Harness Racing Song Released

The Roosevelt Raceway song ‘Where It All Began’ has officially been released worldwide as a single by Innovation Digital of America.

The music and lyrics were written by Grammy winner Trade Martin and co-written with Freddie Hudson. Also on the recording is a voice over by Randy Lee, the son of Roosevelt Raceway's former track announcer, the late Jack E. Lee. It's totally uncanny how much Randy sounds like his legendary dad on the recording.

The song is now also available as a ringtone for a cost of one dollar with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to the Standardbred Retirement Foundation. The ringtone is a great way of promoting our sport and at the same time contributing to the aftercare of our retired horses.

Trade Martin is currently working on the soundtrack for the Roosevelt Raceway Documentary that will include eight–10 original harness racing songs. One is about the ‘Gold Dust Twins’ – better known as Billy Haughton and Stanley Dancer – then there is another funny ditty that is a spoof on the Roosevelt Raceway drivers' nicknames which include the Redman, Railing' Phalen, Loosh, Storming Norman, Benny the Whip, The Canadian Ace, Lucky and several others. There is another harness racing song that was written by Trade Martin, Freddie Hudson and SRF founder Judy Bokman that includes many of the horses that raced at Roosevelt and Yonkers such as Lillan Green, Courage My Dear, Mayor Joe, Silk Stockings, Super Bowl, Sugar Hill Beau, Oil Burner and many more.

The documentary is a work in progress that has be adapted from the 2014 ‘Roosevelt Raceway Where It All Began’ book, that was co-authored by Billy Haughton, Vicky Howard and Freddie Hudson. An updated version of the book will be released next month.

The documentary's voiceover was performed by the famous Boston radio personality Jimmy Jay, known as the ‘DJ of the Stars.’ The factual visual includes many photos, videos and interviews with some of the most important people that were around during harness racing's golden days. Other contributors include Mike Lizzi, the USTA, and Goshen's Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame.

A preview of the documentary was aired at the Meadowlands Racetrack on July 22 and is available for viewing on YouTube. The final two hour version is anticipated to be finished in the fall of 2018.

(Fred Hudson)