August 2023
During my time at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY, I often walked to lunch or elsewhere around the town. I first heard of the town of Goshen, New York when I read Walter Farley's "The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt," part of his famous Black Stallion series. The two books in the series dedicated to harness racing follow the life of the Black Stallion's son, Bonfire--a blood bay trotting colt. 
       In the second book (mentioned above), Bonfire races in the Hambletonian in Goshen, New York--the "Kentucky Derby" of trotters. I remember as a young girl back in 1980-something  imagining that someday I would go to Goshen and see the Hambletonian in person. Of course I had no idea then that the Hambletonian had long ago left Goshen and that the track itself had been defunct for more than a decade at that point. Regardless, like the knowledge of Greyhound, I tucked that piece of Goshen history into my memory box and marked it as "visit someday." 
       If you've been following this blog, you know I wrote about Good Time Park in a previous post (read it HERE). Good Time Park may be gone, but there is a lot of harness racing history remaining in Goshen. 

       Sometimes I surprise myself at what I don't take pictures of. In this case, I have no photo of the entrance to Historic Track. I can only guess that I a) decided I couldn't get a good picture, or b) thought I'd have a chance to get it later. Regardless, I was surprised going through my photos that I don't have an image of the entrance. I do have the above photo. As I recall this marker is located inside the main entrance. The marker below is also somewhere near the main entrance. 

If you look at old photos of Historic, it's easy to pick out the most notable feature which is still present today: the uniquely-domed judges stands:

Like I do anytime I'm visiting an area related to a person (or horse) I'm writing about, I look for the things that were there when my subject was there. At Historic Track, this is not hard to find. Looking at old photos and present day images, you can easily pick out the original buildings still standing. I think the 2023 image below is of the barn Greyhound stayed in during his 1938 visit. Do you?

In other photos of the barn, I can see there is a much taller structure behind it. I imagine this has been torn down. Or it's possible that the barn seen today is a replacement for the structure there in Greyhound's day. Because of the conflicting images, I can't definitively say the barn is the same. I can say however that the barns are in the same location. This is how research goes. Find a "fact" then find other "facts" to support it (or disprove it). 

Around Goshen
After walking around Historic for a while, I walked around Goshen. There is an impressive church near the center of town. It can be seen in old aerial photos of Good Time Park. 

This amazing fountain was dedicated in memory of Edward Harriman--I'm guessing the father of E. Roland Harriman, a man who contributed much to the sport of Harness Racing and is responsible for the formation of the U. S. Trotting Association. His history and links to the sport run deep and can hardly be covered here. He is of course mentioned in my book and you can learn a bit more about E. Roland Harriman there. When I first saw the fountain I thought it was dedicated to E. Roland, but the date on the fountain clearly reads 1911. E. Roland Harriman was still alive in Greyhound's era, some twenty-five years later.

Goshen and Historic Track are more than worth a visit, as is the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. If you can, go in July during the race meet -- I hope to do that next year. But the track, the town, and the museum are open for visiting year round. There is much more to see than I shared here. Please enjoy these additional images from my time at Historic Track:

August 14, 2023
Today was a pretty amazing day. I realized last week as I was looking over Greyhound’s race record that I would still be in town on this day, the 88th anniversary of his Hambletonian win. I knew Good Time Park had closed long ago, been bifurcated by an invasive road, and returned to the wild marshy land it was way back in 1926 when William H. Cane bought the land and opened the track in the first place. But I also knew that the track outline could still be seen via satellite. An idea formed in my mind ... 

Post time for the 1935 Hambletonian was 3:00 pm. Why not go and see what I could find? Rebecca Howard from the Harness Racing Museum set me up with a 1940s-era aerial image and a satellite image and told me where I could try parking (after I promised not to trespass). The Connector Road is BUSY. But in the name of research (and adventure) I parked my truck at the gas station (lower left of the satellite photo), took my life in my hands, crossed the road, and hoofed it over to the only place I thought I could identify in present day that would tell me in no uncertain terms I was standing on the infield of the former Good Time Park harness track.
       Using the GPS on my phone to mark my location, I walked until I was standing in the same area as the line through the center of the infield that is visible in both the contemporary photos and modern day satellite images. At 3:00 on the dot, I stood on the infield of what remained of Good Time Park, faced toward the stand of trees where the grandstand had once stood, and strained my ears to hear the pounding hooves whispering under the din of traffic flying past me. The road I’d originally resented had become my access point, for the road cut across the infield, just inside turns two and three. I stood on the shoulder and gazed out over the long grasses, scrubby brush and trees stunted by the marshy ground.

       Admittedly it wasn’t easy to picture the track as it looked back then. But I was there and listened for the horses. The roar of the traffic faded and the sound of pounding hooves filled my mind. I heard them coming down the back stretch, they whizzed around the far turn and stepped over the track behind me. I turned and spied a flat stretch in the grassy field, I could just see the outline of where the track had once been. 
       I continued my walk, wondering if there was more I could see. Using my GPS, I found the approximate area of the homestretch.

       One thing I search for when doing this type of research (looking for traces of something that no longer exists) is old trees. The older the tree, the more likely it is to have been there when whatever I am looking for existed. There are young trees in the old images but I couldn't find them on the infield. Knowing that the park was reclaimed marsh land and had since returned to marsh land, it is likely those young infield trees died long ago from oversaturation. I turned and looked behind me, across the road to where the stretch of track between turns two and three had been. There were older trees over there. Not sure they were old enough, still I decided I'd go take a look. 

I crossed Connector Rd. and inspected the tree. I'm just not sure. Maybe it was there, maybe not. But I found something even more interesting. It seems there was a dirt "road" of some sort here, it curved around and disappeared, but I could see the land was flatter there. Could that be the stretch between turns two and three? I went to take a closer look. Using my GPS I determined that this could perhaps be part of the track, or at least where it once was.

       OK. Full disclosure. When I crossed the road to see the tree, I looked for "No Trespassing" signs and saw none. But when I cut across the field to cross the road again, I saw one laying in the grass. Oops. 

       Later, I walked along the Orange Heritage Trail. The trains long ago silenced, slick black asphalt has taken the place of rails and ties. The trail runs along the eastern side of the old track, there is a historical marker there, but that is all. I imagine the old railroad line transported horses to and from the track. Certainly Greyhound would have taken the train after winning the Hambletonian as he headed to Springfield, Illinois for his next start. The trail veered away from the old race track, providing even poorer viewing than what I saw from the road. Still, as the people walked and biked the trail I wondered if they knew or even cared. I wanted to stop them and ask, do you know? Do you know what happened 88 years ago right here?
       Did they know that 88 years ago the grandstand stood just beyond the fence? Could they feel the thousands of people cheering in excitement as the greatest trotter that ever lived flew under the wire on silver wings? Did they know? Would they care?

        I decided to keep it to myself. I took a deep breath and gazed at the stand of trees where the grandstand once stood. I wondered if there was any trace of it left. I am so tempted to try and see, but I respect the intent of the fencing (even if there is a large hole cut in it). The land has returned to its natural state, and trespassing, no matter how tempting, is disrespectful. I sigh deeply, and continue my walk, content in the knowledge that I know what happened there, and in time, with the release of my book, so will anyone else who cares to pick it up and read of the great Greyhound.

Note: there are pictures on the internet that show images taken from the infield of decaying wood structures from the old track. To my knowledge, these have been removed in the interest of safety and prevention of trespassing.