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

by Charles Leerhsen

Book Overview

A hundred years ago, the most famous athlete in America was a horse. But Dan Patch was more than a sports star; he was a cultural icon in the days before the automobile. Born crippled and unable to stand, he was nearly euthanized. For a while, he pulled the grocer's wagon in his hometown of Oxford, Indiana. But when he was entered in a race at the county fair, he won -- and he kept on winning. Harness racing was the top sport in America at the time,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743291778
• ISBN13: 9780743291774
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 355 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Thoroughly researched, well-organized

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.

A Great Story Told Incomparably Well

Here is a book for anyone who likes a richly emotive story told incomparably well. "Crazy Good" by Charles Leerhsen offers the biography of Dan Patch (1896-1916), one of the most famous racehorses of all time. But Leerhsen's account is not just for horse lovers, though they will be in horse heaven. "Crazy Good" is a crazy good read for anybody. My great grandmother's brother, Thomas Eleazer Fenton, was the blacksmith who designed a special horseshoe that made the young Dan Patch a winner. Growing up in Pine Village, the same town where Tom and his forge helped an otherwise clumsy horse to victory, I heard several stories about Dan Patch. "Crazy Good" gets all of them right. Leerhsen's book makes obsolete all previous books on the subject. "Crazy Good" is what its subtitle claims it is: "The True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America." Leerhsen has composed nothing short of the authoritative biography of America's first sports celebrity--who happened to be a horse. While reading the book, I set aside my great great uncle's role in the story and turned a critical eye on Leerhsen's narrative. To read "Crazy Good" is to watch a master at work. Leerhsen carves away anything that is not a perfect likeness and leaves a polished monument to a sporting legend and a bygone era. As a writer myself, I gasped more than once at the marvels of this book: that's how much Leerhsen's artistry surprised and impressed me. "Crazy Good" gave me everything except the smell of horse sweat and maybe even that. I felt like a fly on the stable wall and in the grandstand. I saw and heard the moving spectacle of each race as if I had been there. Like a present-day archaeologist stripping away layers of detritus to reveal the truth of the past, Leerhsen seamlessly segues from now to yesteryear. In the process, he brings to light a full history of Standardbred racing. He sorts fact from fiction. Then he tugs at your heart. Who would have thought that a book about a sulky horse of long ago could be profoundly emotional? To achieve this end, "Crazy Good" traces a classical plot line, beginning with the halcyon days when Dan Messner of Oxford, Indiana, raised Dan Patch. Just when the horse begins to win, Messner sells the friendly, crowd-favored pacer. The mystery surrounding the sale spells suspense until, at a climactic moment, Leerhsen explains why Messner was willing to part with an extraordinary horse that would have brought the Messner household $1 million a year. Dan Patch sets record after record, only to begin a denouement at the hands of his last, and least empathetic, owner. Foreshadowed early in the book, Dan Patch's falling action leads to a resolution that leaves Leerhsen and his readers sad but wise. Far more than a chronicle of a remarkable horse, "Crazy Good" mourns the loss of a time when small midwestern villages crafted an enviable culture that unfortunately attracted the attention of corrupt influences that ultimate

A must read for anyone

This is some book and some story! It is a must read for the harness racing fan, but it is also a must read for the marketing student, the electronic media executive, and for anyone who likes a great biography. Leehrsen writes so well, the story reaches out to everyone. Dan Patch was something else. Did he know how to create a buzz a century ago?!!!

Entertaining, Enlightening, Engaging

Crazy Good is just plain good. Even if the only horses you've ever seen have policemen on them, you will enjoy this story of a superstar who just happened to be a horse. Dan Patch, the star of this book, is unblemished and brilliant, but the people around him? Maybe not so much. Hence the captivating story. Leerhsen tells the tale of this unlikely hero, born as he was with no expectations and a physical deformity to boot. He keeps the reader entranced through the emergence of Dan's brilliance and the story of how he draws hundreds of thousands of fans a year. The Beatles had nothing on Dan Patch. Get this book for Father's Day, for Flag Day. Get it for any time you want to leave the past behind and allow yourself to be pulled in by the magnetism of a horse who lived 100 years ago.

Wacky Rich

Rich referring to not just Dan Patch's owner, but also to Leerhsen's book, multilayered and full of tasty stuff. Villains and/or complicated characters abound. The one sure hero is Dan Patch, whose history and personality are revealed like a mystery being solved, while Leerhsen schleps us around the early 20th century racing circuit, and we bask in such emerging or time-honored cultural phenomena as mass marketing (often bogus), absurd product endosement, racetrack corruption, gross material excess, the cult of celebrity, and road domination by the motorcar. We meet descendants of some of the important humans in Dan's life and the current day keepers of the Dan Patch flame, including Leerhsen himself, the obsessed lead detective who's loved the track all his life. Besides fascinating, Crazy Good is misty-eyed poignant and laugh-out-loud hilarious, with fabulous writing ranging from sportspage dramatic to erudite to profane. Wacky Rich.

The Standardbred Legend Comes To Life

Talk about a superstar, fans used to say that the legendary natural pacer, Dan Patch, would stop on the track before a race and look to the stands to count the house. And from where this forgotten legend had come from, that gaze was worth its weight in gold. Author Charles Leerhsen brings to life the amazing career of this Standardbred racer who set his mark on the track and in sponsorship deals; from chewing tobacco and toys to washing machines and automobiles, there was even an "air-line" named after the stallion. Born with a crooked-leg in 1896, his original owner thought the Indiana-bred would only have a career in front of a delivery wagon. Not raced until age four, Dan Patch quickly became a sensation on the national Grand Circuit and in exhibition races; his average paced mile in his 73 GC events was under two minutes and he banked more than $2 million in prize money. But it was September 8, 1906, at the Minnesota State Fair race track, where Dan Patch set an amazing mark before 93,000 fans. He paced a mile in 1:55, a record that stood for 32 years. Dan Patch was retired in 1909 and died in July 1916. And with the triumph came tragedy and memories of a golden era fading away as years quickly rolled into decades. Dan Patch will again forever stand tall as a titan in sports, as Leerhsen has brought this incredible story back on track.