I wrote this in 2015 when Batavia Downs was about to open for the season. Although some of the information is dated, I hope you find most of it interesting and the names of the drivers and horses ring a bell. Back in the day, I loved harness racing for the "sport" of it. Such beautiful animals and honest trainers and drivers (for the most part).
I drove by Batavia Downs the other day. Construction of a new state-of-the-art hotel is underway in the area that was formerly the paddock. There has been a major facelift in the appearance of the track, now part of Batavia Downs Gaming. As I continued down the road, ghosts of races and drivers past fluttered through my brain. It was a journey back in time that evoked some wonderful memories from a different era of harness racing in Western New York.
I grew up hearing more stories about the great trotting mare Proximity than I did about my own relatives. My mother would spin the same tale over and over, how Proximity and driver Clint Hodgins won two heats in the same night at different distances in 1949 (both of them track records at Batavia) and how part of the overflow crowd that came to witness history had to be moved to the infield.
My first personal experience with Batavia Downs came in the late 1950’s. I could barely contain my excitement! In the very first race I watched, Canadian Dr. John Findley was involved in a terrible pile-up and suffered a broken leg. Although that cast a pall over the rest of the evening’s nine race card, the enthusiasm in race announcer Max Robinson’s voice prevailed.
And what great horses and drivers there were in the late ‘50’s and the 60’s! The Autumn Gold Series each year attracted the very best trotters, pacers, and drivers! Local horses like Clint Galbaith’s Helen Brooke K, Don Huff’s Cherry Point, and Vince Aquino’s Grace Frost campaigned at the top of their game for many years.
The biggest extravaganza took place on August 26, 1966. Race secretary Don D’Andrea invited Bret Hanover and Cardigan Bay to the “Friendly Track” for a $25,000 invitational pace. The purse and the publicity were unprecedented for the small track located halfway between Rochester and Buffalo. Stanley Dancer, driving Cardigan Bay, the great gelding from Down Under, vowed that if Frank Ervin left the gate with Bret Hanover that he would never see the rail. In spite of Dancer’s intentions Bret Hanover left from the outside post and had the lead and the rail before the first turn. Cardigan Bay was no match for Bret Hanover that night. The overflow crowd went wild when Bret Hanover paraded in front of the grandstand and bowed and pranced to the audience.
Two months later, the eyes of the harness world focused on Batavia Downs once again. Batavia’s first and only International Trot took place. Two horses from the Soviet Union, American bred Apex Hanover (Stars Pride), and Russian bred Osman (Napor), competed against the best of the locals. Apex Hanover, winner of 14 of his previous 26 races, was driven by master Russian driver Maria Burdova. Osman, winner of 29 races in two years, all of them at the Hippodrome in Moscow, was handled by Ivan Iarotskov. While Osman turned out to be ordinary, Apex Hanover was the class of the race, trotting the mile and a half in 3:15.2. That was a major improvement over Apex Hanover’s previous race in which he lost to the great French mare Roquepine in the United Nations Trot at Yonkers Raceway.
Over the years, many of the great names in harness racing have come and gone from Batavia—Buddy Gilmour, Ben Webster, Del Manges, Ronny Feagan, John Schroeder, Levi and Eldon Harner, Lou Rapone, Mike Lachance, Harold and Bill Wellwood, and Ed Arthur. Other drivers, possibly just as talented but never a major force on the national scene, such as Tom Dufford, George Forshey, Bob Bomar, Joe Hodgins, Jim Holmes, and Ken McNutt competed successfully for many years at Batavia Downs.
Batavia Downs faces many challenges now that its 2015 season has begun—I have no idea what the future holds for Batavia Downs, which is owned by the Western New York Off Track Betting Corporation. Even though the names of the drivers and horses are different, and Max Robinson is no longer calling the races, it is good to be back at Batavia.
