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[RC] standardbreds - rides2far

I trided to do this from memory. In '84 at the time Womac published 
his  book, it was 2:20 (I did check it). He also stated that the time

had 

been decreased over time since the first standard. So 2:30 makes 
sense.


I train on an old Harness Racing farm near my home. The man who started
it, Dave L. Brown, and his son in law Chester Ault must have been a men
after my own heart. They didn't just train his horses around a flat
track, they built wonderful roads up huge ridges to train them on. Since
he owned road building equipment he put in culverts, and banked them so
well they're still in great shape. These are great endurance training
hills. It's hard to imagine someone driving harness racers up and down
them...but it paid off. According to an article I just found, In 1971
with an incredibly stiff head wind his stallion Steady Star set a world
record at The Red Mile pacing the mile in 1:52. In the article about the
race the reporter described him as wearing nothing but an open bridle,
leather bit, and small tendon boots (no hobbles). So, he was a minimalist
too. :-)  Over at the farm there's a tough hill climb that takes you to
the top of a big ridge. On top there's a 1/2 mile loop and there's a
small wooden sign that says, "The Red Half Mile". Now I know why. Steady
Star died this year. At the farm there's a tiny pre-Civil War cabin where
the owner stays when he comes on the weekends. Inside there are curtains
printed with Steady Star's image. There are old photos of him, and
pillows made from the same material as the curtains. The bilboard with
his portrait out by the highway finally faded and was painted over. The
current world record for pacing the mile is 1:46.1

Angie

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