Dan Patch weekend draws iconic crowd and historic memories
by John Berry
It was an honor just to attend the Dan Patch Awards ceremonies last weekend as the “who’s who” in harness racing were there to celebrate our grand sport.
HRU’s chief Dave Briggs and associate editor Debbie Little were there covering the scene and the ceremony, led by Dave Little, Jason Settlemoir, and the “Rajah,” himself, Roger Huston.
The whole shebang was presented by Caesars Entertainment with an accompanying outstanding journal, primarily because of the USHWA journalists contributing their best with great photographers like Hugh Ducey, Dean Gillette, Chris Gooden, Mark Hall, and Kim Rinker, among others, putting icing on the festivities.
The journalists in back of their cameras are mentioned because many of them have contributed, indelibly, to the grand history of our sport for over 50 years but their humble ways are always avoiding the spotlight, as they are on the wrong side of the camera unselfishly ceding fame to others.
Many of our all-time greats were there such as Bill O’Donnell and John Campbell.
The youthful side of our sport was represented by Braxten Boyd, whose talent and humility, hopefully, bode well for harness racing’s future.
Of course, having become one of our sports’ “senior citizens” since my inaugural trip to Sportsman’s Park on Aug. 22, 1959 and subsequent first writing in the Feb. 4, 1964 edition of The Horseman and Fair World, several conversations over the weekend traveled back in time with the breed transforming to one of pure, unadulterated speed.
That’s the beauty of our sport as modern records can, now, only slowly be eclipsed, a fifth of a second at a time, leaving much of our two century plus history intact.
The infancy of our sport, beginning, as we know it, from 1788, was the development of a breed of durability with the proof of that leaving many records untouchable forever as our breed now is one of pure, unadulterated speed.
Our history enjoys a richness unlike many other sports and that is exactly why the renaming of our Nat Ray Memorial Trot was so upsetting to me as we should be continually enhancing our history, not erasing it.
At our USHWA yearly meetings, Moira Fanning offered a book to USHWA members in attendance, a brand-new publication by Cheryl Eriksen on the iconic and immortal “Grey Ghost,” Greyhound.
Greyhound, you might say, inspired a nation beginning in the early-to-mid 1930s through his grand racing career and afterwards in public appearances before his passing in 1965.
It’s an all-inclusive, 300 plus pages of history that is priceless.
The pacer Dan Patch did the same thing for harness racing in the early 1900s, drawing crowds as high as 100,000 as Dan Patch fever swept the nation with sewing machines, washing machines, tobacco, dances, cigars, playing cards, and whiskey bottles among items named in his honor.
In conversation over the Dan Patch weekend, we reminisced about many other standardbred horses whose names have been historically buried with records that will never be eclipsed, and that is a shame.
Yes, the standardbred is now a breed of speed, instead of durability.
That’s not a bad thing; it adds a new, exciting chapter to harness racing.
But HRU is not about to let history dissolve into the ages and this Mane Attraction puts a spotlight on some of the more interesting occurrences, before they are lost with the passing of the last brigade of those who still care.
First, let’s travel back to Chicago, IL, on Sept. 14, 1893.
The World’s Fair was being held in the “Windy City” with the $15,000 Columbian Free-For-All Trot the headliner.
Actually, the Fair began on Sept. 5 of that year and even had time trials during the festivities, as well.
But the “mane attraction” was the Columbian Free-For-All Trot and some considered this race the greatest in history, clearly defining the standardbred as one of unquestioned durability.
With a winner decided only after winning three heats, this epic duel lasted nine heats over three days with the grand mare Alix (Patronage) conquering her nine rivals by taking the first heat and the fourth heat on Sept. 14 and, finally, after being unable to win any of her four heats the next day, won her third and deciding heat on Sept. 16, in 2:09 3/4.
Her summary read 1-6-8-1-6-2-2-3-2-1 in defeating the mare Pixley, with Alix’ first heat win timed in 2:07 3/4, a world record.
There were also marathon events in “neigh”boring Detroit over their oval and with as many as 16 starters, those marathons also stretched to nine heats.
Back in 1891, Independence, IA was a town known for its affection for horses and was known as the “Lexington, KY of the North.”
There were two “mane” events that year, one for the pacers and one for trotters that stretched out to 12 heats before a winner was crowned.
The race was so long that some drivers said that they entered the race as young men and were ready for retirement when it was all over.
There were 11 pacers in that side wheeling event with high wheeled sulkies with the winner, Dandy O, having the right strategy as he finished back in the pack nine times before winning the final three heats over his completely exhausted foes.
Dandy O won $200 that day, and $200 went a long, long way back then.
The trotting event went two days with Red Baron, the winner after those 12 heats in a 20-horse field.
But, probably, the most outrageous event proving the durability of the standardbred was set by Martin Delaney’s mare, who, for a purse of $200, was sent out to trot 200 miles in 18 hours.
There were no sulkies in this one. Delaney was on horseback in a two-day event covering the 200 miles in 15 hours.
By the way, she averaged between six and seven miles per hour and had three hours to spare at the end of the journey.
Delaney said it was the easiest $200 he ever made.
(HRU is wondering if the mare thought, “That’s a fine how-do-you-do. I did all the work and HE got all the money.)
Back in that grand era, with the crowds, in many cases, standing room only, there were events contested in harness, in time trials, to wagon, under saddle, team-to-pole, and triplicate teams.
While, on occasion, we still have races at an extended distance of 1½ or two miles, there are records on our books for distances substantially, longer than that, some three miles, four miles, or five miles, and even six miles.
The iron horse Controller has the world record for 10 miles, in races, accomplished in 1878 at 27:23 1/4 and also owns the record for 20 miles, to wagon, at 58:57.
Also of note is that the sire of Controller, Gen. Taylor, holds the record for 30 miles as this grey stallion established his record in 1857, covering the distance in 1 hour, 47 minutes and 59 seconds.
There are durability records for 50 miles, as well, that go back to 1835 as Black Joke took 3 hours and 57 minutes flat to cover that distance.
Finally, in terms of distance, Fanny Jenks established the record for 100 miles — yes, 100 miles — at 9 hours, 38 minutes and 36 seconds in 1945, only to be out-done by the gelding Conqueror in 1853 of 8 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds.
Durability can also be defined within the confines of age.
Quite possibly, the most famous of all records concerns the amazing Goldsmith Maid, a mare HRU covered in our “Thanksgiving is Thanks-living”Mane Attraction just a few months ago.
As a 17-year-old, Goldsmith Maid trotted a mile in 2:14, the fastest ever at that age.
As an 18-year-old, her mark was 2:14 1/2, followed by 2:14 at the age of 19, and 2:14 1/2 as a 20-year-old in 1877.
We’ll wrap this up with yet another definition of the durability of the standardbred, as late as the early 1950s, there were several horses that raced competitively into their 20s.
Abax was 26 years old in competition, Baldwin was 24, and Ada Symbol 23, and all earned a few dollars.
One last thing concerning durability, we’ll never see the likes of Tonymite again, he was the author of 107 starts in 1953, with 45 wins and 79 1-2-3 finishes earning $2,296.93, $21.26 per start.
The 14-year-old Tru Single G was just a “ns” behind in starts — 106 with 30 wins and earnings of $22,875.36, $27.12 per start.
The greatness and durability of the standardbred was, indeed, the breed of durability.
May The Horse Be With You!
