In this week's Rewind Robert Smith recalls a number of facts, faces and a few fun memories from the decade of the 1960's in the ongoing monthly feature Years Ago. Each item is accompanied by a photo or two to better illustrate the piece.
1961 - Young Driver Follows In Father's Footsteps
Father Honorat Larochelle on the left supervises as his son Denis works on Sea Rover, a member of the Miron Stable. The senior Larochelle was the head trainer for the powerful Miron Stable at one time and Denis worked with this well known outfit as well, driving some of their stars including Sea Rover pictured here.
In 1961 a still very young Denis Larochelle at the age of just 20 had already racked up a lot of experience in the world of harness racing. Since almost his infancy he has been following the stable of his rather famous father Honorat. His travels had taken him all the way to California back in 1946 and he had touched down at a lot of other major Raceways in Canada and the U.S. closer to his home in Quebec in recent years. He made his first appearance in a race in 1957 when he was just 16, so he was by no means a newcomer. In recent times he had been active at both of the major tracks in Montreal and other Quebec raceways.
This year he was on his own, racing a nice sized stable of performers at Quebec City and Montreal. Among his cast were Mighty Counsel C., Success Knight, Versatile, Allen Volo and Adios Allen. Following a long career as a trainer and driver the senior Larochelle later became a highly respected judge at various Quebec tracks.
1962 - Danny Wilmac Goes Undefeated at Old Woodbine
Danny Wilmac paces to the wire a winner for driver Wm. Wellwood at Old Woodbine in July 1962 as he records yet another victory for owner and trainer Wm. MacMillan of Ancaster.
When non-driving trainer and owner Wm. MacMillan of Ancaster arrived at Old Woodbine for the 1962 season he had great hopes for one of his stable members. The homebred Danny Wilmac at age four was unraced and unknown. Bill secured the driving services of a then young 22-year-old driver named Bill, last name Wellwood to do his driving. With previous lameness issues apparently solved, Danny Wilmac went on a torrid winning streak. Starting as a green performer he soon reeled off eight consecutive wins during the meeting and kept lowering his record. On just his sixth lifetime start, he set a career mark of 2:03.4 which was quite a feat back then. His eight victories all occurred between July 6 and August 31.
Following the conclusion of the Woodbine meeting, MacMillan was persuaded to ship his horse to Batavia Downs and join the Wellwood stable. Once at the N.Y. State oval he resumed his winning ways, running his undefeated streak to nine in a row including his initial victory in a qualifier back in July. On his ninth start, misfortune struck as the young horse's previous tendon problems reemerged. He finished a disappointing fourth but his owner immediately knew the seriousness. Danny would never set foot on a racetrack again and the dream season and the possibility of a great career was over.
A few years ago I spoke with Bill MacMillan about this "dream" season and he recalled it all so vividly. "Bill Wellwood was a fantastic driver and just the perfect choice despite his relative lack of experience." He also added, "I wish I had packed by blacksmith tools when we left for Batavia; I think if I had shod him myself he might have been OK but who knows?"
A proud Bill MacMillan stands at the head of his Danny Wilmac in this 1962 photo at Old Woodbine. Other MacMillan family members on the right with driver Wm. Wellwood are his brother and sister Ann and little Allan.
1963 - A Special Interview By Harry Eisen
Mostly About Horses was the name of journalist Harry Eisen's racing column for many years. The long time racing scribe who worked for the London Free Press, penned literally thousands of his columns which were read by a wide-ranging audience of harness racing fans. It was quite obvious from the way he wrote and the many people that he quoted, how much he loved his work. Harry talked to literally everybody that he thought might supply a bit of information for a future column. He didn't speak to just the top owners, trainers and drivers, he valued everyone's opinion and input even beyond those who had just won a particular race.
In 1963 a horse named Prima Pick was in the midst of quite a year and Harry paid a visit to the then five-year-old pacer who raced out of the Cecil & Wes Coke stable for owner Vern Evans a Brantford, Ont. based automobile dealer. That season the gelded son of Clever Byrd - Indian Wick faced the starter a total of 26 times and returned to have his picture taken on no less than 15 occasions. That impressive total along with four seconds and two thirds earned a total of $8,489. That was quite a bit of "hay" 54 years ago. He also paced to his lifetime best of 2:05.3 over London's half miler. In his final 15 starts that season he was the winner an amazing 12 times.
In the above photo Mr. Eisen was captured on film, pencil and notebook in hand actually interviewing the horse Prima Pick. I guess you could honestly say that he was "getting it straight from the horse's mouth." Harry is on the far right and the father-son team of Cecil (left) and Wes Coke stand by to assist in the interview if needed.
1967 - Publication Keeping You Informed
Fifty years ago we didn't have the Standardbred Canada website to keep us up to date, but racing people did have a small but informative publication called "Harness Horse Happenings." It was put out by the publicity department of The O.J.C. and the price was right! All you had to do was supply a name and address and it was mailed out on a regular basis for FREE. (A copy from 1967 shows that postage was a mere three cents!)
Shown above is the front cover of the "Harness Horse Happenings" issue dated October 1967. The cover shot was taken by Michael Burns at Greenwood Raceway and the horse leading the field into the clubhouse turn was Rough Sketch owned by Maxwell Webster of Brantford, Ont. and driven by his son Brian then just 22 years of age. At the time the photo was taken the five-year-old son of Painter was en route to season's victory No. 8.
1969 - Sackville Downs
A view of the Sackville grandstand from the late 1960's (Hoof Beats)
Harness racing in the Maritime Provinces may not quite measure up to its U.S. counterparts in the statistical area but it certainly is doing well in all others. In a May 1969 article appearing in the Hoof Beats magazine the track came in for a lofty compliment. It stated "Sackville Downs sports a clubhouse that for looks and comfort is the equal of most in the States. Only in size does it differ from its stateside relatives."
These smaller tracks often depended on certain individuals performing multiple tasks to make the place run smoothly. Here it was a man named "Boots" Frame who served as classifier, program director, program printer and the night watchman. He was also a prolific story teller based on tales gathered from his track travels that took him as far away as The Royal Turf Club in Calcutta. Thus were the times.
Former stars on the Sackville track from this era are shown in a recent photo taken during Charlottetown's Old Home Week in 2016. Gus Ratchford on the left reminisces with "Clarkie" Smith about the glory days back at Lower Sackville (Charlottetown Guardian)
Note: The Sackville track which was an extremely popular spot for locals and visitors for many years closed in 1986.