New Brunswick harness
racing legend, Earle Avery, proved that you can never be too old to dream and
have it come true.
In 1948, at the age of
54, when many start pondering their retirement, Avery and his wife, Elizabeth,
left a life of farming and racing horses in Woodstock, NB and the state of
Maine, picked up and moved to harness racing’s greener pastures in the United
States.
Avery became associated
with, arguably, the greatest pacing horse in the history of harness racing, Meadow
Skipper, when he convinced owner Norman Woolworth to purchase him 50 years ago,
in the spring of 1963.
Meadow Skipper went on
to become a world champion race horse for Avery, pacing Lexington Kentucky’s
famed Red Mile in 1:55.1 in October 1963, and later became one of the most
prolific stallions of the 20th century. His influence on breeding is still being felt
today as many current stars of harness racing can trace their roots back to
Meadow Skipper.
It was the continuation
of what would become a Hall of Fame career for Avery that saw him win over
4,000 races and $3.5 million in career earnings and establishing nine world
records before he retired back to his hometown in October 1972.
The culmination of his
career came on June 5, 1976 when he was the first member of the harness racing
fraternity inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame; the normal
five-year waiting period after retirement being waived for the much-respected
Avery.
But that was just one
of many prestigious accolades that he received over 50-plus years in harness
racing.
In 1977, he was
inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and later that same year he became the 25th
person to be elected to the Living Hall of Fame of the Trotters in Goshen, New York.
On August 26, 1995
Earle Avery became a member of the Woodstock Wall of Fame.
* * * * *
Earle Bradford Avery
was born on February 4, 1894 in the farming community of Knowlesville, NB,
which is located about 25 miles northeast of Woodstock. Avery was the third oldest in a family of
seven children and he was exposed to horses early on as there were always a few
around the family farm.
It was at the age of
five when his father took him to see his first horse race in the nearby
community of Bristol, where they raced for a short period of time at the turn
on the century. It wasn’t long before
Avery was racing some of his father’s horses against some of their neighbor’s
horses on the community roads in big-wheeled sulkies and then in the winter time
on the frozen river.
“When I was a young man
in New Brunswick in, we used to race on the ice in the Saint John River,” he
once said. “I’ve raced when the
temperature would drop as low as 40 degrees below zero. It was the best fun you’ve ever seen. We put caulks on the shoes of the horses and
the caulks would cut into the ice for the smoothest, most rhythmic ride of all…the
horses didn’t mind the cold. Neither did
the drivers.”
By the end of the First
World War, Avery was living on the outskirts of Woodstock, near the Old Houlton
Road, maintaining a 600-acre potato farm in an area that is now partially
occupied by the Bull Road subdivision in Bedell. It was the beginning of an era when harness racing was
beginning to thrive, especially in Atlantic Canada, and a new racetrack had
opened at Island Park, located in the Saint John River between Grafton and
Woodstock.
Avery wanted to race at the new
facility so he went out and purchased his first horse, a nine-year-old trotter
by the name of Black Peter, for $250.
They were scheduled to race on opening day of Island Park, August 19,
1919.
A few weeks later, his wife was
expecting their first child. The
25-year-old Avery drove Black Peter into Woodstock to get a doctor and brought
him back to the farm. After a son,
Robert, was born, he drove Black Peter and the doctor back to town and then
went on to race at Island Park. After
all that, Black Peter still won three of five heats and for his efforts he won
a blanket and $160.
Avery went on to have an outstanding
career in the Maritimes and Maine over the next 30 years. He established numerous tracks records
including one with Ray Henley (2:05) at Island Park in 1938, which stood for 28
years.
By 1948, he had raised two sons,
Robert and Blair, but they were now living on their own. He had been training horses for C.T. Black, a local
auto dealer in Woodstock, and they had ventured down to the New England states to
race on occasion. Avery liked what he
saw and began to get comfortable. Harness
racing’s ‘big leagues’ were calling and it was time to follow a dream.
* * * * *
Over the next few years
Avery began to make a name for himself on
the eastern U.S. seaboard by winning a few driving titles and in 1955 Norman
Woolworth, the proprietor of Clearview Farm of New Canaan, Connecticut, hired
Avery to become the head trainer and driver for his new racing operation.
 |
The Earle Avery-Norman
Woolworth relationship would become one of the best known in harness racing
over the next 15 years and Avery would praise Woolworth as an owner “who never
interfered with me at the horse sales or during racing season.”
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| EARLE AVERY and NORMAN WOOLWORTH |
Their relationship was
an immediate success.
Egyptian Princess had
been a $2,000 yearling purchase in 1954 for Woolworth and the trotting daughter
of Victory Song set a world record for three-year-olds when she won the Reading
Fair Futurity in 2:03.1h. She was named
the top trotting filly from 1955 to 1957 and went on to break three more world
records. She retired with a record of
3,2:00.4m and $156,471 in lifetime earnings.
 | |
| EGYPTIAN PRINCESS |
Muncy Hanover, a son of
Adios, was another yearling purchase ($25,000) who became a world champion for
Woolworth and Avery when he won a heat of the 1960 Little Brown Jug in
1:58.3h. He went on to earn $221,615
lifetime.
 | |
| MUNCY HANOVER after winning a heat of the Little Brown Jug in a World Record |
Their first major win came with the aged pacer, Hillsota, who won the first leg of the $75,000 American Pacing Classic in a time of 1:59 at Hollywood Park in 1955. Among the many other successful horses for the Woolworth-Avery team included:
A world champion
trotter, Porterhouse ($367,584), who twice earned over $115,000 in one season;
 |
| PORTERHOUSE |
Bright Knight
($162,549), who won the Empire Pace at Yonkers in 1959 for a record purse of
$123,712;
Gun Runner ($156,112),
a winner of four major trotting stakes in 1968;
 |
| EARLE AVERY and GUN RUNNER after winning the 1968 Scotland Trot at Yonkers |
Stake winners, Filet
Mignon, Speedy Princess, Miss Blue Jay, High Level, Pay Dirt, and Sh Boom.
 |
| SPEEDY PRINCESS |
 |
| MISS BLUE JAY |
 |
| HIGH LEVEL |
And then there was Meadow
Skipper.
 |
| MEADOW SKIPPER |
“After I had him a
month, I knew he had the potential to be one of the greatest who ever lived.”
Trainer-driver,
Earle Avery, talking about Meadow Skipper in 1963
* * * * *
Earle Avery was
racing in the New York area in early-summer 1963 and on June 11, in a
trial of the Commodore Pace at Roosevelt Raceway, Meadow Skipper defeated some
of the best three-year-olds racing at time in 2:01.3 for his fourth straight
win for trainer Delvin Miller.
Avery was there that
night and saw a horse with great potential so he reached out to Norman
Woolworth, expressing his deep interest.
The stories on the
conversation that took place between Avery and Woolworth about acquiring Meadow
Skipper have varied over the years but one thing was for certain; Avery had
never approached his owner about buying any horse before, especially a horse like
Meadow Skipper who would probably command a top price.
Woolworth had great faith and trust in
his trainer so he inquired about this horse that he knew little about but one
that he had such determined interest in.
After all, Meadow Skipper had to be a special horse if Avery wanted
him. He reached out to Grant and after a
day or two he agreed to sell him, but on the condition that Woolworth never
disclose the price; not even to Avery.
Years later, after both Woolworth and
Avery had passed away, the Avery family confirmed that he never knew the true
price to acquire Meadow Skipper though it was thought to be around $100,000.
The gentleman that he was, Woolworth
was true to his word.
Meadow Skipper and
Earle Avery had an inauspicious beginning, finished fourth in their very first
start at Buffalo and he admitted to a taken-back Woolworth afterwards that he
wasn’t very impressed with his new charge.
And thus, the most
famous equipment change in history took place.
Avery, wondering how he
could ever improve on a horse developed by the legendary Miller, decided to
train Meadow Skipper with leather hopples instead of the customary plastic
ones, figuring they might help him learn to leave quicker from the gate.
“I was afraid to race
him with the leather,” Avery was quoted as saying. “I had to make sure he was used to it before
I took the chance. So I trained with the
leather hopples but used plastic in the races.
He lost two races and then I felt he was ready. So off he went with the leather and he never
was steadier or faster at the gate. I
was so confident that I spoke to my groom just before that big one (race) in
Lexington.
“’If I can get this
horse in front at the quarter pole,’ I said, ‘I’ll do (1:)55.’”
It wasn’t the first
time Avery tried a different technique to straighten a horse out
Sh Boom was a challenging
horse for Avery in that sometimes he didn’t want to do any work at all, whether
it was to jog or race. When he was
hitched to a sulky he would stand still and wouldn’t move. So Avery decided that he would hitch Sh Boom
beside a workhouse and have the pair of them pull a manure wagon around.
He resisted that too…at
first. The workhorse dragged Sh Boom
along and pretty soon the stubborn colt was willing to trot on his own. Avery had no further problem with him after
that and Sh Boom went on to earn over $111,000 and raced for many years.
* * * * *
In what was becoming
known as more than a heated rivalry, Meadow Skipper and rival, Overtrick, had
taken turns winning the first two legs of harness racing’s Triple Crown over
each other in 1963.
On September 13th,
Meadow Skipper won the $163,187 Cane Pace - which was the richest ever harness
race at the time – in 1:58.4h and the epic battle between them was described by
Dean Hoffman as “one of the most unforgettable races in Yonkers Raceway’s
history” with Meadow Skipper on the inside and Overtrick on the outside
battling over the final half-mile.
Overtrick took a slight lead in the stretch only to see Meadow Skipper
fight back hard to win by a three-quarter length margin. It was said that fans stood and applauded this
outstanding performance.
Overtrick took both
heats of the Little Brown Jug on September 19th in 1:57.1h-1:57.3h
and the Meadow Skipper camp conceded after the race that Overtrick had been in
peak form and couldn’t be beat on that day.
With a six-week gap to
the $146,324 Messenger Stakes that would be taking place at Yonkers Raceway, the
two would meet up again on October 3rd at Lexington in a $8,200 tune
up for the final leg of harness racing’s Triple Crown.
Avery and Meadow
Skipper held off a ferocious challenge in the stretch by Overtrick to win in
1:55.1, a new world record for three-year-olds and an all-age record at The Red
Mile. It was also the second fastest mile
ever paced in the world.
Meadow Skipper had assumed
the lead before the half-mile mark of :57.1 and, instead of slowing the pace
down to gain some measure of an advantage, a confident Earle Avery kept him
rolling through a torrid three-quarter mile marker of 1:26.1 before Overtrick
ranged up on the outside to challenge him for the stretch drive.
It was said that, with
a sixteenth of a mile to go, both horses were dead even but Meadow Skipper
would not relent and only a nose separated the two at the wire in the world
record mile.
Meadow Skipper had
fulfilled Avery’s prediction that he had made to his groom only a few weeks
earlier.
In the final leg of the
Triple Crown on November 2nd, Overtrick ended up winning the
Messenger Stakes in 2:00.4h. Meadow
Skipper was second.
* * * * *
Although Meadow Skipper
was the greatest horse Avery ever had he wasn’t necessarily his favorite, “Porterhouse
was the kindest,” he once said. “He
couldn’t have been more perfect.”
 |
| EARLE AVERY with PORTERHOUSE after winning the 1962 Roosevelt Trot |
Those same words were
often used to describe the likeable Avery and he was recognized by the United
States Harness Writers Association in 1963 when they bestowed upon him the
inaugural “Clem McCarthy Good Guy Award.”
The award is given “…to one deemed the one most cooperative with
newspapermen across the National and who by the force of his personality nearly
exemplifies the best characteristics of the late esteemed Clem McCarthy.”
The Town of Woodstock
declared December 28, 1963 “Earle Avery Day” and The Bugle published a special
edition of its newspaper to honor Woodstock’s most famous citizen. Among the many messages he received was a
congratulatory telegram from then New Brunswick Premier, Louis J. Robichaud.
In 1970 Avery received
the Golden Service Award by fellow harness racing drivers - who affectionately
called him “Pops” - for meritorious service and dedication to harness racing.
He finally retired in October
1972, at the age of 78, but not before many of his friends and fellow drivers
and trainers paid tribute to him with an Earle Avery Night on September 26,
1972 at Yonkers Raceway in New York. He
was presented with the Grand Circuit Award of Merit Medal among other gifts and
awards for his long and satisfying career.
At the time Avery
thought that the decision to retire was a bit too hasty on his part. “When I retired in ’72, I just said to
everybody that I was retiring this fall and the first thing I knew they were
giving a night for me,” he was quoted as saying. “If it hadn’t been for the party maybe I wouldn’t
have retired after all!
“I’d rather train a few
horses than do anything.”
For all the rewards and
acknowledgements he received through the years, the one he coveted most was the
one that he didn’t live along enough to receive.
His election to the
Living Hall of Fame of the Trotters in Goshen, New York was announced on
November 6, 1977, only a few hours after he passed away at the age of 83.
He never knew.
He was posthumously
inducted on July 2, 1978 and a lifelike full-color statuette is on permanent
exhibition at the Hall. His sons
traveled to the ceremony and accepted the prestigious decoration on his behalf.
Through a life that was
full of accomplishment and personal success, he was still regarded by most as a
gentleman who was proud of his Carleton County roots.
To this day, Earle
Avery is still celebrated as one of Woodstock’s most accomplished citizens.
* * * * *
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