Ed Hart, a lifelong participant in the harness racing industry, will be the recipient of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) Monticello-Goshen Chapter’s highest honour, its Lifetime Achievement Award, at their 65th annual awards banquet in Campbell Hall, N.Y. on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.

The Monticello-Goshen chapter will honour Hart as well as Steve Jones (John Manzi Leadership Award); Kim Crawford (Excelsior Award); Heather Reese Marshall (John Gilmour Good ‘Gal’ Award); Irv Atherton (Amy Bull Crist Distinguished Service Award); Jessica Otten (Phil Pines Award); Tyler ‘TJ’ Miller (Rising Star); Carolyn Atherton (Cradle of the Trotter Breeders Award); Andrew Adamcyzk (Amateur Driver); and Dale Berenson (Mighty M Award of Appreciation).

Born in Orange County, New York, known by many as the ‘Cradle of the Trotter,” Hart enjoyed working with horses more than the scholastic work at his alma mater Monroe-Woodbury High School.  As a Junior in 1972, he learned about a Standardbred horse curriculum offered by the local BOCES and convinced a friend to sign up with him.

“I didn’t know anything about race horses,″ said Hart. “My buddy and I joined and 50-plus years later, here I am.″

The immersive harness racing program taught the soft-spoken Hart how to be a professional groom and how to start training horses.

“I fell in love with it right away,″ he said.

Hart first started jogging horses at Goshen’s Good Time Park in 1972, and drove in his first race at Goshen Historic Track a year later.  Now 68 years young, Hart is still training horses in Orange County, and has harnessed the winners of more than $23 million in purse earnings, despite having an average of just 211 starts per year since records were kept in 1991. This puts Hart in good company, as he sits 52nd on the all-time trainer money-earnings list, among active conditioners.

In fact, this year, his charge Sir Pinocchio won the Dexter Cup, the Yonkers Trot (the first leg of the Trotting Triple Crown) and the New York Sire Stakes final, boosting his seasonal bankroll to nearly $750,000.  The son of Mets Hall is currently the fifth leading money-winning sophomore trotter in North America, and the division’s richest gelding.

Often avoiding the spotlight, Hart would perhaps gloss over all of the successful students to emerge from his stable. However, these stable stars would be the envy of the majority of conditioners in harness racing, and include Roll With Joe, Space Shuttle, Four Starzzz Shark, Lord Cromwell, Dealt A Winner, and a host of New York Sire Stakes champions too numerous to list.

For Hart, it’s not so much about the work, but a way of life.

“It’s a tough, competitive game,″ he said. “It’s tough to make a living. It’s tough to raise a family but I’ve done it. I have to tell you, I just love the horses. Sometimes in the morning, in the springtime, when you are out there jogging, you can’t believe you get paid doing this stuff.”

Well respected by his peers for a strong work ethic and superb horsemanship, U.S. Hall of Famer Ron Pierce once stated, “Winning the Meadowlands Pace [with Roll With Joe] for Eddie Hart was a thrill. Eddie is such a great guy and he puts so much effort into his stable.”

During their historic Dan Patch Award-winning season with Roll With Joe, co-owner Tom Grossman also noted, “We genuinely love the fact we’re going through this journey with Eddie Hart.

“I think he’s the highest quality person and a great horse trainer who maybe hasn’t gotten as much respect from the industry as maybe he’s deserved over the years," continued Blue Chip Farm’s Grossman. "He’s been a loyal friend and a great guy. We’re really excited for him to share in this with us.”

This year, at its new, larger venue, the chapter has been given the opportunity to include the New York Sire Stakes and U.S. Trotting District 8 Awards, which will be in addition to the year-end awards for horses and horsepeople from the local tracks.

Funds raised through the banquet and souvenir journal have allowed the Monticello-Goshen chapter to give well over $135,000 USD to Goshen Historic Track and the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame over the last two decades. The Track and the Museum are two separate and distinct entities that share the same hallowed ground and a mutual purpose of preserving and promoting harness racing. The practice of raising money and donating funds to Historic Track and the Hall of Fame began in the mid-1970s with Monticello Raceway publicity icon John Manzi, and has continued ever since.

Tickets for the gala event at the new venue, The Golf Club at Otterkill, Campbell Hall, New York, can be reserved by contacting Shawn Wiles at 845-798-4074 or email [email protected]. To place a congratulatory ad in the souvenir journal, contact Chris Tully at 845-807-7538 or [email protected].  

(Monticello-Goshen Chapter of USHWA)