by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

Freehold, NJ — Town Pro p,3,1:51.4 ($1,229,582) died in her sleep at the age of 27 at her home at White Birch Farm, in Imlaystown, N.J., on Oct. 26, 2014.

She was buried at the high point of the farm, overlooking the paddocks and adjacent training track. A headstone will be erected in her memory, according to Farm Manager Steve Williams, who reports that she was active and comfortable until the end.

USTA/Ed Keys photo

Town Pro was a two-time divisional champion and earned $1.22 million in her career.

Town Pro (by Big Towner out of Programmed) was the 2- and 3-year old pacing filly of the year in both Canada and the US in 1989 and 1990. She was inducted to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2004. She’s a two-time Breeders Crown winner, along with the American-National, Simcoe, Tarport Hap and Fan Hanover stakes.

She is the dam of 17 foals, 12 starters who have collectively won $3,979,791, including her daughter, the $2.9 million winner Darlin’s Delight.

The following story about Town Pro’s life after racing appears in the 208 page coffee table book, Standardbred Old Friends, with photos by Barbara Livingston and stories by Ellen Harvey. The book, which contains portraits, in photos and words, of 43 Standardbreds of distinction in the twilight of their lives, can be purchased from the Harness Racing Museum, Amazon or Ebay.com. The book will be available at the Museum’s booth at the upcoming Harrisburg Sale.

Town Pro
By Big Towner – Programmed by Bret Hanover
April 12, 1987 St. George, Ontario, Canada

Which came first, the horse or the name? Rarely has a name, typically chosen at less than a year of age, suited a horse so precisely as it fit Town Pro.

Her name, derived from sire, Big Towner, and her dam, Programmed, could not have been a better fit. She never had a rookie phase. Her first two races, in June of 1989, were the last times she raced at less than the highest level of competition.

Barbara D. Livingston photo

Town Pro in December of 2012 at age 25, White Birch Farm.

Off a humble debut, at Grand River Raceway in Elora, Ontario, she raced 63 more times, collecting 38 more wins. She rarely missed a paycheck for her owners, the Pro Group Stable. In the end, her bankroll added up to $1.2 million.

“From the very start, she just had the whole package, everything you want,” said Doug Brown, who drove Town Pro through her entire racing career and didn’t see anything dainty about her. “I always said if you looked way down deep inside her, you’d find a set of testicles. She was like a stud in some ways; she had the big chest, a big back end.

“She always had the speed, but from two to three, that’s when she changed physically,” says Brown. “She got the big chest and she just grew. She fit in perfectly with Stew (Firlotte, her late trainer), because he was one to train them hard between starts; that suited her just fine.”

For all the success Town Pro had with Brown and Firlotte, she was never fond of either. In fact, she was downright hostile.

“We just had to walk past the door and she was ears back and both feet firing,” said Brown. “I guess she figured out we were the ones that made her work.”

She was bought at the close of her racing career by the late Joe Parisi as a broodmare for his White Birch Farm in New Jersey.

White Birch Farm Manager Steve Williams has a love/hate relationship with Town Pro. He loves her. She hates him.

“She is the toughest, smartest horse I’ve ever been around,” he says. Williams’s admiration stems from Town Pro’s life-threatening year, from 2006 to 2007.

“Within a year’s period, she had three colics,” says Williams. “Probably would have killed a normal horse. She had a full 360 degree twist in all of them. She showed very little pain. In fact, the second and third time I took her to the hospital, if I hadn’t known her and seen how much pain tolerance she had, I wouldn’t have taken any other horse. She needed surgery all three times. Two of those times, she was in foal and she kept them.”

Toughness may have saved Town Pro, but her memory nearly killed Williams.

“This was in 2007, and until early 2012, I was not allowed near her,” he says.

“She associated me with pain. Anyone else could walk in to her stall and catch her. She was always a little frisky and might turn her butt at you. But when I went in there, it was more than that. She was firing, aiming and meant to hit. She did not want me around. I told her, ‘Don’t you know I saved your life three times?’ She associated me with pain. That’s the only explanation.”

After three surgeries, Town Pro has the luxury of conceiving, but not carrying her foals. When it’s time for a short trip to the veterinary clinic for the embryo transfer, she still gets surgery flashbacks.

“It takes three men and a boy, a blindfold, please and thank you to get her on the trailer,” says Williams. “Coming home, all I have to do is open the door and tell her to get on.”

Williams has to constantly out-think Town Pro, both to prevent colic and to deal with age-related Cushing’s Disease.

“We think what may have caused the colic is that she gorges on grass,” he says. “She doesn’t lift her head. So now, she’s out all day, in a trimmed paddock, watching her friends in the fields. Then she comes in the penthouse, has her meal and stays the night.”

Town Pro is also apparently able to distinguish color.

“Her Cushing’s medication is a red paste,” says Williams. “She was fine with it in her feed tub or squirted in her mouth. Toward the end of the first batch, Dr. (Richard) Meirs brought more of the same medication, but it was white.

“She absolutely refused, wouldn’t take it, and wouldn’t let the groom get close to her when he tried to give it to her. She walked away from her feed tub when it was in there.

I told Richie, ‘I know you’re going to think I’m crazy, but can we go back to the red medicine?’ The next day he brought the red medicine and don’t you know, it was like nothing ever happened. She’s the smartest animal I’ve ever been around.”