From the USTA Communications Department

Columbus, OH — Hilda Heydt, of Pleasant Hill, OH, a pioneer of women in harness racing, passed away Friday, April 29, 2016 at the age of 89.

Hilda was born in the Province of Westphalia, Germany to Eugen and Edith Heydt. In 1936 she and her parents fled to Holland and later to South Africa to escape the Holocaust. Following her parents divorce she moved with her father in 1938 to New York. She attended Penn State University and moved to Lexington where she began as a groom in harness racing. This started her on a career that spanned seven decades.

Women in harness racing in the 1940s were not given the opportunities that men were but Heydt helped break through those barriers gaining her training license in 1949 and becoming one of only three women to hold such a license. She went on to train and breed many top horses including the world champions Torrid, Mr. Budlong, Joanna’s Time and Camluck.

She raced with many of the top men trainer/drivers such as Delvin Miller, Johnny Simpson, Stanley Dancer and Herve Fillion. Hilda, who had no siblings, never married or had children, made harness racing and her love for horses her life.

Her breeding farm in Pleasant Hill remains and is now owned and operated by Rick and Margie Polhamus.