Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America

by Charles Leerhsen

Documents the life story of a record-breaking champion horse whose disabilities nearly caused his euthanasia at birth, in an account that also describes the contributions of his shopkeeper owner and alcoholic driver. 50,000 first printing.

Genres: Horses, Nonfiction, Sports, Biography, Animals, History, Horse Racing

355 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 2008

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most clever and witty sports biographies I've ever read, CRAZY GOOD isn't just a harness racing book, or even just a horse book—it's a fascinating look at the Ragtime era and every class of person who inhabited those fast-paced years, from Midwestern farmers to big city con men.

I'm staggered by the amount of research that went into this book and the casual way in which the author shares it. Leerhsen interjects his own dry commentary into the text, making a lot of material very fun in the same way a really good professor makes you laugh through a Powerpoint display. I've never been terribly interested in Dan Patch, the horse. I'm a Thoroughbred person myself, and even then, I don't go out of my way to read horse biographies. But if Dan Patch was just a nicer-than average stallion with an otherworldly gait, the people in his lives were anything but, and the whole gang is masterfully portrayed by Leerhsen. A must-read.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched harness racing on television when I was a kid, and I've read a few books set in that world. The one I remember the most was #6 in Walter Farley's Black Stallion series, a book called The Black Stallion's Blood Bay Colt.

The point is, I knew a little about harness racing and I had heard of Dan Patch. I knew he was a natural pacer (no hobbles needed to help him maintain his gait) and knew he had once been famous. But I had no idea about the details of his life, so this book was quite the eye-opener. I had hoped it would be as crazy good as the title, but I did come across some issues as I read along that saddened me.

Ultimately I felt sorry for the horse and ashamed of the people around him. His final owner, a man with the apt name of Savage, had no business owning a horse of any kind, let alone one of Dan Patch's quality. All he saw in this splendid animal was money, and he nearly killed the poor beast through sheer overwork. I wonder what Dan's life would have been like in the hands of someone who cared?! If only the man who bred and raised him had never sold him!

I felt I got to know the horse in these pages, and I wish I could have met him 'in person'. He sounded like a wonderful blend of true aristocrat and Everyman's Hero.

I mostly enjoyed this book except for a certain odd tone I kept picking up on in the attitude of the author. I thought at first he was just trying to be a smart alec, making snide comments when they were really not necessary. When this became more noticeable, I looked to see what the dust cover said about the man and then I understood. There is a certain attitude that a native New Yorker takes towards the world, or so I have read. I think the author here is a fine example of the type of man who looks down his nose at anyone and everyone who was not born in New York City. He never manages to make me believe that he himself cared about the horse or about telling us his story in an objective fashion. He seems to ridicule not only the country town where Dan Patch was born, but the people who thrilled to see him back then and those who try to keep his memory alive now. I wonder why that felt necessary?

In one of the final chapters he is describing the grandson of Dan Patch's original owner, and says: "He does not suffer fools, or the kind of people who would spend much time wandering around a Dan Patch museum, gladly." Maybe I am being too sensitive, but that is not a very complimentary thing to say about anyone who might be interested in Dan Patch, is it? This type of comment and the author's overall snarky tone diminished the book from what it could have been, in my opinion.

Poor Dan Patch. Even his biographer let him down in the end.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd actually begun reading this book a year ago and had put it aside for one reason or another. When I started again I kept reading.

Dan Patch was an amazing harness racing pacer from the early 1900's. A horse who was born with some leg problems and wasn't thought to be worth much because of that, then became a phenom of the times. His early days spent racing and winning with his first and second owners. The third owner, sadly, used Dan Patch for commercial gains. Dan lived a comfortable life, having his own train car as he traveled to races throughout the US. Monumental crowds gathered just to get a glimpse of The Great Dan Patch.

Leerhsen did a fantastic job weaving historical facts with the true story of Dan Patch, his owners and handlers. I thought it was an amazing work and a fascinating glimpse of the early 20th century.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles Leerhsen, Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, America's Most Famous Racehorse (Simon and Schuster, 2008)

There have been a select few times in this country when millions more people than usual knew the name of a horse. Modern examples abound: Barbaro, Cigar, Ruffian, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, a dozen others. Dan Patch, on the other hand, was a national superstar in a much more difficult time. Television hadn't been invented yet, radio was still an expensive proposition for the average joe, and let's face it: while harness racing was a whole lot more popular at the turn of the twentieth century than it was at the turn of the twenty-first, it was still a relatively obscure sport practiced mainly at county fairs. If you've ever attended the harness racing at a county fair, and you know a few things about reading a racing program, you've probably noted that about half the horses you see aren't actually professional racers; they're local workhorses who have a little extra speed. I can't swear to it, but I'm willing to place a few two-dollar win tickets on the same thing being true a century ago, perhaps even to a greater extent. So it was with Dan Patch, who started his illustrious career pulling a wagon. Would that he had ended it that same way, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Sports Illustrated writer Leerhsen used to be a bigwig at Us (before it became the US Weekly we're familiar with today), which makes sense if you look at the way this book is written. Sure, he covers the sports angle. You can't write a book about a racehorse without covering the sports angle (or, anyway, god help you if you try). But he's as, if not more, interested in Dan Patch As Social Phenomenon—the second half of Patch's career, and his subsequent retirement, when he was owned by a corrupt, desperate business magnate who was doing his darnedest to turn the horse into a brand, an equine supermodel back in the days before such things existed. And I will certainly give Leerhsen that I didn't think I'd give two hoots about that part of the story, but I was just as absorbed by that as I was by his descriptions of Patch's races (not as good as Hillenbrand's in Seabiscuit, better than Mitchell's in Three Strides Before the Wire). That's saying something for a hardcore racing geek. And part of the reason for its rating is this. The other part is because there simply aren't enough books (and especially not GOOD books) on harness racing out there. This didn't inject the new life (however temporary it may have been) into harness racing that I was hoping it would when it came out, but there's still hope for that, isn't there? ****

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning about this lovely horse. I did. I am a Dan Patch fan.

The constant references to “eastern sophisticates” vs. “midwestern hicks” grew wearisome, though, and that is an entirely human failing.

That yet another mediocre, Brooklyn-based douchebag with a keyboard considers the five boroughs the epicenter of civilization isn’t news. There’s nothing as provincial as a New York liberal, after all. (And I speak as a bone-deep blue voter myself.)

What saddens me is that no one in Terre Haute or Oxford, Indiana, or Savage, MN, saw fit to take Leerhsen behind an aging horsebarn and teach him some better manners. Hard to smirk with a split lip.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author works for Sports Illustrated now, and has a life-long connection to the racetrack. He has done a fantastic job of research on the rise and demise of Dan Patch, the "faster pacer in the world." So that's why they are the Indiana Pacers! Gotta have this one to add to your collection of good bios of the big-time horses!

[Ashley Monahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit, it just doesn't have that turn of foot. But it's a damn good read and it almost makes it. Dan Patch should not be forgotten and I welcome this effort to keep that from happening. The author spent a lot of time researching his subject, and it shows.

[Rihana · Rating 4 out of 5]

THis is an amazing book must read this everyone

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine effort by the author. Had already read Ty Cobb and found this one sitting on my library shelf and overlooked for quite a few years - sort of like Dan Patch!
So many mixed feelings about the characters in the book, and the first 2/3 of the book was really interesting with the development of Dan, along with his original owner and trainer from Oxford, Indiana. A very good look at the harness racing business and its history. Dan never lost a race and was so good and so fast that there was no competition to race after a few years, and as he got older his 3rd owner had no desire to race him since he might lose that would be the end of the aura of Dan Patch. While patch reached his speed apex under his 2nd trainer/driver and 3rd owner, they both come across as rather mean and the owner cared little for Patch and more about marketing the brand - Dan Patch Automobiles, Dan Patch Railroad and Dan Patch Air Lines - all of which appear to be a Ponzi scheme. The last 1/3 of the book was historically important but also very sad since you see less and less care and concern about the horse himself and all the dumb marketing and PR stunts that were promulgated around Dan Patch. An extremely interesting and worthwhile read for me and for anyone who likes horse racing of any kind this book is a must!

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been quite a different book than the thoroughbred race horse "biographies" I tend to read. Why? Dan Patch was a pacer in a time where the trotters were in vogue and the thoroughbreds were returning to the front. And it was also the time when the automobile was just starting to replace the horse, in getting places as well as in racing. Dan Patch was the top athlete of his time, and was very popular, but the changing times took a toll quickly. It's like he was the big fish in a small pond at the start of his career, but after a year on top, the pond went away. People just stopped coming to see him because, in part, pacers were going out of style. (At least that's how the book is written...) While the first half of the book was very upbeat, the last quarter truly was not, and that set's this book apart from, say, a "Seabiscuit". I'd say it felt more realistic, but don't expect a feel good story here through the end. Dan Patch's owners ran him past his prime, and we get that part of the story, too.

The author writes magazine articles and has a way with humor throughout the book, this felt like an extended Esquire or Rolling Stone story. The writing goes beyond just reporting history, it adds color to the story, and there is a lot of color available to chose from with Dan's four owners. Leerhsen picked the right stories to focus on and made this quite readable. There is plenty of research evident here as well, including a history of the times Dan ran, the money he made, and the crowds he drew. Leerhsen also talks about the places Dan Patch lived in as they are today, and about the descendants of some of the owners.

I tagged this as a business book, and there is some interesting business history here as well. The beginning of the book has a wonderful explanation of why breeding horses for speed at the turn of the century was like engineering cars or trains for speed - faster horses meant faster commuting time, and since people just want to get places they want the fastest engine possible. Dan Patch was used to pull delivery wagons, so there was a practical side to his career. The book also describes the way his second set of owners converted Dan from a racing horse to a horse that put on timing exhibitions. Why? There was more income there and it reduced the potential loss if Dan lost a race - he hadn't. The story of Dan's third owner is a business history of advertising and branding at the turn of the century. Are you still driving your Dan Patch automobile?

And a minor nit. The neighboring small town to the small town I grew up in is mentioned in this book. Geneseo, Illinois is where Myron McHenry, the "Wizard of the Homestretch" and one of Dan's owners and drivers, is from, and where he returns to. Small towns rarely even make the news, let alone a book, so that's a cause for celebration, yay! Yet Geneseo is mentioned five times in the book, but doesn't make the index! Galva, another small town in the area, is mentioned on one page but does make the index. Indexing appears to be art more than science, but I'm feeling a bit slighted.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chances are you don't care much about harness racing, but the author of "Crazy Good," makes a worthy effort to change that.

Charles Leerhsen openly admits there is a gap between what interests today's readers and his story of a horse most people have never heard of -- Dan Patch.

The author could have chosen any number of more commercial topics and not written a book that wound up at the 99 cents store where the highway scribe's wife found it.

Instead, Leerhsen opted to write about something that struck his own fancy and asserted, through this labor of love, that there is value in the story of a bygone America where a horse could be quite so famous.

And that's what "Crazy Good" is: Not just a racing story, but portraiture of a country where most people still farm, the automobile is a curiosity, and the business of breeding horses to pull carts, wagons, and coaches an important one.

Dan Patch came of age at the outset of the 19th Century. His America is that chronicled in the novels of Theodore Dreiser. An America where cities clustered around the Great Lakes are pistons in the country's mighty industrial engine.

It is Ragtime America where John Philip Sousa, Scott Joplin, Helen Keller, and Thomas Edison pass for celebrities.

Leerhsen does a yeoman's labor in reconstructing the horse's distant past in Oxford, Indiana, painting in strokes both broad and fine, the Midwestern American landscape surrounding.

His joy in doing so knows no bounds and helps in overcoming some of the inherent weaknesses to this tale.

The primary one is that harness racing is a sport and, even for a veteran of "Sports Illustrated," writing about such spectacles rarely equals the beauty of the thing itself.

This is compounded by the fact Dan Patch's avaricious owner, one M.W. Savage, pulled the pacer out of racing in favor of a traveling road show on which the goal was breaking time records.

Which leaves you reading a lot of times 2:01, 1:57and 1/4, 1:55...

Dan Patch was, in fact, crazy good and his unbeatable stature takes a little drama out of his own story which is hung as a skeleton on which the rustic lives of men with mutton chops and thick mustaches could be draped.

The horse was so sweet-natured and courtly that his lack of eccentricity almost blunts the impact of his story.

But we should allow nice guys to finish first and sticking with "Crazy Good" until its rather sad ending is a worthwhile way of doing so.

Leerhsen has combined superb research, a hokey kind of humor, an engaging structure linking past and present, and a loveable subject in his effort to rescue Dan Patch from oblivion and apply him as a unique lens through which to view an important phase in American history.

[Ernie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story of Dan Patch. It is the beginning of the pacing horse sport. They had been around for a while but pacing was a vulgar American Sport. Dan Patch did a lot to popularize it. The story is intriguing from several standpoints. First, the time of the story, the early 1900s, coincides with the rise of the automobile and many people are predicting the demise of the horse. There is clearly less interest in development of fast trotters and pacers when auto can do the job. Second, Dan Patch was clearly better than his contemporaries. Purses depended on having challengers. Since Dan was so dominant, no on wanted to race him, according to the book. So he embarked on a career of speed exhibitions. Fairs and race tracks would pay a fee for him to show up and attempt to break track records. Besides the "all-time' record for pacing a mile, each track, each state and each type of vehicle had a record. And his owners used him to promote merchandise. Interesting story. Well written. Indeed, the quality of the writing attracted me in the first place. Nice turns of phrase.

The other point of interest is that his sire was Patchen Wilkes... which is the name of a famous Thoroughbred horse farm in Lexington Kentucky. Apparently that farm was a standardbred farm that stood Patchen Wilkes. Today the farm is famous for producing white thoroughbred horses. Unfortunately, that farm is also become a housing sub-division as Lexington grows.

[Susan Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Patch was a pacer with charisma to spare. He was also a natural pacer, almost never breaking gait and not wearing hobbles, and incredibly fast. He became a fan favorite in the last days of the horse and buggy and people went wild to see him, on many occasions breaking onto the track as he finished his speed attempt against the clock. He had an unusual life, born to a crippled mare and he himself had a crooked hind leg and needed a special shoe. His dam, Zelica, was apparently bought by accident at an auction and then was bred to Joe Patchen, a particularly vicious stallion. Why is unknown. But Dan was incredibly good natured, fast, and seemed to love people and attention. He would stop and look at the crowd and nod his head at them as if thanking them for their applause and never lost his placid good nature. His last owner used him mainly as a publicity stunt and to make money for his many money-making schemes. But the horse himself was honest and incredible.
The book was a little uneven but a fascinating read.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was well-written and well-researched. Unfortunately, the subject failed to click with me. I didn't like the people around Dan Patch after his first owner. Reading about them wasn't interesting or fun, it was just annoying.

And in the end, I wasn't all that impressed by Dan Patch, either. He didn't really race all that much, he mostly did time trials. And those time trials were publicity stunts, and were mostly a farce, since the owner and driver tended to cheat by using shields and other devices to try to improve Dan's time through aerodynamics. Other horses were setting their records in real races, with no such fancy equipment.

In the end, he really just had good PR, and little else. I don't doubt he was good, and fast, but he wasn't 'crazy good'.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The men and the horses of the American trotting track just as America was on the cusp of modern mechanization. In love with speed and the image of American perfection the Standardbred horse was a condensation of the American goals bridging the known past with the new exciting fast paced future.
Bred on an unknown mare in an out of the way rural setting it was chance that this horse became the foremost pacer in his day setting speed records and thrilling middle America on the state fair circuit that stitched the country together.

[Mom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Emily, you probably won't want to read this book...it's about the most famious HORSE in America!

I had to force myself to finish this book. Since it was non-fiction, it was rife with details of world-record breaking time trials and events, that I got utterly bored with. It should have been written as a fictional story, based upon a factual horse, to make it more interesting. That's just one reason I detest non-fiction. The account of Dan Patch's birth and malformed back leg, which they had to accomodate with a special horseshoe and sulky, was the only memorable part of the book.

[Sutifed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book--which came as a surprise. Although I love horses and thoroughbred racing, I was a little skeptical when I realized that this book was about the king of the harness track. Clearly Mr. Leerhsen loved his subject; it was a delight to travel back in time with him to learn about not only the career of an outstanding horse, but also about the world in which this horse grew up and lived.
Highly recommended!

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

My father's interest in Dan Patch (that he shared with his horse-crazy daughter 50 years ago) was not unfounded. This is a smartly written, intimate and touching memoir of a very special horse that regularly drew a crowd of 100,000 people--more than any rock star, politician, or sports hero today--in pre-automobile America.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh. I wanted to like it -- would have liked more about the horse, who seemed to have some loveable human traits, but all the details about the time trials (this race at 2:01, this race at 1:59, another race at 2:02, on and on and on)was boring.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly interesting story about a horse from the early 1900's that I've never heard of (that was kind of the point of the story). However, "Seabiscuit" is much better written.

[Lora Osborn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time getting into this book. Made it about halfway and felt like the whole story was already discussed. Would be good for someone who is really interested in the history of horse racing.

[Rmslis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover of the book states that it is “[t]he True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America.” Since I assumed that Dan Patch was a race horse I was intrigued by this assertion as I could not readily recall a racehorse by that name, even though I’ve had a life long interest in thoroughbred racing and am somewhat familiar with its history and its major players. As I started the book the mystery was solved: Dan Patch was a Standardbred pacer and his legacy was within the realm of harness racing rather than thoroughbred racing. Although I had spent various evenings and afternoons in my lifetime at the local harness race track I was aware that I knew very little about the history of this sport and of notable equine superstars it produced. I found this book to be rich with the history of the early years of harness racing in America as well as a compendium chronicling the life and racing career of an extremely successful and a once very popular equine competitor in the sport, Dan Patch.

Dan Patch lived and raced near the turn of the 20th century, beginning his racing career when horses still provided the main means for transportation, while the decline of his racing career due to his advancing age paralleled the emergence of the automobile as the preferred mode of transportation. As horse driven transportation was eventually abandoned the interest and attendance at harness race tracks also declined, although thoroughbred racing still remained popular.

I’ve always enjoyed reading biographies about champion race horses, especially of those who’d come from humble beginnings and overcame seemingly great odds before attaining greatness. Dan Patch is definitely one of those horses. He was born to a lame mare owned by a merchant of a dry goods store in a small Indiana town - and he almost never was: He was born with a deformed hind leg that initially prevented him from standing and being able to nurse. He was spared euthanasia at birth by his owner who took compassion on him. As he grew he was eventually fitted with custom made shoes and for a few years was used to pull the carriage for his owner. When his owner decided to eventually enter him in some races at local fairgrounds, a specially made sulky was fashioned for Dan to accommodate his deformed leg which had a tendency to strike the rig he was pulling when he was pacing. These accommodations worked and thus began the ascent of Dan Patch’s star as a race horse. He consistently broke track records and remained undefeated throughout his racing career.

As a result of his successful racing career, Dan Patch’s third and final owner, who was an entrepreneur, promoted his products using the name of Dan Patch. In addition, he marketed numerous everyday items bearing the name of Dan Patch so that Dan’s name was familiar beyond the race track, becoming a common household name. Items bearing his name were sold even decades beyond the life of Dan Patch. Hence the author’s assertions that Dan Patch was “the most famous horse in America.”

Along with a comprehensive history of Dan Patch’s racing career, an introduction to the early years of harness racing, and achievements of other notable Standardbred race horses of that time, the book provided the reader with a rich description of life during that period- late 1800’s through the early 1900’s - as presented by excerpts of information obtained from newsprint and other archived sources.

I was very glad to have come across and having read this book and add it to my list of biographies of famous race horses. Not only did I become aware of a notable racehorse of the past, but I learned more about the history of harness racing in its early days and vicariously experienced life in America at the turn of the century.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Patch was a hero in his day - the fastest pacer in the midwest, born and raised in modest means and then skyrocketing to fame and fortune, only to find himself on the losing end of a winning streak that ultimately pushed him into a retirement dependent on the kindness of those around him. During his heydey, when harness racing was still wildly popular, Dan Patch could draw a record-breaking crowd and give them a show worth their time and money. He was a phenomenon who was recognized and used for his earning potential, and unfortunately likely never truly realized his potential as an athlete because of it. During his time at the top, though, there was little complaint because the showcases that his owner, M.W. Savage, used him for were more accessible to the masses. Crazy Good is the story of Dan Patch and all the humans that surrounded him throughout his career, from his original owner and trainer in Indiana to the men who wrestled him away looking to flip him, all the way to his last owner and trainer, who were responsible for his ultimate retirement from the harness.

Thoroughly researched, well-organized, and detailed accounts of Dan Patch's life fill this biography about the talented and beloved horse. Though he was often surrounded by people who at the very least did not properly care for him, and worse caused him harm through inadequate feed and lack of rest, Dan Patch held up his end of the bargain. He was sweet to his fans, reacted intelligently to his surroundings, played up for the crowd, and ran his heart out on the track. He never had the compassionate human he deserved who could keep him safe and sound, but he battled on to defend his good name as long as he could. During his lifetime, he slowly lost his luster, and yet fans who visited him can attest he never lost his personality. The history of Dan Patch is told as well here as anywhere; this is probably the most comprehensive look at his life and what it mean to the sport of harness racing and his fans.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Patch was famous during his time period. Standardbred Racing was quite popular in the pre World War I era. Dan Patch was born in 1896, bred and owned by Daniel Messner. Messner purchased Zelica on accident at an auction. He paid $255 for her, and brought her home. She went lame in her first start, and was only estimated to be worth $100. He had planned to use her as a buggy horse to go around town in, but ultimately wound up breeding her to Joe Patchen, a successful racehorse. When Dan Patch was born, his legs were not straight and it was suggested he be put down. He eventually straightened out and was sold to Manley Sturges for $20,000. He was sold again for $60,000 to Marion Savage. He was used as a spokeshorse for Savage's business. His racing career was lucrative, and he remained undefeated. (Harness racing has heat races. The horse must win the majority of the heats to be considered the winner. He never lost a race, and only lost two heats.) He was retired from racing when no other owners would put their horses in races against him. He broke several records that were standing at the time. He also earned substantial money in the millions due to product endorsements, appearances, purses, and stud fees. Dan Patch was inducted into the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in 1953 and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2019.

I always love reading about racehorses. I watch horse racing religiously, and I do still watch harness racing when I catch it on. In fact, the only race I have been able to attend at an actual track was a harness race. I had heard of Dan Patch, but never really knew much about him. I learned so much from this book and enjoyed his story and getting to know him. I would recommend this book for those who are fans of racing or sport horses.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is yet another jewel I found at the Library used book shop. It's the story of Dan Patch, a horse who around the turn of the 20th century was the most famous entity in America. He was the first superstar athlete and was also the first celebrity endorser. Born under difficult circumstances and with a disfigurement in one of his rear legs he went on to be a very fast pacer. At that time pacers and trotters were very popular especially in the Midwest. They pulled a small cart called a sulky with a driver and could do a mile in about two minutes. You would not believe the crowds Dan Patch would draw to county and state fairs just to watch him race against the clock. On top of his athletic prowess Dan was a really nice horse. His dad and granddad had to be kept in chains they were so mean but Dan was a gentle soul. He would appear to acknowledge the crowd after a race and was totally tolerant of his fans touching and rubbing him. If there is such a thing as a kind horse Dan Patch was probably it. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommended it to readers interested in a piece of obscure Americana.

[Devonne West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Charles Leerhsen book of facts forgotten but this time it's about an animal athlete. Dan Patch was more than an athlete. He was more than a famous Standardbred pacer. He was a sports icon! Everything from children's sleds to washing machines were named after him. There was even a dance named after him - the Dan Patch Two-Step.
Dan Patch had all the proverbial cards stacked against him. He was born crippled and was almost euthanized that first night he was born but he grew to be the greatest pacer of his time. He came from a mean & violent lineage but his emotions were almost human in some regards. It's a shame that there is nothing to memorialize him or the period in which he lived/raced except mementos and little pieces of history held by a few members of a historical society named after him.
Dan Patch lived in a time when life was simpler but people were still the same. People came by the tens of thousands to see him run. Owners/drivers/grooms want to be linked to him. Dan Patch raced and gave as much of himself as he could...for much longer than he should have.

[Marjorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a bitter sweet story about a great horse and the many who loved, worked with and raced him. Born in 1896 to an important Standaredbred stallion and a grade mare there was little about the colt that could not stand because of a deformed hind leg, to show he would be a great champion. This book is full of detail about the horse, the breed, the times, harness racing, and the people involved in this sport. To me of the most thrilling part of the book was opening the barn where Dad Patch was born. It had been closed about a hundred years. I cannot believe rats and mice had not destroyed much of the treasure but that was not the case. Among the many items was a copy of Western Horseman magazine dated September 24, 1900, still in print and an excellent magazine.

[Eventer79 · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining & educational story about a horse I had never heard of, in a sport I only knew on the surface, surrounded by quirky characters in a strange time. I really enjoyed the author's humorous story-telling style & his obvious enthusiasm for the story itself. Well-written, well-researched, well-organized. I think even non-horse-people would enjoy this perspective on a time when cars were still "probably just a silly phase that will pass" & however hard it is to believe now, 5x times (or more) people would go to a harness race than would attend a baseball game, when the average American sports fan WAS a horse fan.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read about a horse I'd never heard of and a sport I knew next to nothing about. I would have loved to get more details on the horse himself, but the author was candid that sources were hard to come by and not always reliable. His sense of humor made the book sparkle though - I laughed until I cried for this particular line: "The Horse Review lost control of itself, excreting a hideous poem called 'To Dan Patch 1:59 ½'..."

[Kathryn Rasch · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lifelong horse lover, I knew Dan Patch was a famous harness horse but oh how much more there is to his story. A fascinating look at life in the U.S. more than a century ago. If only Dan had an owner who truly loved & valued him.