Published: June 21, 2008 08:42 pm         

HISTORICAL TREASURE: Gift provides another dimension in pacer Dan Patch story

TERRE HAUTE — Throughout the history of sports, certain athletes, be they human or equine, have captured the affection of the media and never let go. One such celebrity is Dan Patch, the great pacer from the turn-of-the-20th-century world of harness racing. The horse was featured in a May 19 Sports Illustrated story and a current book, “Crazy Good” by Charles Leerhsen has been published. He was also the subject of a 1949 movie called “The Great Dan Patch” starring Dennis O’Keefe and Gail Russell.

A recent gift to the Historical Museum from Loyal Bishop has provided another dimension in the Dan Patch story. It is a small booklet consisting of 46 pages. Titled “Sensational Moving Pictures, World’s Record Mile By Dan Patch 1:55,” its cover is composed of three horses, sulkies and drivers circling a race track with a few spectators looking on. Each page is a picture of Dan Patch advancing in a race. The purpose of the booklet, according to printed instructions, is to quickly flip through the pages and see Dan Patch as he progresses around the track.

The picture on the last page actually shows the viewer how to hold the booklet in order to “see Dan run.” On the back of each “action page” is a picture or pertinent information about the horse.

The booklet was copyrighted by M.W. Savage of Minneapolis, the prominent final owner of Dan Patch. It was published by the Winthrop Moving Picture Co. of New York on Dec. 18, 1906.

Born with crooked legs in Oxford, Ind., in 1896, and owned by local storekeeper Daniel Messner Jr., Dan Patch, with patient training, competed in his first harness race on Aug. 30, 1900. In his career spanning more than a decade, the pacer became the most talked about phenomenon on the American sports scene. He lost only two heats and never lost a race. He was sold by Messner to M.E. Sturgis of Buffalo, N.Y., for the then unheard of sum of $20,000 and later for $60,000 to Marion Willis Savage, owner of the International Stock Food Co. of Minneapolis. He paced the mile in a record 1:55 and one-quarter second in Lexington, Ky., in 1905, and then shaved the quarter second off in an exhibition at the Minnesota State Fair a year later.

The “World’s Champion Racing Horse” retired in 1909, after a leg injury. Both Dan Patch and M.W. Savage took ill on July 4, 1916. While recovering from surgery July 11, Savage learned his famous horse had died. Mr. Savage died less than a day later. Dan Patch raced several times at the Four Corner Track at the old Fair Grounds at Wabash and Brown avenues in Terre Haute, but did not set a record here. At the turn of the century, purses at the Four Corner Track totaled as much as $92,000. In a March 22 article by B. Michael McCormick, it was noted that when Dan Patch raced in Terre Haute, all downtown stores were closed.