A Blast From The Past!

As many of you know, I love antiquing, especially for harness racing memorabilia!  So on Friday I received a call from one of my many "anitque connections", telling me that someone just dropped off a box of old harness racing photos!  Of course I jumped at the chance to see them and hopefully acquire them!  He even mentioned on the phone that one of the win photos was of MEADOW SKIPPER!!  I literally choked and had coffee come out of my nose when he said that!  "Really?", I said, "Meadow Skipper?  You have a win photo of MEADOW SKIPPER??".  "Yep", he said.  Ok, there's no way in hell that this guy has a win photo of Meadow Skipper, one of the most predominent foundation sires of harness racing.  The stallion that sired Albatross (sire of Niatross), Most Happy Fella, Ralph Hanover, Chairmanoftheboard and Naughty But Nice, to name a few!  Muttering to myself of how lucky I was, I jumped in my truck and drove frantically down the road....I made it to the next concession in 2:02....not a bad time!!  Anyways...refusing to break any more laws I slowed down and imagined how I would possibly get out of a speeding ticket by telling the OPP officer that there was a win photo of Meadow Skipper waiting for me......

I bulldozed through the guy's unplowed driveway and parked half-cocked in front of the door.  I actually forgot to put the damn truck in park, but luckily remembered in the nick of time.  The guy was in the driveway, wide-eyed, telling me how fast I made it.  Rushing by him towards the front door of his shop, all that I remember saying to him were four words, "Meadow" - - -"Skipper" - - - - - "Win Photo"..........

He pulled out the rat sh$t infested box and I scurried through the photos.......only to find a MEADOW SKIPPER PROMO PIECE!!    UGH!!!  This isn't a damn win photo, I thought to myself....But this guy knows nothing about harness racing and I wanted to keep a good rapport with him for future acquisitions. 

I then began to take a good look at some of the photos, and while there were not any horses that were extremely famous, there were some drivers and horses from my area.....so I bought the box. 
Below are some of the findings:



Horse: Popular Jerry-Photo-August 16, 1969





Horse: Popular Jerry-Time: 2:10-Dresden Raceway-Driver: D. Campbell
August 16, 1969



Horse: Skippy Volo-Time: 2:09.1-Western Fair Raceway-Driver: Terry Kerr
November 9, 1974



Horse: Miss Amber Abbie-Time: 2:09-Mohawk-Driver: Jack Campbell
October 2, 1963



Miss Amber Abbie Win Photo-Mohawk-October 2, 1963



Horse: Popular Jerry-Time: 2:07.4-Western Fair-Driver: Jack Campbell
June 4, 1971



Popular Jerry Win Photo-Western Fair-June 4, 1971

And.... the Stallion promo pieces:

Bret Hanover p, 2, 1:57.2/5

Bret Hanover:  1964 Horse of The Year and all-time money winning 2-Year-Old.  Bay colt 1962 by Adios p, 1:57.1/2-Brenna Hanover p, 2:01 by Tar Heel p, 1:57.  Bred by The Hanover Shoe Farms, Inc., Hanover, Pa.;  owned by Richard Downing, Cleveland, Ohio.  Trained by Frank Ervin, and driven to his record by Don Miller.

Meadow Skipper

Meadow Skipper:  World Champion 3-Year-Old Pacer.  Bay horse 1960 by Dale Frost p, 1:58-Countess Vivian p, 3, 1:59 by King's Counsel p, 1:58.  Bred by C.S. Hayes, Columbus, Ohio; owned by Clearview Stables, Winthrop, Me.  Trained and driven by Earle Avery.

Even though there was no "win photo" of Meadow Skipper, I am acquiring more and more harness racing history....These photos, along with my aged OSS trophies....that NO ONE seems to have any info on, will have there own special spots within my collection......And to think....these photos were going to be thrown out!!  I believe the photos above showing D. Campbell (Dunc Campbell) and Jack Campbell are the grandfather and father to the legendary John Campbell, currently harness racing's all-time leading catch driver in money won with....Considered by many to be the best driver in harness racing history! 
You can read more about John Campbell here


Stay safe, keep your hooves on the ground, and keep reaching for the wire!