SC Rewind: Remembering Marty Adler

In this week's edition of Rewind Robert Smith recalls the career and contributions of the recently passed Marty Adler.  The Windsor, Ontario native had a long and varied connection to many areas of harness racing.  He was 81 at the time of his passing. 

On August 24, 2024 harness racing lost one of its most versatile and colourful personalities with the passing of Martyn Allan Adler.  "Marty" as he was always known spent most of his lifetime in his native Windsor and Essex County area but was widely known throughout the world of harness racing across North America.  He combined a multitude of talents to create a unique personality in whatever he did.  

In 1969 a then 26 year old Marty Adler (left) made a rather large career step when he became one of Windsor Raceway's main announcers.  Jack Calvert (right)  a Michigan native decided to devote more time to training and less announcing which opened up a spot for Adler.

His love and interest in the sport emerged at an early age.  That combined with his talents in several areas of  media served him well.  While he may be best remembered for his many decades in the announcing booth, his talents took him in many other directions.  His media career began with a stint at a Wingham, Ont. radio station and from there he went on to many adventures.  His first connection with Windsor Raceway began just after the track opened in 1965 when he spent New Year's Eve working at the track.  

It is doubtful that many accomplished announcers had as long and extensive a career as a driver as Marty enjoyed.  He trained and drove a lot of horses over the years and certainly enjoyed success with many of them.  He not only owned some himself and in partnership,  but also took horses from well known trainers and drivers. 

One example of the fact that other accomplished horsemen sent him their stock was when well-known all-around horseman Garth Gordon sent a trio of horses to Marty to train and drive.  Garth recently related that back around 1992 or so he had an excess of horses in his stable and in order to get them raced he sent some to Marty to race at Windsor.  He summed up the experience by saying "I sent him three horses one winter to race at Windsor. He drove them himself and did really well." 

In a 1986 newspaper article profiling Marty and his unique, sometimes larger than life, antics touched on his real abilities as a race announcer.  Ken Quinn, then director of marketing at Windsor Raceway said that Adler's track announcing "is one of the best in Canada, and probably top five in North America. His announcing is much more than just names and numbers. I would rate him at least an "A" as far as what he puts into a race for excitement.  He doesn't get carried away though;  some other track announcers sound like they're doing a hog call."

He did some of his greatest work when big races like Windsor's annual Provincial Cup was held.  He was always well prepared and provided great coverage of the participants prior to the race.  His call of the race always aroused the crowd to the occasion and his post-race coverage and interviews made for an exciting time for the huge crowds that attended.  He was simply just a great announcer. 

Marty is shown hard at work preparing for his TV show complete with his trusty pencil close by.  (Windsor Star Photo) 

Marty worked on promotional and publicity work for many years and was instrumental in bringing the action from Little Brown Jug day in Delaware, Ohio to many television viewers in an age when there were not the many options we have come to enjoy nowadays.  He also did great promotional work for the popular Ontario Sires Stakes in its earlier years.  All of this was accomplished as he maintained a job at a Windsor TV station much of the time. 

It seems as though many things that Marty was involved in ended up having a bit of a "twist or two" in them and they often resulted in an amusing if not bizarre way.  Such was the case in an incident described below.  

Medallion Lobell (6) and driver Marty Adler show at least a two-length lead over Creed Dancer (9) as they cruise to victory in 2:26 on a very snowy night at Wolverine Raceway back in 1973 (Abahazy Collection)

Mar. 16, 1973 - When fledgling owner Rozzie Warner, a turkey farmer from Alvinston, Ont., purchased his first horse he couldn't have imagined what his Baptism under fire would be like. As it turned out it was more like Baptism under snow. His trainer and driver Marty Adler entered his horse Medallion Lobell at Wolverine Raceway in Detroit as he was unable to get a start at a much handier Windsor Raceway. Apparently Windsor's race secretary Joe DeFrank had a rule (perhaps unwritten) that in the last week of the meet he wouldn't allow a horse to start that had not yet had a start. A fierce late winter storm blanketed the Michigan track that evening and the new owner almost didn't get there to see the race.

After a treacherous drive on snowy roads, he finally made it; just in time to place a $20 win ticket wager. As the race was about to start a recall forced the entrants to regroup. In the second try Adler shot to the front and soon opened up a gigantic lead. As he reached the half in 1:06 Marty decided to glance back at the second-place horse. Due to the blinding snowstorm he could not see anyone and later found out why. He was 22 lengths ahead but not quite home and cooled out.

The tired pair finally reached the wire with two lengths to spare on second place finisher Creed Dancer but not after some pretty frantic urging. Time of the mile after a second half in 1:20 was a blazing 2:26! The mutuels showed a nice payoff for the new owner as the toteboard lit up to the tune of $20.80, $13.80 and $6.60. Reportedly there was just one patron holding a winning quad ticket worth some $27,000. A gentleman named Johnny, also a patron of the Adler stable, was apparently that lucky man. About a month later this same horse and driver were again winners at Wolverine; this time in a slightly quicker 2:06.

A group of happy folks gather in the Wolverine winner's circle after new owner Rozzie and Jack Warner are at the head of Medallion Lobell.  At the far end is driver Marty Adler and a further part of the impromptu celebration that resembled a snow globe.  (Abahazy Photo collection)  

Horseman Jack Darling who spent many years racing at Windsor Raceway has known Marty for a very long time and recently voiced his thoughts when learning of his passing.  

"Marty has been a giant in our industry for as long as I can remember. So many great memories from the Windsor Raceway years. He has a resume as long as your arm stretching from Little Brown Jug TV shows in Ohio to Hazel Park, Windsor, Leamington and OJC tracks in Toronto. He continually chased the politicians down with his microphone and held their feet to the fire as they were taking the slot money away from us. I was always hoping he would make it into the Hall of Fame while he was with us so we could all celebrate his accomplishments."

Marty was passionate and energetic in all of his pursuits.  He worked hard and long on his TV show and brought that same dedication to the sport of harness racing.  He was a fierce advocate for racing to get due recognition and fair treatment from government officials.   He did a lot of work on behalf of the sport of harness racing for many years and his memory will live on. 

Quote For The Week: I once heard that it isn't always what we say that matters most, sometimes it's how it's said.  An example was how two people expressed a totally different meaning with the same words.  An optimist upon rising in the morning says "Good Lord, another morning!" while a pessimist says  "Good Lord, another morning!!" 

Who Is It?  

Can you identify this well-known driver from yesteryears? 

Who Else Is It?  

Can you correctly identify this gentleman?  He had a long career in the sport and just left us a short time ago.