Kenneth Barlow | |
|---|---|
 Ken Barlow Harness Racing Award Recipient 1964 | |
| Born | July 28, 1936 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Harness Horse Driver |
Kenneth D. Barlow (born July 28, 1936) professionally known as Ken Barlow, was an American Harness Horse Driver.
His professional career began in 1960 with a horse named Lucky Jim and he won his first race with a horse named Tommy Goose. Ken Barlow was a two time Champion and Winner of the “Indiana Harness Horse Driver of the Year” award in 1964 and 1965. He started racing a horse named Virgne’s Lady Plaid in 1965, who in 1966 won "Indiana's 3 year old Trotting Crown" [1] by winning 13 straight victories and “Indiana Horse of the Year” with 21 out of 30 wins overall. [2] That same year they tied for the “National Lead in Harness Horse Race Wins by a Trotter”and set the seasons record of 2:06.4 on a half mile track at Anderson Indiana. On April 19, 1968 Ken Barlow and Virgnes Lady Plaid set the season record at Saratoga Raceway of 2:05.1 and then lowered it to 2:04.3 on April 26 and then lowered it again to 2:03.4 on May 10, 1968.
On September 16, 1967 Ken Barlow and Virgnes Lady Plaid set a new World Harness Horse Racing Record of 2:25.1 for a mile and an eighth on a half mile track, the previous record had stood for 22 years. [3] By 1968 the newspapers and Barlow's friends were calling him the "Hoosier Hop Shot" [4] as he raced in Indiana then traveled by plane to race in New York the same night. [5] In 1970 Ken Barlow was named the leading driver at Jackson Raceway in Michigan. He also broke colts for the Hanover Shoe Farms.
Ken Barlow's good friends and racing colleagues included George Sholty, Jimmy and John Simpson, Billy Haughton, Jay Sears, Billy Herman, Stanley Dancer, and Howard Bessinger among other highly respected drivers. Barlow raced his last race in 1989 with a horse named Racy Mark at the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey.
During his 28-year career [6] he raced 3,118 races, had 477 wins (1st Place), 390 seconds (2nd Place), and 366 thirds (3rd Place). [7] Ken Barlow and Virgnes Lady Plaid have been inducted to the Indiana Standardbred Association Hall of Fame on February 6, 2016. [8]
Ken Barlow married Sharlene Ryle on July 2, 1955, and they had four daughters Debbie, Dianne, Donna, and Darlene.
Strike Out (1969–1998) was a Standardbred North American Harness racing champion.
The Little Brown Jug is a harness race for three-year-old pacing standardbred horses hosted by the Delaware County Agricultural Society since 1946 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds racetrack in Delaware, Ohio. The race takes place every year on the third Thursday after Labor Day.
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The Hambletonian Stakes is a major American harness race for three-year-old trotting horses, named in honor of Hambletonian 10, a foundation sire of the Standardbred horse breed, also known as the "Father of the American Trotter." The first in the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Trotters, the Hambletonian is currently held at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on the first Saturday in August.
The Messenger Stakes is an American harness racing event for 3-year-old pacing horses. It was organized in 1956 at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York to join with the Cane Pace and the Little Brown Jug to create the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers. The race is named in honor of Messenger (1780–1808), a horse foaled in England and later brought to the United States. As a sire, virtually all harness horses in the U.S. can be traced back to Messenger.
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Stanley Franklin Dancer was an American harness racing driver and trainer. He was the only horseman to drive and train three Triple Crowns in horse racing. In total, he drove 23 Triple Crown winners. He was the first trainer to campaign a horse to $1 million in a career, Cardigan Bay in 1968, and drove the Harness Horse of the Year seven times. During his career, he won over $28 million and 3,781 races and was called by the United States Trotting Association "perhaps the best-known personality in the sport".
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Nevele Pride was an American standardbred harness racehorse who set world records as fastest trotter on multiple occasions. Owned by Stanley Dancer, Nevele Pride won 57 races and was honored as Harness Horse of the Year in three consecutive years. The horse earned more than $870,000 during his racing career.
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The Breeders Crown 3YO Filly Trot is a harness racing event for three-year-old Standardbred filly trotters. It is one part of the Breeders Crown annual series of twelve races for both Standardbred trotters and pacers. First run in 1984, it is contested over a distance of one mile. Race organizers have awarded the event to various racetracks across North America.
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