Dan Patch was famous during his time period. Standardbred Racing was quite popular in the pre World War I era. Dan Patch was born in 1896, bred and owned by Daniel Messner. Messner purchased Zelica on accident at an auction. He paid $255 for her, and brought her home. She went lame in her first start, and was only estimated to be worth $100. He had planned to use her as a buggy horse to go around town in, but ultimately wound up breeding her to Joe Patchen, a successful racehorse. When Dan Patch was born, his legs were not straight and it was suggested he be put down. He eventually straightened out and was sold to Manley Sturges for $20,000. He was sold again for $60,000 to Marion Savage. He was used as a spokeshorse for Savage's business. His racing career was lucrative, and he remained undefeated. (Harness racing has heat races. The horse must win the majority of the heats to be considered the winner. He never lost a race, and only lost two heats.) He was retired from racing when no other owners would put their horses in races against him. He broke several records that were standing at the time. He also earned substantial money in the millions due to product endorsements, appearances, purses, and stud fees. Dan Patch was inducted into the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in 1953 and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2019.

I always love reading about racehorses. I watch horse racing religiously, and I do still watch harness racing when I catch it on. In fact, the only race I have been able to attend at an actual track was a harness race. I had heard of Dan Patch, but never really knew much about him. I learned so much from this book and enjoyed his story and getting to know him. I would recommend this book for those who are fans of racing or sport horses.