Filion, Hervé

Hervé Filion, byname Hustling Hervé, (born February 1, 1940, Angers, Quebec, Canada—died June 22, 2017, Mineola, New York, U.S.), harness-race driver, trainer, and owner who was one of the most successful North American harness-racing drivers.

Filion was born on his family’s farm, one of 10 children; many of his eight brothers, notably his younger brother Henri, also became harness drivers. Hervé left school after completing the fifth grade and at the age of 13 began driving on the county-fair circuit. He owned his first horse at 17. He came to the United States in 1961 and by the late 1960s had taken over as the annual money- and race-winning driver. In 1976 he surpassed the total record for races won held by the German Hans Fromming (5,296), and by the early 1990s he had won more than 13,000 races. In 1995, however, Filion was arrested for race fixing, and he did not compete again until 2000, when the charges were dropped after he pled guilty to tax evasion. He retired in 2012, with 15,183 career wins.