Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — It was shortly after 1 a.m. the early morning hours of Tuesday (Aug. 30), when Libby Myers, who co-owns Snow Ridge Farm in Clark Lake, Mich., with her husband, Mike, received a phone call nobody in the horse business wants to receive: There was a barn fire on her property.

The Myers, who had been asleep for barely an hour when they were awakened by the call, rushed the two football fields away on the 40-acre property just south of Jackson to find the barn fully engulfed. They could only watch helplessly as it burnt to the ground. In the barn was the 19-year-old Manhardt, arguably the most prolific pacing stallion standing in Michigan, the 12-year-old Fool Me Once, a promising pacing stallion who stands in Ohio, a yearling colt and the family’s two pet German Shepherds.

“There was no chance of saving anything. It was all gone,” said Myers, noting that an electrical surge that came after thunderstorms moved through the area was determined to be the cause of the fire.

In addition to Manhardt and Fool Me Once, also residing at Snow Ridge were trotting stallions Musclesprinctonian, Fitzmagic and Muscles For Life, and pacing stallions Bondi Hanover and Megatron.

“Manhardt would only want to be outside an hour and a half and want to come in,” said Myers, who has been involved in harness racing since 1993. “Fool Me Once would go out the rest of the day but come in at night. We put our trotting stallion Fitzmagic out during the night or he would have been in the fire. The other stallions live outside so they were safe.”

“The firefighters broke the fence down and Fitzmagic got loose and away from the fire,” she added. “The mares were all out in the field and safe. Now we have close to 30 mares coming in foal in the spring and no barn.”

Snow Ridge Farm is one of only a few breeding farms in Michigan, a state where a thriving harness industry is now down to only one pari-mutuel racetrack in Northville Downs, but showing signs of recovery. On Thursday (Sept. 29), the inaugural Winner’s Circle Speed Sale will be held in Fowlerville, with one yearling colt by Manhardt being offered.

“We stuck it out when nobody else was here,” said Myers. “Mike works at Ford Motor Co. and I have a child care business so we both work full time. That was the only way we could continue and support the farm all those years.

“Those were nice stallions we lost. Manhardt only bred a handful of mares and was pretty successful in what he did. Fool Me Once would stay in Ohio during breeding season and we’d bring him home when he was done. Those two should be honored for sure.”

A son of Western Ideal, Manhardt was trained by Jim Eaton during his racing career, earning nearly $400,000 while taking a mark of 1:48.4 as a 5-year-old in 2008 at The Meadowlands. Upon Manhardt’s retirement following his 2010 racing campaign, Myers at first leased Manhardt from owner Bob Silberberg, but then purchased the pacer in October 2019.
Manhardt stood his first season at stud in 2011 in Michigan, but then spent the next 10 years shuttling back and forth to Ohio.

Despite siring a limited number of mares each year — he bred 25 mares in 2021 and 2022 — Manhardt’s 72 starters have earned more than $5.1 million, including Ohio champion My Tweed Heart, a $2,500 yearling purchase who stands first on the earnings list with $573,044.

Manhardt sired several Sires Stakes champions in both states over the years, including Iwillmakeyousaywow and Girllookatthatbody from his first crop in Michigan. Both pacers were purchased and campaigned by veteran trainer Kelly Goodwin.

“Manhardt was just a good sire,” said Goodwin. “He put a nice looking horse on the ground. I feel bad because Michigan can’t afford to lose a horse like that. This will be a blow.

“We tried to breed both my mares to him this year and they didn’t get in foal so that kind of sucks. But it is what it is and you go on.”

Michigan Harness Horseman’s Association treasurer Crystal Serra said the loss of Manhardt will be felt in the coming years.

“He’s certainly the most proven stallion Michigan had on the pacing side,” said Serra. He threw really nice horses that were competitive. A lot of people liked the Manhardts; his horses did well in the stakes races when they were here and then went on to become raceway horses. It’s certainly a loss to the breeding industry here for sure.

“There’s definitely going to be an impact because the rest of the sires that are standing here pacing wise aren’t proven. They are basically new stallions with their 2-year-olds next year. Now we have to wait and see who the next stallion will be that picks up where he left off.”

Fool Me Once earned more than $1.1 million on the racetrack, taking a mark of 1:48.1 as a 3-year-old in 2013 in a North America Cup elimination at Mohawk. New Image Media photo.

Fool Me Once could have been a candidate. A son of Art Major, Fool Me Once earned more than $1.1 million on the racetrack, taking a mark of 1:48.1 as a 3-year-old in 2013 in a North America Cup elimination at Mohawk for the late trainer Mark Austin ((he was fourth in the final). Standing stud at Hagemeyer Farms in Clarksville, Ohio, Fool Me Once bred 38 mares in his first year in 2021 and 45 mares this year. His first crop will sell as yearlings in 2023.

“Manhardt pretty much built Snow Ridge and got them going so this is heartbreaking,” said Brett Boyd, former president of the MHHA who now sits on the board of directors and is a close friend of the Myers. “He was getting getting up in age but he was probably the most dominant horse in Michigan for many years. Fool Me Once was a younger horse and I thought he was going to make a mark in Ohio and then eventually hoping he went back to Michigan. This is a one-two punch in the gut.”

Boyd said he has owned several offspring of Manhardt through the years, including Hardt At Work, who was one of only two horses to beat the highly-regarded Charlie May in Ohio Sires Stakes races as 2-year-olds in 2020.

Boyd said he and his wife live just 20 minutes from Snow Ridge and they rushed that night to the farm after receiving a phone call from the Myers.

“Mike called me that night and me and my wife rushed over there,” said Boyd. “It was one of the most helpless feelings I’ve ever had. There was nothing we could do.”

Myers said while everything was pretty much lost in the fire, it could have been worse.

“It could have been March when we had 30 mares and 30 babies in the barn,” she said. “Everything is gone. It was all in the barn. Our equipment and all our papers burnt up in the fire. We don’t know when mares were bred or when they are due.”

Myers said she gave proper burial to all the horses who died in the fire.

“I buried Manhardt in the front yard of our house in front of the sign and the other horses went on the hill where our graveyard is.

“Everybody made fun of me because I said my husband had competition, that’s how much I loved Manhardt. A 4-year-old kid could take Manhardt and handle him. He was that nice of a horse. Now we will rebuild, but how do you replace those horses?”

The Myers have been overwhelmed by the support of the racing industry, which includes sizeable donations from the Michigan Harness Horsemen’s Association and Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association. More than $25,000 has been contributed on a gofundme page which has been set up. To donate please click here.