This week's Rewind takes readers back to 1979, as Robert Smith recalls the heavy presence of Canadian horsepeople at Batavia Downs, in Batavia, N.Y., a mere hour from the Canadian border. His reminiscence includes a few old photos, including a couple participants from that era.
When the 1979 season at Batavia Downs came to a conclusion in late November, it marked the end of the track's fourth decade of operation. From its 1940 opening, Batavia had attracted a lot of Canadian horsepeople and fans. In fact, many of the top-performing horses and horsepeople from the 1979 season were Canadian. This was certainly nothing new, as many well-known Canadian figures had found their niche at Batavia — a place often referred to as "The Friendly Track" — over the years.
For the second year in a row, Canadian driver Carman Hie led all reinsmen in the Universal Driver Rating standings, and set a new record for the fall season. In the 1978 Batavia season, the Cobourg, Ont., registered a mark of .458 in 152 starts, and also tallied his 1,000th career win, at nearby Buffalo Raceway. In, 1979, he established a new record of .460 — with 35 fewer drives — but managed 38 wins, 20 second-place finishes and 14 thirds. His accomplishments put him 115 UDR points ahead of second-place finisher Ed McNeight Jr., and his win total was good enough for sixth place.
Hie, who turned 35 in June 1979, also racked up some other outstanding numbers to add to his overall success at the Batavia oval. His $102,892 in purses placed him in overall earnings. The tally for his Cockshutt-Hie operation alone totalled $ 55,711, good enough for second in stable earnings. That partnership existed for many years as a successful combination, and their lengthy run was only ended by the 2021 passing of Colin "Stewart" Cockshutt.
Also high up in the stable earnings category was another Canadian outfit, the Shelley Goudreau and E.S. Scarff Stable Ltd., of Stayner, Ont. Their stable's earnings of $36,286 put them in third place during the late season meeting. Their most profitable performer was an eight-year-old mare. Busy Time Babe, a daughter of Race Time. She banked a very respectable $22,760 by herself. Just missing the top three was 1978's leading stable: Jack Darling, of Exeter, Ont., who earned a total of $35,271 in purses.
Canadian drivers and owners also scored well in the two big stakes series held at Batavia that year: the New York Sire Stakes and the Batavia colt and filly events. Jim Miller drove Tijuana Taxi, owned by the Barr-M Stable of Ottawa, to a new track record for three-year-old pacing colts, touring the Batavia half-mile track in 1:59 and pacing his final quarter in :28.3. Shelly Goudreau reined Mr Newt to victory in the $37,000 two-year-old colt pace for the only other Canadian stakes win. They won it the hard way, starting from post 9 — which meant starting from the second tier. Despite the handicap, the colt notched a new lifetime mark of 2:02.4 over a track rated "good."
Clint Galbraith, originally from Tara, Ont., and a regular at Batavia for many years previous to this, earned the most money for owners in the two stakes series. He earned an amazing $58,971, which included two wins with Cream of Freight and another behind Nick Kash, who owned the fastest trotting mile of the entire fall session by virtue of a 2:03.2 effort.
The young Canadian horseman Jim Rankin finished third in the stakes earnings derby with $32,166. Despite his successes, he had to be disappointed that his standout performer from 1978, Happy Lady, failed to make an appearance at the Batavia meeting. She qualified late in the meeting and was scheduled to start, but had to be scratched on the second last weekend before snow cancelled the final Saturday.
The year-end Batavia statistics contained a rarely used category: earnings per start. A number of the Canadian-based drivers fared well in this category. Excluding stakes races, a few who ranked high in this area were Hie ($746), Jim Rankin ($705), Gary Payne ($648), Darling ($627) and Galbraith ($446).
A statement at the end of the press release of the season-ending statistics read as follows:
"The influx of Canadian owners, trainers and drivers in recent years has added much to the calibre of racing at Batavia Downs. This is reflected in the figures on the tote board as the public makes a Canadian entry the favourite in many of the races."
The First Hugh Grant Cup
On Aug. 8, 1979, one of harness racing's best known personalities, Hugh Grant Sr., of Bradford, Pa., passed away at the age of 67. Grant had been involved in breeding and developing some of the finest horses of this era. He was fond of saying, "My best investment in horses is Del Miller," with whom he partnered on many greats and also relied on his advice and counsel. Among Grant's great harness horses were Tarport Hap, Countess Adios, Adios Betty, Meadow Chuck, Thorpe Hanover, and one of the foremost sires of all time, Meadow Skipper. He also owned Thoroughbreds and twice won major stakes in both sports on the same day.
Following his passing, it was decided to start a memorial race in his honour, and the inaugural edition was held at Batavia Downs as part of the Grand Circuit meeting. It was an event for three-year-old pacing colts and geldings. As luck would have it, the first two finishers were from the Canadian-based stable of Dr. John Hayes, of Beamsville, Ont. The winner was Oil Strike, driven by Carman Hie, with the runner-up spot going to Striking Force, handled by Hayes himself. Thus, the Beejay stable took home $20,775 of the total purse of $27,770 . Those two sons of Strike Out were a potent force during the 1979 season, appearing in a number of top stakes events for three-year-olds, including The Little Brown Jug, at Delaware, Ohio.
Quote of the Week: "Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else." — Ogden Nash
Who Is It?
Can you identify this long time participant at Batavia Downs? He is pictured here in a 1970 photo taken as part of the track's 30th anniversary celebrations held that year. He was a huge part of the track's early history.
Who Else Is It?
Can you put a correct name on the driver shown above — a young fellow who enjoyed several successful seasons at the Batavia track, including 1979, the one profiled above?
Who Else From Batavia?
This lady was a part of the Batavia cast for a number of years. She rode a golden palomino, and designed and made all of the colourful outfits she wore while performing her job. Can you name her?
The following excerpt appeared in an earlier edition of Rewind:
Batavia Celebrates 30 Years in 1970
In 1970, Batavia management staged a week-long celebration to observe the 30th anniversary of their opening. On the Tuesday night of that week, each race on the 10-race card was named in honour of a Canadian person who had played a role in the track's growth and prosperity. Those honoured were Cliff Chapman Sr., Harry Fields, "Orangeville Bill" Harvey, Clint Hodgins, Floyd Milton, Joe O'Brien, Russell Miller, Alex Parsons, Lorne Tolhurst and Harold Wellwood. A number of these people were in attendance to be involved in trackside presentations.
My parents attended this gala event and renewed acquaintances with many people from years past. My father truly loved this spot and always enjoyed visiting there. About six weeks or less after this event, he passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, so it was nice that they made that one last trip.
This week's pictures
This week's correct picture identities were as follows :
The correct answer to Who is it ? was Levi Harner who for many years campaigned the large and successful stable owned by Mr. T.J. Zornow of Pittsford, N.Y. His daughter Gwen was married to Wm. "Buddy" Gilmour and his son Eldon Harner was also a very accomplished horseman.
Who else is it? was answered correctly as Jack Darling and his entourage driving the pacer Louetta Story at Batavia.
Who else from Batavia? was also correctly answered as Helen Geovia parade marshal. A question was raised by Rewind follower Nelson White who recalls a lady named Helen Pyle who was a long time parade marshal at Batavia and she rode a similar horse. Does anyone know if there was any connection beyond them having the same first name? I certainly remember Helen Pyle and her husband Harry Pyle who was the starter at Batavia for years.
Thanks as always to those folks who sent in comments.
Way Back ....
In 1954 my father had two Ontario bred horses racing at Batavia. They were full sisters sired by Dillon Mc Dinah Dillon, a 6 year old and Minda Dillon, then a 10 year old. His driver Harold Wellwood was injured in a track accident catch driving a horse named Tired Brother and missed a lot of that season . While he was sidelined several other drivers took over. At one point that fall Dinah Dillon won three races in a row within a 14 day period, each with a different driver: Levi Harner, Eddie Wheeler and Joe Hodgins. With Joe Hodgins in the bike Dinah set a track record even though she was just a slower class performer. The reason for her success was that it was a dash race with a distance of 9/16 of a mile, obviously one seldom carded. She toured the unusual distance in a time of 1:07 3/5. Two years later in 1956 that same distance was again programmed and the winner was a mare named Scottish Princess driven by Eddie Wheeler and their time of 1:06 2/5 established a new world's record. I believe this mark stood for quite a long time and was lowered in the late 80's when Yonkers staged several 9/16 mile races.
Hugh Grant Cup
I remember this stake final well where the Hayes stable finished 1-2. I finished 3rd in the race with a grey colt named Red River Dan. He was a horse I had bought from Rick Moffat in London. (for those old enough to remember he was sired by a local grey stud named River Water) Coming through the stretch, I was in the middle with Oil Strike on one side of me and Striking Force on the other. I was only beat a length at the most at the wire but i had the impression we could have gone around the track again and I wasnt going to gain on them. I walked up to John and Carman in the paddock after the race and said " you guys were just toying with me out there weren't you' ? They both just smiled and didnt say a word. lol Both Oil Strike and Striking Force went on to be top grand circuit horses.
Who is it?
#1 Levi Harner ( I had the pleasure of working for him in the 60's, I was there for the Kat Byrd days) . He was Buddy Gilmour's father in law, Eldon's brother in law. When they all raced together at Batavia and Hamburg they were know as "the father, Son and holy ghost', All great horsemen. #2, Jack Darling #3, Helen Govia, the lady, nothing but class, amazing horse woman. Back in 1970 I was working for Lester Snyder and raced the 30th anniversary cards, they always had great promotions then. Great trainers / drivers in the 50's, 60's and 70's came through Batavia, many hall of famers, Canadians and Americans. Great to remember those times Thank You
who else is it Jack Darling
who else is it
Jack Darling