DeVaux won the Belmont, but ‘Grandma’ started it all
by John Berry
What a race, a thoroughbred race.
Though I am a harness racing enthusiast through and through, I love all breeds of our equine athletes and go back to the days of Kelso, probably 60 years ago, as well, and I was even the last thoroughbred announcer under the Calder banner at that historic racecourse.
Cherie DeVaux won the Belmont, and two thirds of the Triple Crown, in thoroughbred racing.
There were pioneers that ushered the way in to this historic feat for racing.
Remember Barbara Jo Rubin?
She was the first woman to win a thoroughbred race on American soil in 1969 — described as a groundbreaking figure that paved the way for the ladies in thoroughbred racing.
Then there was Diane Crump, the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby.
That was — I can’t believe it — 56 years ago.
Julie Krone comes to mind, too, quite possibly the greatest female jockey in thoroughbred racing history — she being the first of her gender to win a Triple Crown race.
That was 33 years ago, when she won the Belmont.
Rosie Napravnik won the Kentucky Oaks — twice — and has appeared in the Kentucky Derby lineup multiple times.
How about Patricia Cooksey, superior rider that won over 2,100 races and was the first to compete in the Preakness Stakes.
Going back in time a bit, Mary Hirsch, a trainer par excellence and among the first women to be inducted into thoroughbred racing’s Hall of Fame.
Jena Antonucci, she being the first trainer to win a Triple Crown race — Arcangel just three years ago.
How soon we forget.
Yes, history is fleeting.
And, then, along came DeVaux.
Harness racing has its share of great women, as well, and, while we don’t have enough room to mention all of them, “Lady J,” Jacqueline Ingrassia, certainly has the respect of everyone in our sport.
Jo Ann Looney-King is another grand figure in our sport, going back 50 years to her Looney days.
On the training side of things, Casie Coleman has won so many Little Brown Jug events and Breeders Crown races that one cannot count them on two hands or, probably, even 10 hands.
Linda Toscano has well over 2,000 training wins and $50 million in earnings, including A Hambletonian winner and a Horse of the Year.
Nancy Takter is yet another — an elite trainer competing at the loftiest levels of the sport.
Julie Miller always seems to have a competitor on the biggest stages in our sport.
Brenda Teague, Paula Wellwood, and Tracy Brainard have paid their dues, as well, in the racetracks of North America.
We cannot forget “Queen Bea” Farber or Kelly Case, who has been grinding out a living in harness racing for well over four decades and has survived and succeeded through her sheer tenacity and hard work.
And one can’t forget as we travel back to the days of Edith Mouw, Hilda Heydt, and even Mildred Williams.
I realize I have missed other prominent ladies in our sport — and that’s regrettable — but this Mane Attraction, in its salute to our ladies, now focuses on how it all got started.
And it all started with “Grandma” — Neva Burright.
Grandma Burright put down the limestone, sand, loam, and clay that makes up our racetracks this very day — a pioneer like no other in our sport.
Neva Elizabeth Tomlinson Burright had a lifelong connection to harness racing — literally — with her exploits honored, first, by the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Hall of Fame and, nationally, by our sport’s Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY, as she was posthumously elected as an Immortal in the driver/trainer category, distinguishing her talent and contributions to our sport in a field that has been dominated by men since harness racing’s foundation was poured after Messenger came to our country in 1788.
Burright was born Aug. 10, 1883 in Mt. Carroll, IL, on a racetrack!
Her father, John Beers Tomlinson, was a farmer and horse trainer while her mother, Emma Linda Gill Tomlinson shared the agrarian life in Mt. Carroll and the County.
Burright’s early years were shared with her folks in an equestrian environment, where the family relied on crops such as corn and wheat, as well as raising livestock, with their horses used for plowing fields, transportation and, of course, county fair exhibits, which included racing exhibitions.
Burright married Albert Holman, an established trainer/driver on July 1, 1903 in Mt. Carroll where the family was influenced by the surrounding agricultural and equestrian communities.
Burright became the “dam” of seven children starting in 1904, with the youngest being Neva Joyce, a “foal” of 1926.
She managed the household and raised the children in a closely knit environment with travel very frequent for races, where she became active as a trainer, along with timing horses at the local fairs.
Holman passed on May 22, 1927 at the age of 56 and Burright became a widow at the age of 43.
She married Arthur LaForrest “Forrest” Burright on July 5, 1928 and settled in Oregon, IL.
Her first drives at the Illinois fairgrounds were undocumented, but served to hone her skills before the era of pari-mutuel racing.
Her progression from training to driving ear-marked her as a pioneer and she was eventually recognized as the first professional harness racing driver in the United States.
Grandma Burright reached unchallenged status on Sept. 23, 1943 during the Grand Circuit at the now famed half-mile track in Delaware, OH, when she drove her gelding Luckyette in a multi-heat event where she achieved victory and set a world record for women drivers on a half-mile oval with a time of 2:04 3/4.
Not only did she set the world record, she beat one of the most noted horsemen in history, Sep Palin, shocking the racing world, and this performance put a spotlight on her skills, as she was 60 years old at the time.
Grandma’s triumph was backed by automobile heiress Francis Dodge Johnson.
After World War II, Grandma Burright began competing at Maywood Park in 1946, establishing her as a nationally recognized driver/trainer.
In 1948, at age 65, she spent long hours managing her stable and competing against the men at that famed half-mile oval.
Throughout the early 1950s she competed at fair tracks throughout Illinois and mentored younger drivers in the family, including Joyce Hankins, who became prominent during her career, as well.
To those who have inquired how Neva inherited the name, Grandma, it was reportedly used when she raced at Roosevelt Raceway in August of 1946, reflecting her status as a grandmother competing in harness racing against the very strong roster of drivers at that iconic Raceway.
Many media outlets covered her pioneering spirit in magazine articles during the 1940s and 1950s, including Coronet, Life, and Esquire, with the title of that article being, “Flashing Home with Her Pacer Far in the Lead.”
She also appeared on the television show “What’s My Line” in 1954.
While she was instrumental in ushering the female gender into harness racing, it wasn’t all a bed of roses, as she lost two sons, Ross and Hugh, to racing accidents along her path to the Hall of Fame.
Her career lasted 57 years with her passing on Feb. 12, 1958, two days after she suffered a stroke.
Her husband, the aforementioned Arthur Forrest Burright, passed away two days later.
Yes, Neva Grandma Burright was, indeed, a legend who opened the door for the grand women in our sport competing on our tracks in North America and around the world to this very day.
May The Horse Be With You!
