Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Robert Farrington drove and trained the great Rambling Willie from 1972 to 1983--throughout a career plagued by lameness and an ever-courageous heart of steel.  The great gelding was honored as Older Pacer of the Year in 1975, 1976 and 1977 and retired at age 13 after banking $2,038,219 in his career, and was named the leading standardbred money winner of all time.

Rambling Willie won 128 victories, 69 seconds and 43 thirds from 304 starts, including the U. S. Pacing Championship in 1976, and the Canadian Pacing Derby in 1976 and 1977 (he also dead-heated for first with Pickwick Baron in this race in 1975), setting a best time for the mile of 1:54.3.

"He was an amazing horse,” said Farrington. “When I first got him, I called Lloyd Arnold four or five times to sell him half the horse. I paid $15,000 for him. But I didn't get in touch with him [Arnold] and wound up selling half to Paul Seibert. I knew at the end of Willie’s three-year-old season that he was a lot more than I expected. He had a bowed tendon. It actually bothered him his whole career, and it looked like he was going to miss some time. By the time he was five, it was incredible what he could do. Every time out there, he did something that amazed me."

One of those times was September 1, 1976. It was grand opening of a new racetrack – the Meadowlands – and Rambling Willie won the feature race, the Inaugural Pace. When Willie retired, he had the records for most starts, most wins, most sub two-minute miles and highest earnings by a standardbred.

Willie was the subject of a popular book called The Horse That God Loved, so named because Vivian Farrington donated 10 percent of his earnings to churches.

"Willie could do it any way he wanted,” Farrington recalled. “He was not a one dimensional horse at all. He raced against several sets of free for allers, horses like Nero, Tarport Hap, Shadyside Trixie, Oil Burner, Whata Baron, Meadow Blue Chip and a lot more. Willie was a lazy horse by nature. You had to get after him pretty good or he would go only as much as he had to. He was a good-gaited horse. It was like playtime out there for him. He would look around at the stands and the infield, the crowd, the lake -- he was having fun out there. He was always having a good time, and he knew he was good, too.

"Willie was like a ballplayer,” Farrington added. “He got to the top of his sport and stayed there-for four or five years. But you know what they say, when you reach the top there's only one way to go from there. He stayed there a long time and raced until he was 13."

Willie was voted into harness racing’s Hall of Fame in 1997, joining Farrington, who was in the class of 1979. Vivian Farrington’s book tour for The Horse That God Loved included taking Willie along so that he could provide hoof print autographs.

"When he went on the book tour, I was nervous, especially when he went into the malls,” she recalled. “I knew he was known to kick here and there, but he was the perfect gentleman. I held my breath, but he was good, especially so around the kids. You could take him anywhere. Everywhere we went they sold out of books. Today, you have to get one on E-Bay if you want one.

"I was a little girl who always loved horses,” she explained. “My father was a minister in Illinois. When Willie came along, he was the first horse that I had my name on in the program. Maybe good things do come to those who wait. It came right before my birthday [July 23] and was a present to me from Bob."

If she could do one thing differently, Vivian Farrington said she would “tithe all the money to my father’s church – I sent it all over to too many different denominations.”

The fall of 1983 marked the end of Rambling Willie’s racing career. From that time until his death in 1995, he spent his retirement at the Hall of Champions at the Kentucky Horse Park

"The last race he won, he could hardly walk out of the winner’s circle,” she recalled. “We didn't want to race him again. But they had a promotion, and we raced one more time. He finished second, and the horse that beat him got booed coming back to the winner’s circle. We'll never forget Rambling Willie. It was a wonderful experience, one we'll never forget.”

Rambling Willie's Career Statistics
Year   Starts Wins 2nds 3rds Earnings   Age & Record  Venue & Date of Record
1983       20        8      5      3      $57,370       13, 1:58.0M       M M 08/17/1983
1982       23       3      6      4      $28,545       12, 1:58.3F       QCD F 10/01/1982
1981       36      17      7      5      $151,599      11, 1:56.4F      LB F 05/16/1981
1980       33      15      3      6      $196,398      10, 1:58.2H       May 10/04/1980
1979       24      12      5      4      $243,420       9, 1:56.1F        SCD F 05/19/1979
1978       30      12      6      2      $294,450      8, 1:56.3M       HOL M 11/24/1978
1977       30      13     10     5      $397,921      7, 1:54.3F        BRD F 09/04/1977
1976       25      12      5      4      $295,750       6, 1:55.3M        N/A N/A
1975       37      19      8      8      $264,405       5, 1:56.1F         SPK F 07/18/1975
1973        0        0      0      0      $0                3, 1:59.4M        N/A N/A
Total    258    111    55   41     $2,038,219   7, 1:54.3F