Standardbred Old Friends press release

Freehold, NJ — Award winning equine photographer Barbara Livingston, whose popular books Old Friends and More Old Friends painted a sentimental portrait of champion racehorses long gone from the spotlight, has completed a third edition of that series.

While her first two books focused on Thoroughbred racehorses, the latest, Standardbred Old Friends, focuses on the distinctly American breed that evolved from a horse that carried the family to church, raced at the county fair and now competes world-wide at a trot and pace. The book, at $30, is ready for pre-order now at www.harnessmuseum.com.

Standardbred Old Friends portrays 43 horses, from age 19 to 37, most of them multimillionaire world record holders with Hall of Fame membership, but some of more modest distinction, occupied as show horses, in law enforcement or hardworking, blue collar performers. With writer Ellen Harvey telling the rich tales of horses from Sweden to southern California, from Maine to Florida, Livingston has captured images of horses whose achievements are now decades past, but whose memories will last a lifetime.

The collaboration, ready for shipment in June, grew from a 2008 Hoof Beats magazine article featuring ten champion Standardbreds over the age of 20. The article, with Livingston’s photos and Harvey’s stories, won top honors for journalism at the 2009 World Trotting Conference in Norway.

In 2012, the two started a trek of nearly 10,000 miles to capture the lives of nearly four dozen horses whose commercial worth is long gone, but who are cherished ever still. The book’s 153 photos and 43 stories were gleaned from thousands of photos and 150 interviews.

Standardbred Old Friends looks at the lives of 43 horses like North American and European superstar Mack Lobell, now 30, at his home along the shores of Lake Malaren in southern Sweden, 2004 horse of the Year Cam’s Card Shark at historic Hanover Shoe Farm in central Pennsylvania and mother-daughter Hall of Famers Country Kay Sue and CR Kay Suzie among the live oaks at their home in central Florida.

The senior “old friend,” 37-year-old Waco Hanover, was depicted against the deep snow of his home in the foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains. An autumn sunset in the tide pools of Maine’s Popham Beach State Park was the setting for Dreamy Starlet and McKeever Hanover, a pair with 297 races over 13 years, with four foals between them, now in their 20s, but active in the show ring and hunt field.

For a video sample of the photos in the book and a look at the making of Standardbred Old Friends, featuring 30-year-old champion Standardbred roadster Autobahn at Cane Run Farm in Kentucky, click here. Cover images include Mack Lobell on the front, Dreamy Starlet and Elizabeth Tewksbury on the back.

For more information on Barbara Livingston’s work, as well as her earlier books, Saratoga, Four Seasons of Racing and Horses in Living Color, click here.

Standardbred Old Friends can be purchased online from the Harness Racing Museum or by calling 845.294.6330. To contact Ellen Harvey, email oldfriendsbook@hotmail or call 732.616.6092.

The horses included in the book are: Armbro Feather, Cam’s Card Shark, Country Kay Sue and CR Kay Suzie, Dreamy Starlet and McKeever Hanover, Dust Devil, Flat Foot Fluzy, Giant Victory, Hattie, Heatherjeankillean, Hi IQ, Hot Lead, Incredible K, Jate Lobell, Jo Jo Geronimo/Jupiter, Keystone Wallis, Lady Ashlee Ann, Larks Crown, Lilting Laughter, Mack Lobell, Matt’s Scooter, Miss Easy, Moni Maker, Monterey Rebel and Saddle The Wind, NL Loren, Oriental Express, Sir Taurus, Stacey’s Echo, Staying Together, Supergrit, Tap In, Tarport Mark, Town Sweetheart, Victory Tilly, Waco Hanover, Western Dreamer, White Birch Mares: Three Mile Island, Town Pro, World Order, Winky’s Gill, and Winnies Guy/Autobahn.