A Legend's Deteriorating Dream

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Published: February 10, 2013 10:27 pm EST

“Quite often I look around and I say to myself: 'My life was wasted.' I spent all this time trying to keep something going and now it’s gone.”

A democratandchronicle.com article by Jon Hand features the story of the rise and fall of the highly successful Rodney Farms and Galbraith Stables, operated by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer Clint Galbraith and his wife Barbara.

The article chronicles the decline of the Galbraiths' harness racing dream that included the success of Barbara's father's mid-century world champion trotter Duke Rodney and Clint's Hall of Fame pacer Niatross. Today, their once world-class horse breeding operation is struggling with a farm in need of major repairs.

According to the article, their dream crumbled due to a suffering economy and poor financial decisions, a failed business partnership and a serious head injury suffered by Clint that kept him from advancing in plans to turn things around. The couple's Scottsville, N.Y. stable is in debt and they face an inevitable lawsuit, but continue to work 14-plus hour days as they have for decades with hopes of getting their operation running again on a smaller scale.

“I admit to making a few mistakes along the line, but the majority of the reason we are where we are is because of things we couldn’t handle," said Barbara. "I mean we can’t control the world.”

To read the article, click here.

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