by Victoria Howard

Five years ago, I approached Dave Briggs, the editor of HRU with the idea of writing a column to honor all the females in harness racing. There has been a diverse group who have told their story — all quite different — but each as important.

In reality, every woman is a “Superstar” for each has dedicated their time, life, and endless love to harness racing and the horses.

Sarah Atlas, this month’s superstar is no different. In my eyes, she is not only a superstar, but a superhero. She has battled cancer, endured many heartaches, and was one of the nation’s heroes who spent 10 days searching for people in the rubble that fateful day of 9/11, accompanied by her faithful companion, a German shepherd named Anna, who sadly had to be put to sleep four months after returning home due to medical conditions that developed from exposure.

Atlas was part of the New Jersey Task Force One, urban search and rescue, who became part of FEMA.

Born in New York City, Atlas had been horse crazy since birth. Her family was not involved in our sport, but they supported their young daughter, getting her riding lessons in Staten Island, a three-hour trip by bus and ferry.

When Atlas was 15 years old, while on a bus trip with her aunt to Washington, D.C., she met a young man who groomed horses for trainer Carter Duer. The two young people exchanged numbers.

At the time, Atlas’ parents owned a summer house in Monticello, about two miles from the racetrack. When Duer had his horses shipped into Ruth Kephart’s barn, who also had horses for Duer, Atlas visited the athletic animals at the barn. Although this was the very first time she visited a harness track, that’s all it took, she was hooked.

At that time, Kephart was one of the first licensed female horse trainers, and taught Atlas the business the ‘old fashioned way,’ walking and cooling horses, etc.

Fast forward to when Atlas was attending nursing school and worked summers at Roosevelt Raceway. She assisted top trainers, John Chapman, John Patterson, Sr., Walter Marks, and Norman Dauplaise, before meeting her soon-to-be husband, a veterinarian at Roosevelt and Yonkers. When the two married the newlyweds moved to Ohio after he was hired as the vet at Hill Farm.

What Atlas didn’t learn from working for her renowned bosses, she learned from her husband, including palpating mares, collecting semen and foaling and teasing mares.

“I purchased my first horse, a $4,500 yearling filly named Tika Belle [originally named Theme Hill],” Atlas said. “I trained her at Hilliard fairground until she was ready to qualify, then moved her to Terry Holten’s barn. My partner on the filly was Ron Jackson.”

For those of you who don’t recognize the name Tika Belle (Skipper Walt—Tika Hanover), the mare went on to produce one of the greatest fillies of all time, Shady Daisy.

“Call it beginner’s luck, but Tika Belle went on to win multiple sire stakes races when trainer Gene Riegel approached me to buy her,” Atlas said. “I was having too much fun with ‘Tika,’ but because of the divorce I was forced to sell her.

“After I got divorced, I was offered a job at Rivenoak Farm in Millbrook, NY, putting together their trotting broodmares, as well as purchasing shares in Speedy Crown and Super Bowl for the farm. Sadly, after working there seven years, economic devastation hit our country and Rivenoak Farm got out of the business.

After her divorce, Atlas worked for Walter Marks in Pennsylvania, taking care of a claiming mare by the name of Fashion Trick, who went on to produce the extremely fast Falcon Seelster.

“At one time, I was also the assistant trainer at Pinehurst for Young Meadow Farm one season,” Atlas said. “I feel very blessed to have been involved in the sport when it was in its glory. Horseman Alan Leavitt had the right idea, he would throw a big party during the sales trying to draw new people in. It worked, but sadly we don’t see much of this happening today.

“I started a driving school which was very successful in attracting new owners. I also had promotions that got new people involved, pet adoptions, a psychic Sunday brunch, and barn tours.

“Today, the business is not doing enough to get young people involved. If you go to Goshen on Fourth of July weekend, although the stands are full, there is no betting, and not one table is set up to tell people how to get involved. All we do is sell racing to ourselves.”

The day of Sept. 11, 2001, was devastating to all Americans and people throughout the world. It was a calm, crisp September morning like many others, and then it was not. Forces from afar would fade away days of innocence when terrorists linked to the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City where both twin towers collapsed while a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, and a fourth crashed in an open field near Shanksville, PA.

When the horrific acts were over, almost 3,000 people were killed from the terrorist attacks. Those shocking events would forever leave the world reeling in horror.

Immediately thousands of rescue workers from across America deployed to Ground Zero to help search for survivors. One of those courageous people was harness racing’s own Atlas along with her faithful four-legged companion Anna.

Both Atlas and Anna, were superheroes, but sadly paid the price. Atlas got injured while her dog was sniffing for human remains and Anna was diagnosed shortly after with bacterial and fungal infections in every major organ and had to be put to sleep. The courageous canine was put to sleep four months after 9/11 due to the effects of working at Ground Zero, and Atlas has personally had to deal with many ongoing complications.

While still battling the effects of post 9/11, Atlas was hit with another devastating blow, she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. Enduring five days of radiation along with the work injury, Atlas has been out of work for 15 months.

Presently she imports, trains and breeds Czech-line German shepherds to eventually go to police departments and search-and-rescue.

Note: I have personally known Atlas for over 30 years, and she is one of the nicest people I know. She is one of our harness racing family’s true heroes. A GoFundMe page has been set up by Gen Sullivan to help Atlas with her medical bills.