Trot Insider had learned that longtime breeder and owner John L. Thro died on Saturday, July 31 in Mankato, Minnesota. He was 97
.
In recent years, he’d owned trotters with Hall of Famer Doug Ackerman, but his involvement in harness racing dates back many decades.
Thro’s birthday was easy to remember---12-12-12, or Dec. 12, 1912. He had been in good health until just before his passing.
Thro is best known as the owner as the 1974 Hambletonian winner Christopher T, named after one of his sons. The son of Ayres gave Billy Haughton his first Hambletonian victory when he swept the richest Hambletonian in history ($160,150) in straight heats.
Christopher T was a son of Flicka Frost, a mare that Haughton had raced for Thro and his longtime partner and friend Don R. Millar. Flicka Frost started in the 1957 Hambletonian and was making a threatening move when she broke stride with a quarter-mile remaining in her heat.
Flicka Frost’s first foal by Ayres was Timothy T, also named after one of Thro’s sons. He was sold by Thro and Miller to John F. Simpson, Sr. and won the 1970 Hambletonian and become an international star in Europe in the early 1970s.
In addition to a pair of Hambletonian winners in Timothy T and Christopher T, Flicka Frost also produced the 1978 Hambletonian Oaks winner Cora T, named after Thro’s mother.
Thro was a fixture at Grand Circuit race meets for many years and Bob Hackett, editor of The Horseman & Fair World for many years, once wrote, “If anyone has more fun out of racing than John Thro, we’ve yet to meet him.”
Thro’s interest in racing was inherited as his father was active in fair racing and breeding in the Upper Midwest and served as a director of the U.S. Trotting Assn. The senior Thro owned the tough mare Minnewashta, a solid performer in the 1950s and later the third dam of Jate Lobell.
John Thro attended the University of Notre Dame, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy in 1936. He married Mildred Florence Gumo of Mankato in 1940. During World War II, he served as a flight instructor, earning the rank of Lieutenant.
After the war, he operated Thro Drug Store in Mankato and expanded to many new locations. He later sold his drug stores and concentrated on nursing homes and real estate development in the Mankato area.
In his later years Thro’s interest turned to farmland he owned in South Dakota. He loved to spend time at his farm in South Dakota developing pheasant habitat, minding the crops, and enjoying the outdoors. He went hunting each autumn with Doug Ackerman.
Thro is survived by two sons, Timothy (Laurie) Thro of North Mankato and Christopher Thro of Mankato; two daughters, Gretchen (Joseph) O’Donnell of Buffalo, NY and Karen (Charlie) Rokicki of Monarch Beach, CA; longtime companion, Carol Rodvik of Mankato; six grandchildren, Alek and Jenna Thro, Chelsea and Timothy O’Donnell, and Landon and Anders Thro; one sister, Katherine (Charles) Frost of North Mankato; also nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Jean Frentz.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, August 5, 2010 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Marysburg, with Rev. Dennis Backer officiating. Burial will be in Glenwood Cemetery in Mankato. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday at Mankato Mortuary and continues one hour prior to the service at the church on Thursday. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the donor’s choice.
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of John L. Thro.