Us Harness Racing

LA PALOMA p, 2:01¾ 1973 [1919-1944]

A foal of 1919 by Walter Direct-Kay's Ess, La Paloma was a good campaigner as well as a superior broodmare. Famous offspring of hers include Her Ladyship, Still Waters, Palomita, Carty Nagle, 2:00 and Lady Hal. She was with Two Gaits Farm for several years before her death on April 10, 2023 in Carmel, IN.

CHARLES LACEY 1979 [1878-1953]

Born in 1878, he started out as a trainer in his hometown, Peoria, IL and handled a public stable there for a number of years. He later transferred his stable to Cleveland and numbered Thomas and George Tipling among his patrons.
In the thirties and forties he trained for Homer Biery, where he had his greatest campaigner, Little Pat, 1:58¾. This horse set all sorts of world records, mostly on half-mile tracks and won 73 of 104 races over a nine year span. Lacey died in 1953 in Peoria, IL.

Michel Lachance 1995

LADY ANN REED 2001 2, 2:08m, 3,2:02.lh [1955-1979]

The daughter of Wayward and Lady Ann Potempkin by Peter Potempkin was a 1955 foal bred and raised at the Reed-Yates Farm in Towanda, IL. Her sire was a son of Volomite and her darn, who was twenty-four when she foaled Lady Ann Reed, was a granddaughter of Peter the Great. Her maternal family was so obscure it could not be traced beyond the fourth dam. Lady Ann Reed was sold, as a yearling, at Princeton, IL for $600 to Day Mangus of Kirksville, MO. Alter training on a fair track in the northeastern Missouri community, she won 10 of 23 starts as a two-year-old, including major stakes in Illinois. As a three-year-old she was shipped to Painesville, OH. Matched against some of the best trotters in the region she began to show promise. That year, 1958, she went in 2:02.1. This was the fastest time ever by a sophomore filly on a half-mile track. Stanley Dancer spotted her potential and persuaded one of his owners to purchase her. Her racing career ended abruptly when she became seriously lame. She was purchased by Delvin Miller at the Harrisburg Sale. Later, Hugh A. Grant, Sr., Bradford, PA, and J. Gordon Smith, Dover, DE joined with Miller in ownership. Her second foal was a Jamie colt, Meadow Tarport p,3,2:0lh ($94,585.). Her third Jamie foal was Meadow Effie, the dam of Meadow Flower 3,2:01.4m ($124,271.) and Grassland p,1:57.4m ($130,852.). Her third colt, Tarport Devlin 2,2:01 m, took his mark upsetting Trotting Triple Crown winner, Lindy's Pride. Tarport Devlin's sophomore potential was judged so great he was rated third on the USTA Experimentals for 1969, behind Lindy's Pride and Dayan. He went on to sire 1981 Hambletonian winner, Shiaway St. Pat 3,1:59.4m ($550,611.). Another noteworthy offspring of Lady Ann Reed was Lady Jamie 3,2:04h. She was the grandam of Winky's Gill 3,1:55.2m ($472,154.), who was the dam of Supergill 3,1:53.3m ($664,194.) and Winky's Goal 3,1:54.4m ($844,924.). Supergill sired 1997 Hambletonian winner Malabar Man 3,1:53.lm ($2.2 million). He was also the top sire of 2-year-olds in Italy in 2001. Tarport Lady Ann, also by Jamie, is the great-grandam of S J's Caviar 3,1:53.4 ($1,288,466.). Lady Ann Reed's other significant offspring include LeMans Chip, Deke Palmer, Leander Blue Chip (a noted Scandinavian star), and Pintail. Lady Ann Reed died at Blue Chip Farms, Wallkill, NY in November 1979. She was 24.

LADY SUFFOLK t, 2:29½ 1967 [1833-1855]

The "Old Gray Mare" of Long Island was foaled in 1833 at Smithtown on the farm of Carl S. Burr, Jr. Her sire was Engineer II, her dam Jenny. David Bryan bought the filly, who was pulling an oyster cart, when she was four-years-old and started her racing the following year at Babylon, Long Island, for a purse of $11. She raced under saddle and won two out of three heats. She went the first ever 2:30 mile at Hoboken, NJ in 1845, doing the mile in 2:29½. She held records under saddle, to wagon and high-wheel sulky. A campaigner for sixteen seasons, Lady Suffolk was considered the "Queen of the Turf" until her death in 1855 in Bridgeport, VT.

Phil Langley

Ethel Larkin
REX & ETHEL LARKIN 1976 [1898-1965] [1901-1965]

Rex C. Larkin was an active participant in harness racing associations. A native of Pittsburgh, PA, he was a director of The Hambletonian Society, president of the Lexington Trots Breeders' Association, and other Standardbred associations. Through his wife Ethel, Larkin purchased the Poplar Hill Farm in 1940 and established one of Kentucky's top breeding farms. They owned and raced such Standardbred greats as Ann Vonian, her son Poplar Byrd and Poplar Byrd's son, Bye Bye Byrd. Rex and Ethel Larkin died in a plane crash near Cincinnati in 1965.

Rex C. Larkin

REX & ETHEL LARKIN 1976 [1898-1965] [1901-1965]
Rex C. Larkin was an active participant in harness racing associations. A native of Pittsburgh, PA, he was a director of The Hambletonian Society, president of the Lexington Trots Breeders' Association, and other Standardbred associations. Through his wife Ethel, Larkin purchased the Poplar Hill Farm in 1940 and established one of Kentucky's top breeding farms. They owned and raced such Standardbred greats as Ann Vonian, her son Poplar Byrd and Poplar Byrd's son, Bye Bye Byrd. Rex and Ethel Larkin died in a plane crash near Cincinnati in 1965.

WOODFORD "WOODY"' LAWLIS 1979 [1910-1974]

From an early age, this native of Mt. Auburn, IN expressed interest in harness racing and Standardbred bloodlines. He began his association with the sport in 1948 as associate editor of the Horseman and Fair World. In 1955 he continued at a bloodline research agency, then worked for tracks such as Sportsman's Park, Roosevelt and Yonkers in various capacities. He was breeding consultant at Castleton Farms for a decade and is credited with having chosen many very successful matings. He became involved with Pompano Park in Florida at that track's inception and was its president at the time of his death in 1974.

LEE AXWORTHY t, T1:58 1/4 1955 [1911-1918]

Foaled in 1911, Lee Axworthy was by Guy Axworthy-Gaiety Lee. He was bred by William Bradley, Arcirnaer Farm, Raritan, NJ and bought at the Old Glory Sale in New York by Walter Cox for $510. After disappointments, Cox sold him to the Pastime Stable of Cleveland, OH. W. J. Andrews trained him with great success and upon Andrews' illness in 1916, Ben White raced him. In 1916 there was no competition for Lee Axworthy, so he was raced against time and at Lexington trotted his fastest, 1:58¼. He was retired to stud at Castleton Farm, Lexington, KY, and on November 6, 1918 was found dead in his stall.

Michael Lee* 1983

James Ted Leonard* 1994

LETA LONG p, 2:03¾ 1974 [1940-]

Leta Long was a Volomite-Rosette pacer who last raced in 1946. She was bred and owned by W. N. Reynolds of Winston-Salem, NC. After she was retired, Leta Long produced three champions - Tar Heel, Galleta and Keystoner. Upon Reynolds death she was purchased by Castleton Farm where she produced foals until 1962.

GEORGE M. LEVY 1978 [1888-1977]

"The Godfather" of modern harness racing was born in Seaford, L. I., NY in 1888. He first reached national prominence as a criminal lawyer. In 1940 he founded Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, L. I. and revised the flagging sport with such innovations as night racing, the Phillips starting gate and elimination of heat racing. Levy's perseverance is credited for having saved the sport from being relegated to the county fair circuit. Inducted into The Living Hall of Fame in 1967, he died at age eighty-nine in 1977.

Little Brown Jug 2006 [1875-1899]

The life of pacing champion Little Brown Jug is a rags to riches to rags story with a happy ending. It began in the hills of Tennessee, where this son of Tom Hal (the "Hal" pacing-line progenitor, also known as Old Tom Hal and tom Hal, Jr.) and the mare Lizzie was foaled on April 18, 1875. As a yearling, Little Brown Jug was sold by his breeder, R. H. Moore, to Ozro Fry, the owner of Gibson's Tom Hal. The purchase price, somewhere between $27 and $50, was low even for the times as the horse was described as being thin and covered with lice. Mr. Fry brought him back to health and then sold him as a two-year-old to Jim Welch, a sharecropper, who broke him to harness and used him for plowing his fields during the day and for transportation to church and social engagements during the evening. During this period the horse often endured long hours hitched to a post in bad weather. Mr. Fry repurchased Little Brown Jug when he was a three-year-old and introduced him toracing in 1879. He was eventually sold, as a gelding, to H. V. Bemis and then to Commodore Kittson, both prominent patrons of the sport. After his racing days were over, Little Brown Jug was sold numerous times for lower and lower prices and endured hardships until Captain Campbell, the owner of Cleburne Stock Farm in Spring Hill, TN, learned of his plight and rescued him. He remained at Captain Campbell's farm until his death in 1899.
Little Brown Jug's illustrious racing career (1879-1882) occurred at a time when horses sometimes raced twice weekly and sometimes were required to go as many as four or even five heats in a day. Little Brown Jug traveled all over the United States from his home in Tennessee to Chicago, Rochester, Poughkeepsie, Philadelphia, Washington, DC., Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio, meeting and defeating such champions of the day as Mattie Hunter and Sleepy Tom. Hitched to a high-wheeled sulky and driven by Immortal W. H. "Knapsack" McCarthy, he set a 3-heat world's record of 2:11¾, 2:11¾, and 2:12½ on August 24, 2022 in Hartford, CT. This record lasted for almost ten years. Inaddition to McCarthy, Little Brown Jug was also driven by H. Dawes, F. Van Ness and J. H. Haverly. During his career, the pacer won 17 races and lost seven.
Racing Immortal Pop Geers, who worked Little Brown Jug in 1879 but who never drove him in a race, paid tribute to him by saying, "I do not think I was ever behind a stronger, easier going horse. His conformation was the most remarkable of any horse ever seen upon the turf." He added, ".. but the most remarkable thing about him was his abnormal muscular development. Hisforelegs were large, flat and well-tapered, and his hindquarters were so immense as to make him look like a deformity." He further stated, "What he was as a racehorse we know, but what he might have been had he received the care and attention in his early career bestowed upon promising race horses in modern times is a matter of conjecture. Many people still believe him to have been possessed of as much natural speed as any horse that ever lived, and I am not prepared to say but what this belief is well founded."
Little Brown Jug was portrayed in several Currier & Ives lithographs and was important enough to be the subject of an oil painting by Scott Leighton, a well-known 19th century equine artist whose work was often used by thewell-known lithographic firm.
In 1946, more than a half a century after Little Brown Jug was foaled, a multiple-heat event that was to become the premier pacing race in the world was named in Little Brown Jug's honor. Held every September at the Delaware, OH county fairground, it will forever memorialize history's most renowned plow horse.

LITTLE PAT p, 1:58¾ 1974 [1933-1965]

Owned and raced as a two-year-old by A. J. Worsham of Bourbon, IN, Little Pat was the son of Hollyrood Bob-Lottie Direct. Purchased by Homer Biery of PA, Little Pat, a gelding, raced on half-mile tracks from age two on. He established world records at 2,3,4 and as an aged pacer. He won 73 out of 104 races and had no less than 89 miles in 2:05 over half-mile tracks and a total of 106 over all sized tracks. Chancy Lacey drove him to his race record in 1938. Although retired in 1943, Little Pat lived until 1965.

Berndt Lindstedt 2003 [ - ]

Berndt Lindstedt, born in Katrinholm, Sweden, was a groom at age 15 and became a trusted first assistant to the legendary trainer-driver Hakan Wallner by the time he was 30. He won the 1973 Prix d'Amerique, one of the most prestigious races in the world, with the imported Dart Hanover, and a European championship with Pershing.
Lindstedt emigrated to the United States in 1978 after capturing the driving title at Solvalla Racecourse, Sweden's top track. Along with Hakan Wallner and Jan Johnson, Lindstedt formed the dynastic Continental Farms Stable and took the North American trotting world by storm. Lindstedt was aboard the first Breeders Crown winner, Workaholic, in 1984 and has started 103 trotters in the Crown, winning four trophies and $3.8 million.
Lindstedt has won the Peter Haughton Memorial for freshman trotters a record five times, three Hambletonian Oaks, and just about every important trotting race of record. The Continental Farms Stable won the 1988 Hambletonian with Armbro Goal (with John Campbell driving) and the Hambletonian Oaks that same year with Nan's Catch.
The 66-year-old driver has won over 3,000 races on both continents and has banked over $24 million in North American earnings. The roster of top trotters he's developed and driven include such multiple stakes winners as Supergill, Royal Prestige, Express Ride, Kit Lobell, and Me Maggie. His career Universal Driver Rating of .384 is far above average.

DAVID M. LOOK 1958 [1863-1945]

David M. Look, born in 1863 of a wealthy family, after his schooling took an interest in the trotting horse. He settled in Lexington, KY, where, in 1913, he purchased Castleton Farm, a Thoroughbred establishment at the time. Look converted it into a trotting farm where he bred many fine Standardbred horses, including the noted trotters Spencer, Spencer Scott and Emily Ellen, top broodmare of her day. Look did much to encourage racing and breeding of trotters when the sport seemed to be fading out. He was an officer in the Trotting Horse Club of America, the Grand Circuit and other promotional organizations. He died on June 21, 1945.

LOU DILLON t, T1:58½ 1955 [1898-1925]

The first trotter to go 2:00 (Readville, Massachusetts, 1903), Lou Dillon, by Sidney Dillon-Lou Milton, was foaled in 1898 near Santa Ynez, CA by the Pierce Brothers Stock Farm of Santa Rosa, CA.
Upon the death of her owner Henry Pierce in 1903, she was purchased by C. K. G. Billings at the Cleveland Sales for $12,500. She was trained by Charles Tanner, who drove her in many amateur events until she proved herself and then went to Millard Sanders, who campaigned her on the Grand Circuit. In 1903 at Memphis, Lou Dillon trotted in 1:58½, driven by Sanders. She also trotted 2:00 to wagon, driven by Billings. Lou Dillon was retired in 1906, but was taken on an extended tour of America and Europe, going exhibition miles, driven by Billings and Tanner. She was returned to Billings' Estate near Santa Barbara, CA, where she died at the age of twenty-seven on January 15, 1925.
Uhlan and Lou Dillon were buried in an area where streets bearing their names are found today. The original headstones of both these champions are preserved on the fairgrounds at Santa Barbara (Today these headstones are on display at the Harness Museum in Goshen.

JAMES M. LYNCH 2000 [1921-2000]

Born in Abington, MA, Jim Lynch was a former director of racing at Philadelphia's Liberty Bell Park, where he handled both the William Penn and Liberty Bell meetings. He served at several other raceways including Rosecroft, where he was general manager for ten years and Brandywine, where he was the race secretary for thirteen years. He also served as an official at Old Orchard Beach in Maine, Foxboro in Massachusetts, Ponce de Leon, Florida, Hilliards in Ohio and Ocean Downs, Maryland. James Lynch first worked with horses when he was fourteen; trainer John J. Daley gave him a summer vacation job in his stable. He drove in his first race when he was sixteen. His officiating career began with a matinee program at South Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1940. He was just eighteen years old and served as a starter, working with a paper megaphone and a cowbell! In WW II, Jim served in Anfa, Morocco with the U.S. Army. There, using French horses, he helped organize a series of harness races at the Anfa track. Following service, he went into teaching and officiated on a part time basis at New England tracks and fairs. He purchased Standardbreds after the war but, when night pari-mutuel racing debuted in his home state in 1947, he sold his two-horse stable and went to work as a racing official. He was named a State Steward in 1948. James M. Lynch trained many of today's best known harness racing officials. Regarded by his colleagues as the "Dean of Harness Racing", the one-time Massachusetts school teacher received the Special Achievement Award from the USTA in 1973, was made an honorary member of the USHWA in 1974, elected to the New England Harness Writers Hall of Fame in 1975 and presented with the Grand Circuit Medallion in 1976. He was the 1976-1977 president of the American Harness Racing Secretaries Association; and he served as a director of the USTA for four years, representing District 9. Jim Lynch, who was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1985, died in Abington, MA on April 20, 2000. He was seventy-eight years old.