The tragedy of Illinois harness racing as its history disappears

by John Berry

The Neil Milbert story in a recent edition of Harness Racing Update that there is no more Chicago-area racing brings to a close a chapter — no, make that an encyclopedia — of racing in an area. Actually, make that an era that may never be rivaled in our sport.

Milbert has been a long-time journalist on the subject of racing — all types — in our beloved Prairie State.

He is one of the most respected journalists and has expertise in a plethora of sports which, thankfully, includes harness racing and his career with the Chicago Tribune began in the late 1960s and, again, thankfully, includes HRU.

When Neil Milbert puts his words on paper, readers should take note, especially, in this case, when he puts the final nail in the coffin of harness racing in Illinois.

I, myself, am an Illinois “foal” of 1943 and my Chicago roots on the South Side of that great city and, along with my “misspent youth,” brought me to Sportsman’s Park (SPk) on Aug. 22, 1959 where I witnessed the great Su Mac Lad win for John Peat — this prior to his sale to Mr. Berkemeyer when Stanley Dancer brought the best out of that grand trotter and amassed over $885,000 in lifetime bounty and wore out three sets of free-for-all trotters in New York.

I worked with — and for — the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association (IHHA) and Balmoral Park 50 years ago and spent many a day at rehab centers promoting goodwill in harness racing — capped off by a CBS news segment entitled “Someone You Should Know” for exposing the positive side of our grand sport.

There were countless memorable moments along the way before I moved to New Jersey in 1979 and, finally, Pompano way in 1986.

From SPk to Maywood Park to Washington Park to Balmoral Park, we had some great racing in the Chicago area — Bye Bye Byrd, Midnite Hardy, Jimmy’s Pilot, Active Don, Braidwood, Taurus Bomber, and Goose Filter quickly come to mind in those misspent youth days stretching into my mid-30s, a half century ago. Fairmount and Cahokia down south and Quad City Downs out west served their purpose for harness racing, too, and for many, many years.

Sportsman’s Park hosted some wonderfully prestigious events over the years such as the American-National events, and they brought out the best horsemen in the business from all over the country, too.

Safford, Ervin, the Simpsons, Sr. and Jr., Del Miller, Hugh Bell, O’Brien, Bradbury, Buck Minniear, Sholty, Jimmy Arthur, Eddie Cobb, Joe Marsh, Jr., Haughton, Beaulieu, the Dancers — Stanley and Vernon — Bruce Nickells, Keith Waples, Harry Pownall, Sr., Baldwin, Hodgins, and Gagliardi, to name just a handful.

But our horsemen weren’t left in the cold, Chris Boring, Daryl Busse, Stanley Banks, Del Insko, Jim Dennis, Billy Shuter, Bobby Williams, Gene Riegle, and Bob Farrington come quickly to mind reaching the winner’s circle in those prestigious events.

The Dygert Memorial was hosted by Hawthorne Racecourse beginning in 1970 with grand trotters like Dayan, Speedy Crown, Savoir, Flower Child, and Delmonica Hanover among the earliest of winners, with Herbie winning for John Cisna, too.

Of course, Springfield and DuQuoin were two hot spots in racing circles with the Review Futurity events held at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield and the Hambletonian a long-time staple in DuQuoin.

There are many, many more memorable moments cast to the ages now as Illinois becomes the latest tragedy in a long list of track casualties over the past 50 years, and that is what Neil Milbert’s words have done in spawning this Mane Attraction.

This isn’t just about Chicago, my friends.

What has been lost is over 180 years of significant harness racing history involving over 200 cities, literally, from A to Z in Illinois.

Among these great cities are Altamont and Anna, Belleville and Belvidere, Cairo and Carlinville, Danville and, of course, DuQuoin, Earlville and Elgin, Fairfield and Farmer City, Galena and Galesburg, Harvard and Henry, Indianola, Jerseyville and Joliet, Kankakee and Kewanee, Lafayette and Libertyville, Macomb and Marengo, Newton and Nashville, Oregon and Olney, Palatine and Pana, Quincy, Rockford and Rushville, Sandwich and Shelbyville, Taylorville and Tuscola, Urbana, Vandal and Vienna, Warsaw and Waukegan, Xenia, Yorkville and, finally, Zeigler, among the many that may or may not survive.

Many of the above-mentioned cities were thriving with harness racing during the Civil War.

Chicago, itself, had harness racing in 1845 when Lady Jane and Byron proved to be the first two winners as harness racing was first introduced west of the shores of Lake Michigan in the Windy City.

Before Grand Circuit racing at Springfield and the subsequent building of the one-mile track in DuQuoin, Chicago was the place to be in Illinois for the appearance of all of the champions, including the immortal Flora Temple, who first appeared there in 1858, either in racing events or exhibitions.

Dexter, with Bud Doble, raced in Chicago and won in 1866, and Doble also handled the fabled Goldsmith Maid in no less than four annual appearances beginning in 1871.

He also exhibited Goldsmith Maid in Quincy in 1875.

World champion Maud S made a Chicago start on July 24, 1880 and the only horse to defeat her in a contested event, Charley Ford, in Cleveland, OH in 1880, returned to Chicago and completed his career as a livery horse over Chicago streets.

While the trotting horse was the control in those early years — pacers didn’t come into vogue until well into the 20th century — there were some notable pacers that came into prominence in 1879 as the famed foursome of Mattie Hatter, Rowdy Boy, Sleepy Tom, and Lucy appeared in Chicago and Peoria.

But, most likely, the greatest pacer to race in Illinois was Johnston, that was so far ahead of his time that it was almost impossible to secure races for him, forcing him to compete in exhibitions only.

Johnston exploded in the racing world on Oct. 3, 1884 when he paced a mile in 2:06 1/4 over Chicago’s one-mile track at the old Washington Park.

It was first thought that the transmission was in error as Maud S was the only horse that had beaten 2:10 at that time.

Johnston was the first horse to pace a quarter mile in under a two-minute clip — 29 ¼ — in 1888, proving to some that a 2:00 mile was within the realm of a dream somewhere down the line.

Quite possibly, the most famous race in history was contested in Chicago in 1893, the year after the introduction of the bike wheel sulky.

It was the $15,000 Columbian free-for-all contested at the old Washington Park, near the World’s Fair exhibition grounds.

The race took nine heats over three days — beginning Sept. 14 and concluding the 16.

The eventual winner was the grand mare Alix, who was bred in Iowa but foaled and raised in Illinois.

Alix was driven by Jack Curry and showed a nine-heat-summary of 1-6-8-1-6-2-3-2-1 with four heats contested the first day, four the second day and, then, the final on day three.

Alix won the first heat in a world record time of 2:07 3/4 with yet another mare, Hulda, winning the second and third heats for driver Orrin Hickok, he the brother of Wild Bill Hickok, the very famous frontier Marshall.

But Hulda pulled up lame in the next heat and was unable to go on to day two.

Pixley, yet another mare, won two heats on the second day of competition with six horses returning for day three with Alix capturing the crown.

In an event with three mares, five geldings and two stallions, only the mares were able to win any of the three heats necessary to win.

The race established a wagering record for a single event — nine heats — with over $100,000 bet.

The history of racing in Illinois would not be possible without one of the greatest horses of all time, Greyhound, and the Hayes family of DuQuoin.

At one time, Greyhound was the fastest — and most famous — trotter in history and Colonel E. J. Baker, from St. Charles, a wonderful gentleman and philanthropist owned him, and Stan Bergstein told me that he probably owned more 2:00 trotters than anyone involved in our sport.

The Hayes family put DuQuoin, on the map as a national landmark, especially in hosting the sport’s most notable event — The Hambletonian.

Legislatively, night harness racing began in 1943 at the session of the General Assembly in Springfield.

Henry Knauf (who, eventually, became president of the USTA) introduced legislation to legalize pari-mutuel wagering.

At first, the bill was passed by the House but defeated in the Senate.

But, in 1945, Knauf reintroduced the bill and, with the help of Paul Powell, the bill overcame opposition and was signed into law by then Governor Dwight Green.

Overcoming more hurdles from County fair tracks that thought their racing programs would be damaged by lack of horse entries, an agreement was reached in 1949 for night-time presentation of harness racing with the stipulation that the pari-mutuel tracks would subsidize the county fair entry boxes guaranteeing at least five starters per race with ship-ins helping fulfill that obligation.

This enabled Sportsman’s Park to open in 1949.

Subsequent bills were introduced and passed enabling the Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes to form with yet another bill passed establishing $10,000 added free-for-all events for 4-year-olds and up for Illinois bred horses.

Over the years, I, myself, was blessed to meet many great horsemen that have enriched my life until this very day.

These men and women and their horses didn’t have to be famous —but some were — but the Midwest’s long list includes Curly Smart, Bob Farrington, Dwayne Pletcher, Connel Willis, Lou Rapone, Edgar Leonard, Bob Williams, Edith Mouw, Gene Vallandingham, Gene Riegle, Billy Shuter, Butch Paisley, Frank O’Mara, Jim Dennis, Charlie Goins, Bill Roseboom, Del Insko, Kim Hankins, and hundreds more.

And their horses, my favorites, Frisco Watts, Pole Adios, free-legged Lewis Hanover, Morenci Chief, Yankee Madam, Sugar Moon, Dr. Hyslop, Meadow Russ, Tarport Princess, Poplar Sonny, Rockette Forbes, Fitment, Four Oaks, Selma Chief, Heather Mom, Jan Kaye, Glad Rags, Dancing David, and hundreds if not thousands more.

Yes, from Albatross’ performance as a 2-year-old at SPk to Scotsdam’s world record performance at May (that will never be cited in any record books), the Rusty Range track record of 1:58 at SPk and Four Oaks at Was winning at 1 1/16th miles among these grand memories.

Oh, I guess Bret Hanover’s appearance was pretty special, too.

You bet it was.

I have an incalculable number of memories from having a lunch with Dave Magee at the cafeteria across from Maywood Park back 50 years ago to when Maywood Park’s George Miller forgot to put that “some-of-a-bitch five horse in my doubles.”

My first writing appeared in the Horseman and Fair World in their Feb. 4, 1964 edition — the week Pompano Park opened — 62 years ago.

Since then, I’ve seen the best in the sport and the most tragic — witnessing Washington Park burning down.

That, probably, was the beginning of harness racing’s slow demise.

The only things good about the shuttering of harness racing in Illinois are the memories, and they will survive until my last breath.

Neil Milbert’s, too.

May The Horse Be With You!