Since 1997, Melnyk campaigned 59 black-type winners as an owner, including 26 graded stakes winners. He also bred 47 black-type winners, of which 26 he raced as homebreds. He was with a Sovereign Award as Canada’s Outstanding Owner in 2007 and as both Outstanding Owner and Breeder in 2009. His horses won 68 graded stakes in North America, including 10 grade 1s. One of his top horses was Eclipse Award champion sprinter and prominent sire Speightstown , who won the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) (while racing for Eugene and Laura Melnyk). In partnership with Iris Bristow and Laura Melnyk, Eugene Melnyk won two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown in 1998 with Archers Bay , who won the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes but did not start in the Breeders’ Stakes. In 2007 Melnyk Racing Stables’ homebred Sealy Hill became the first filly to win the Canadian Triple Tiara and was named Canada’s 2007 Horse of the Year and later inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2013. Melnyk earned his own place in the Canadian Hall of Fame in 2017.
Bloodhorse – Eric Mitchell – Prominent Owner/Breeder Melnyk Dies at 62
Canadian Thoroughbred – Jennifer Morrison – Eugene Melnyk Lived Life to the Fullest
Melnyk was also a successful thoroughbred horse-racing breeder, twice being named Canada’s top owner. His horses won all three legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, including Archers Bay capturing the ’98 Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes en route to being named Canada’s champion 3-year-old male.
In 2013, Melnyk reduced his horse-racing operation and went from breeding to purchasing yearlings and racing those instead. Melnyk was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Sportsnet – Scanlan – Eugene Melnyk will always be remembered for saving the Senators
ESPN – AP – Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, 62, dies from illness
The Globe and Mail – Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk dies at 62
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