He taught me that brains in a horse and patience for horses, and for people, pay off in the long run.

“There were horses his three-year-old year that were faster, probably better, but he could get himself into places in a race and then relax once he got there and conserve his energy.

“That’s what made him great. Not super, but great in the sense that it made him a better horse than what he probably should have been.”

What race of his was most meaningful to you and why?

“At the start of his career, he won five of his first nine races with me driving. Just to see how the horse progressively got better and smarter, and the same with me in the process, he taught me to be better and smarter and how to drive a horse, too. That little win streak he had was very influential to me.

“He really climbed the ladder right after that streak. The first time I got off driving him, Luc Ouellette drove him and that was kind of his breakout moment. He went in 1:51 around Flamboro [Downs] and that was the moment I thought, ‘Wow, this is a real horse.’”

Three words to describe him?

“Intelligent. Kind. Composed.”

How has he changed your life?

“He changed my life in the sense that he was the first horse and first situation I ever had that put money in my pocket.

“He made me a little bit of money – I sold my share of him – and that got me started as far as I could afford to buy more horses. He was the first domino for me.”

By Matthew Lomon, for Woodbine Entertainment