The Good Luck Colt (1953)

The Good Luck Colt

Genevieve Torrey Eames, il. Paul Brown

1953, Julian Messner, Inc.

Martin wasn't listening. He lifted the colt's head against his chest and rubbed its neck and sides. "Come on, little fellow," he whispered. "You're going to grow up and be a big horse someday - a trotter."

Martin Dennis loves trotting horses. His father breeds and trains Standardbreds, dreaming of one day reaching the harness world's biggest race, the Hambletonian, and Martin dreams right along with him. But while his father's hopes are pinned on the promising black colt Master Peter, Martin believes in his little orphan foal Good Luck. Since no one knows if his dam was registered, Good Luck's prospects for a trotting career are dim, but Martin is determined to make his colt a harness horse. He has some trouble -

It was not until he unsnapped the rope and picked up the lines that he ran into trouble. No matter how he tried he could not get Good Luck to walk away from him. Every time he stepped behind him and picked up the lines the colt turned and came toward him, nuzzling his hands and pockets for carrots or oats.

- but for the most part, Good Luck learns easily and Martin has high hopes of tracking down his dam's papers through a slippery horseman named Gus Brown. When tragedy strikes, Martin feels pressured to re-ignite his father's enthusiasm for horses, and suggests a trip to nearby Goshen to watch the harness world's biggest race, the Hambletonian. There, father and son meet the famous names of harness racing: Ben White, Bion Shively, Sep Palin, Harry Pownall, Fred Eagen, and watch the race itself. Upon their return home, matters with the elusive Gus reach a crisis, and Good Luck ends up racing for the first time.

A well-written, enjoyable old horse book with a vivid portrait of harness racing and beautiful Paul Brown illustrations. Martin's little brother Cal is a wonder of tough-hearted childhood; his favorite strategy when he's annoyed at his older brother is to hopefully suggest that someone or something is dead. Even the villain Gus Brown is drawn intriguingly; a skillful driver and careful horseman, he is described as having a weakness for crooked schemes, but an honesty about caring for his horses.

Horses

Voline - Standardbred mare

Lady Luck - Standardbred mare

Good Luck - bay Standardbred colt with white stripe (Lady Luck x Good Cheer)

Master Peter - black Standardbred colt (Voline x Master Mind)

Peter Volo - Standardbred stallion

Master Mind - Standardbred stallion

Florita - chestnut Standardbred filly

Real Horses

Iron Prince - brown Standardbred colt

Crystal Hanover - Standardbred filly in Hambletonian

Sharp Note - Standardbred colt in Hambletonian

Duke of Lullwater - Standardbred colt in Hambletonian

Hit Song - Standardbred colt in Hambletonian

Scotch Victor - Standardbred colt in Hambletonian

Peter Nibble - Standardbred colt in Hambletonian

Hardy Hanover - Standardbred colt in Hambletonian

Epicure- Standardbred colt in Hambletonian

Other

Tassle - Dalmation mascot

Links

The Hambletonian Society

The real 1952 Hambletonian

Photo of the winning heat

Bion Shively

There was a short documentary film on Bion Shively's victory,Old Man In A Hurry.

Alma Sheppard

Martin, arguing for the right to race his colt, uses Alma Sheppard as an example of a child who raced harness horses. In 1937, she drove Dean Hanover to a record 1:58.

Other books by the author

Pat Rides The Trail 1946 il. Dan Noonan

A Horse To Remember 1947 il. Paul Brown

Ghost Town Cowboy 1951 il. Paul Brown

Flying Roundup 1957 il. Lorence F. Bjorklund

Dog story

Handy Of The Triple S 1949 il. Paul Brown

Horse news

Since it was the big harness weekend just past, all the images today will be of harness horses. Please note, all photos are taken from the book The Light Horse Breeds by John W. Patten.

Thoroughbred Racing
Rachel Alexandra blew away the colts again at the Haskell Invitations at Monmouth Park on August 2. The race can be seen here.

Below: Another great filly, Rosalind, star of Marguerite Henry's Born To Trot.



The famous Fasig-Tipton auction is under way in Saratoga Springs, New York. The auction, which lasts through today, is viewable online.


The 1945 Hambletonian winner Titan Hanover, as a stallion.

Harness Racing
Muscle Hill won the 2009 Hambletonian at The Meadowlands (NJ is having a very good racing month) on August 8. It was a stakes record and his 13th straight win. It can be seen here.

Shadow Play, the winner of last year's Little Brown Jug, won the U.S. Pacing Championship at The Meadowlands on the same day. It can be seen here.

It's interesting how harness racing has a much lower profile than Thoroughbred racing. Big Brown's feet became a subject of debate last year, but it wasn't until I noticed the pacing story that I heard anything about Shadow Play's hoof problems.

The 1935 Hambletonian winner, Greyhound.

Other News
The J4S Equine Nursery in Australia is suffering an outbreak of the Hendra virus. The virus was first found in 1994; of the three people found infected with it back then, two died. This time, so far at least one horse, an Anglo-Arab filly named Jackowah's Regal Princess, has died and the people on the farm are understandably worried about their own health. Story here and here.

South Florida horses being killed for meat in their own pastures? At least 19 horses appear to have been butchered illicitly by thieves in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Thoroughbred breeder Ernie Paragallo has been indicted for neglecting horses on his New York farm. Photos of the horses, which are described as emaciated and suffering from parasites and infections, are available at the Columbia-Green Humane Society. The property, Center Brook Farm, has been in the news since April, along with the Paragallo family's Thoroughbred facility, Paraneck Stable.

And the latest in the trend of big city police departments pressured to cut their mounted units, Baltimore is faced with raising $200,000 before September to feed their 6 horses. Boston lost it's horses this spring. Philadelphia, which eliminated the mounted unit in 2004, is supposedly hoping to resurrect it once the city's economic situation improves.