Rex King wouldn’t trade his time in harness racing for anything

by Murray Brown

Rex King is now 72. There has never been a time in his life where he has not been involved with horses, however, initially, not with standardbreds.

“My father was a horseman, a pretty darn good one if I say so myself,” King said.

In his early teens, King was already bartering and shoeing horses.

It was through his sales of quarter horses to Alan Leavitt at Lana Lobell Farms in Bedminster, NJ, that he first became involved with standardbreds.

“Back then, Lana Lobell, as did many standardbred farms, would prep their yearlings by leading them alongside a lead pony,” King said. “This served to help the yearlings get their necessary exercise and also helped as a selling device to customers who came to the farms to watch them being exercised before the sales.

“I brought a draft of quarter horses to sell them to Alan for their use as lead ponies. I developed a relationship with Alan and he asked me to come work for him as a shoer for the horses and as a leader of his yearlings. I was young and willing. The money was pretty good and I thought to myself ‘Why not?’”

Thus, began King’s almost half-century involvement with the standardbred which still exists today, although in recent years, since his retirement from Lindy Farms, only on a part time basis.

Can you tell us about those early years at Lana Lobell Farms?

“I was there for about five years from 1978 to 1983. It was a glorious time.

“Alan was riding high. He had established this beautiful farm about a half-hour from harness racing’s greatest racetrack, The Meadowlands, which was then in its thriving formative years.

“Alan was standing some of the greatest stallions the breed had ever known with Speedy Crown, Speedy Somolli, and Noble Victory on the trot and No Nukes on the pace. Who knows what might have developed if Alan had not had his breakup with Stanley Dancer over Albatross? Not only did he lose Albatross, but there also would have been the strong possibility that he would also have gained stud control over Super Bowl who was achieving greatness on the trot in the Dancer stable. Instead, Hanover got those two horses who were destined to become among the stalwarts of the breed.

“As I said, those were glorious days. Howard Beissinger was basically in charge of the yearlings. He remains one of the greatest horsemen I have ever known. If there was anybody more astute at rigging a horse to achieve greatness, I haven’t as yet met that person. Bruce Nickells, another great horseman was brought in to help with the pacing yearlings. In addition to being an outstanding horseman, Bruce was a pleasure to be around. Even though the day outside might have not been the finest weather wise, the sun shone every day for Bruce Nickells.

“It was while I was at Lana Lobell that I developed an interest in standardbred pedigrees through Hal Jones who was the farm manger there. Hal and I would walk the yearling fields and he would enthrall me with his knowledge of the bloodlines of the horses that we were looking at. This was before Hal had bought his farm in New York that has now grown into one of the leading nurseries of the breed under the stewardship of Hal’s son, Steve.

“The Meadowlands was close by. Each day would bring to the farm some of the greatest horsemen on the planet. The Haughtons, Dancers, Sholtys, Garnseys, Inskos, Millers – in addition to the Swedes who were to revolutionize trotting – were among the daily visitors. How could a young person with the love of the horse not learn?”

From Lana Lobell you moved to George Alexander’s Chestnut Farm in Sugar Grove, IL.

“After Lana Lobell, for lack of a better term, imploded, I had the opportunity to come to work for Mr. Alexander.

“It was a bit of a culture change for me. I was going from proximity to New York City and harness racing’s number oner track, to life in a small Illinois community.

“It actually wasn’t that much of a change for me, since my roots traced to small town life in the Midwest.

“Mr. Alexander had 1,500 acres in Southern Illinois where he farmed mostly corn. Mr. Alexander was in the midst of developing a small, quality group of entirely trotting-bred broodmares. He offered me the job of raising his yearlings and leading them to pony prior to the Tattersalls yearling sales.

“I was with Chestnut Farms from 1983 until Mr. Alexander’s passing in 1988.

“Mr. Alexander’s will stipulated that the horses were to be dispersed with John Cashman acting as the agent in selling them. Most of the mares ended up being sold to Europe.”

Note: Here’s something which most, including this inveterate writer did not know. The Alexander trotting legacy still lives in harness racing. Alexander’s daughter Jean Goehlen is the part owner of the leading money-winning 2-year-old trotter this season, the undefeated (eight-for-eight) Wall Of Fame who has thus far earned $361,250

You then became the manager of Harvey Gold’s Rainbow’s End breeding farm.

“Harvey Gold had bought a piece of land in Marlborough, CT, with a view to establishing a quality, boutique breeding farm there. He offered me the job of becoming his farm manager. We were basically starting from scratch. The land, which consisted of mostly hilly terrain, was ideal for raising horses. I decided that I was up to the challenge.

“At the outset, he didn’t have much in the way of quality mares. From my vantage point, he had only one good mare. That was Evita Lobell. The rest of them had been decent at best racemares with not much pedigree. With the aid of two young guys, named Geoff Stein and David Reid who had gotten together and had established Preferred Equine Marketing and were beginning to make their mark in the industry, Harvey set about establishing a small, but select broodmare band. After a while, quality mares such as Always An Angel, Jef’s Eternity, and Continentalvictory had joined our small, but select herd.

“Geoff and David had also encouraged Harvey to buy an interest in a good trotting filly named Moni Maker. Geoffrey would call almost daily with his signature greeting to me of ‘What’s the scoop?’

“I was with Harvey for 10 years, from 1988 to 1997, when the farm was sold and the horses were dispersed at Harrisburg.”

Then you went to work for the Antonacci family at Lindy Farms.

“There was actually no time between my working for Harvey and the Antonaccis. It wasn’t much more than a half-hour drive between Rainbows End and Lindy Farms. While working for Harvey, I’d built up a relationship with the Antonaccis. In the interim, Bill Perretti was interested in hiring me as his farm manager.

“Almost entirely as a courtesy to Bill, I agreed to an interview. But there was no doubt in my mind as to where I was going, that was Lindy Farms. Of course, Bill Perretti, being Bill Perretti, started telling everyone that I was coming to work for him. I quickly dissuaded him of that notion.

“I’ve been privileged to have worked for some great people during my years in the sport. But there have been from my perspective, none quite as wonderful as the Antonacci family.

“All of them are, and have been, special. I learned how to appreciate pedigrees from the patriarch Sonny. Many was the evening I’d spend listening to and working to absorb his great font of knowledge.

“I was at the farm from 1998 through 2020 as the manager. I seemingly retired in 2020, but my association with the family continues to this day.

“For a few years, I’d come back and help in prepping the yearlings for the Kentucky and Harrisburg sales. Since then, I help in scouting prospective yearling purchases for them, firstly, in going to the farms and nowadays just going to the sales where I look at yearlings in which they might have an interest.”

What do you look for in yearlings?

“Obviously I want a well conformed individual. I like a horse to have a big, strong shoulder. I want a horse to be, for lack of a better term, sharp.

“Going back to my Lana Lobell days, I want them to have what I call a Speedy Somolli look. Ideally, I’d like to see a yearling turned out. I don’t mind if they run. But when they hit the trot, I want to see it happen almost instantaneously.

“That’s something I learned from Pat Waldo. Most people are able to pick the perfectly conformed yearling with the million-dollar pedigree. Pat Waldo was able to pick among others, moderately priced yearlings such as Valley Victory, Chapter Seven, and Crazed. Just think one man, in his own way altered the breed through Valley Victory and Chapter Seven.”

We can probably speak for hours more. But I’ve gone longer than I usually do in these interviews. What is life like for you these days?

“I’m still a horse trader at heart. I’ve gone back to doing what I first did when I started working with horses. I live in the small town of Bristol, NE. I buy and sell horses, mostly quarter horses. I still follow the races and daily happenings in harness racing.

“In a few weeks, I’ll be going to Lexington for the sales and the races.

“In a few short words, I’d say life is pretty good.”