Canadian Hall of Fame owner Eugene Melnyk dies at 62

Eugene Melnyk, a Hall of Fame owner of racehorses who later bought the Ottawa Senators NHL team, died Monday at age 62.

A statement from his family on the Senators website said he died "after an illness he faced with determination and courage."

Melnyk, who made his fortune in the pharmaceutical industry, won Canada's Sovereign Award as outstanding owner in 2007 and 2009.

Owner of Melnyk Racing Stables and Winding Oaks Farm in Ocala, Fla., at one time had he had racing and breeding stock of 500 horses, according to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame website.

He also was instrumental in the opening of Anna House in 2003, a child-care facility for backstretch workers at Belmont Park. He was a former board member of the New York Racing Association; co-recipient of the National Turf Writers Association’s Joe Palmer Award and was named Owner of the Year in 2005 by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

His 62 graded-stakes winners included Sealy Hill, who became the first filly to win Canada’s Triple Tiara, won three Sovereign awards and was inducted into Canada’s Hall of Fame. Speightstown was an Eclipse Award winner after winning the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Others include multiple Sovereign winner Roxy Gap; Marchfield, who won over $1 million; Leigh Court; Flower Alley, winner of the Travers and sire of Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another; Lodge Hill and Graeme Hall.

In 2013 Melnyk reduced his equine operation substantially and changed the business model from breeding to purchasing yearlings and racing those instead, according to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

“I’ve owned horses since I was 19, 20 years old. It’s a question of priorities. I still love the game, and if that were all I had to do, it would be great.” He was also quoted as saying, “I bred the best to the best and some worked out, but 98 percent don’t work out.”