Free-Legged: D-Day and American harness racing
June 4, 2008,by Dean A. Hoffman
Dean Hoffman Columbus, OH —
The day after the Prix d’Amerique, I hopped a train for Normandy to visit the site of the greatest spectacle in military history, the beaches where the D-Day invasions took place.
In two days, we’ll observe the 64th anniversary of the D-Day landings and it will surely be noted that fewer and fewer D-Day veterans are able to make the trip to Normandy to relive the landings. The Greatest Generation is passing, one person at a time, and D-Day is just a distant date in history to many people.
It wouldn’t be so distant if you visited the beaches of Normandy, as I did, but I must say that I can’t blame those veterans who want to forget, not remember, what happened on those beaches. Watch the first part of the movie Saving Private Ryan and I think you’ll get an idea of what I mean.
I stayed in the lovely town of Bayeux and took an all-day tour. Our first stop was a German gun emplacement above Omaha Beach and it was there that the reality of D-Day hit me. The men storming that beach were caught in a killing field. The Germans had the high ground and strategic gun positions allowed them to cover the beach — a blind man could have mowed down dozens from such a position simply by pulling the trigger.
I am quite sure that many men who have played prominent roles in harness racing were among the soldiers hitting the beaches in Normandy. I’ve heard that Eb Mahar, the late paddock judge, fought across France and I know that a young soldier from Pennsylvania named Stan Bergstein landed on Omaha Beach. I’m sure there are other harness racing participants, both deceased and alive, who charged into the face of the deadly gunfire.
George Smallsreed photo
Top French driver Henri Levesque was photographed in 1968 during a visit to Utah Beach.
Later in the day as we toured Utah Beach, I saw a trotter being jogged and that jogged my mind to wonder what was going on in American harness racing while the world held its breath and waited on June 6, 1944.
The answer? Not much. Keep in mind that racing was mostly seasonal in that era and it was dramatically affected by wartime rationing.
The cover of the June 7, 1944 issue of The Horseman & Fair World featured photos of military fighter planes, landing craft, and armored vehicles along with a facsimile of a $100 war bond. “Buy one of these bonds today” was the magazine’s cover copy.
Horses raced double dashes at Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island in June, 1944 for purses in the $300-400 range.
Jesse Shuff wrote the “In The Blue Grass” column on events from Lexington. The training colony in early June that summer reads like a Hall of Famers’ list: Ben White, Fred Egan, Henry Thomas, Frank Ervin, Tom Berry, Charles Lacey, and Jake Mahoney.
Shuff also reported that Castleton Farm had lost a barn that was almost a football field in length. Another loss that week was May Spencer, the dam of Hambletonian winner Spencer Scott, then the fastest trotting stallion in history.
Two months after D-Day, May Spencer’s daughter Emily Scott would finish second in the Hambletonian and would later produce Hambletonian winner Emily’s Pride.
Another columnist noted that “It is nearly three years since we have had a new 2:00 trotter or since a 2:00 mile was trotted” and then went on to write that “Volo Song could have entered the 2:00 list had the question been asked of him at Lexington.”
Volo Song was asked the question a month after D-Day and trotted in 1:57-3/4 in Cleveland, the fastest trotting race ever. Shortly thereafter, he broke his leg and was euthanized.
Pundits were looking for some pacing speed in ’44, too, as the only 2:00 race mile of 1943 had been by King’s Counsel.
In Indianapolis, a Hal Dale filly was auctioned off with the bidder agreeing to buy war bonds in the amount of the bid. She was donated by Two Gaits Farm to help the war bond effort and to promote the movie “Home In Indiana.” Actress Jeanne Crain, star of the movie, was in Indianapolis and the filly was named Miss Jeanne Crain in her honor.
The filly did nothing on the track, but her first foal was Ichabod Crain, a good pacer in the 1950s and later a decent sire.
The boys who landed on the beaches in Normandy began a crusade that swept across Europe and ended the war. That spawned a post-war prosperity that allowed harness racing to ride a wave of popularity with American sports fans. The 25 years after the war marked a boom period for the sport.
I ended my D-Day with a visit to the American cemetery at Colville-sur-Mer and it was one of the most moving experiences of my life. To see the endless white crosses and Stars of David reinforced for me what an enormous sacrifice our soldiers made in Normandy. The Greatest Generation overcame the Depression, won the war, and helped spark the explosive growth of American harness racing.