The Saratoga Harness Hall of Fame honoured one horseman and two horses during the 30th annual induction ceremonies at the museum on Tuesday night, June 14
. Trainer-driver Frank Coppola Jr. and pacing mares Quick Comeonover and Bo Scotts Horn were inducted in front of a packed crowd.
Coppola has 4,697 lifetime wins and more than $14 million in career driving earnings. He is best known as a leading driver at Saratoga Raceway, consistently ranking among the top five drivers since 1985. But he also has earned respect as a trainer, establishing his own stable at Saratoga Raceway after purchasing half of his father’s horses in 1980. For his skill on the track and on the backstretch, he was voted the tracks’ Horseman of the Year in 1987, ‘88, ‘92, ‘93, ‘98 ‘99, 2001 and 2009.
Quick Comeonover was a three-year-old New York Sire Stakes champion in 1992 for owner and trainer Gary Dudka of Diamond Creek Stables. The talented Praised Dignity mare raced until she was nine and earned 37 career victories and $321,746 in earnings. She is still cared for by the Dudka family, living on their farm in Amsterdam, N.Y.
Bo Scotts Horn, a 1968 foal of Cape Horn, was a homebred for William F. and Arlene McGee of Gansevoort, N.Y. She was trained by Andy Nazarian and regularly driven by J.P. Morel. This late developer had her breakout year as a four-year-old when she won the New York Sire Stakes championship for older mares.
The Virginia O’Brien 110% Award, voted on by the Saratoga Harness Horseperson’s Association, was given to Mary Lamb, a long-time groom in the John Stark Jr. stable. This was the first year the award was named in honor of O’Brien, the former director of the Hall of Fame who passed away last year.
The Hall of Fame is located at 352 Jefferson Street in Saratoga Springs. Visitors are welcome 11: 00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Thursday through Saturday until July 24, then Tuesday through Saturday through Labor Day. Additional visits or groups may be arranged by appointment by calling Executive Director David Oxford at 518-587-4210.