Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

                                                  Silk Stockings was a champion.

There are many champions in the history of harness racing, but Silk Stockings was much more than the records she held or trophies she won.

She was a great racehorse, by many accounts and polls the greatest racing mare in Standardbred history. Yet Silk Stockings was much more.

Silk Stockings was a champion not only for the sport, but also for the people. Whether you were a grocery clerk, a housewife, a millionaire or groom, if you loved horses, Silk Stockings was your girl.

Silk Stockings was the daughter of the great racing champion and stud Most Happy Fella and the well-bred broodmare Maryellen Hanover. As a yearling she was tall and skinny with little more than straws for legs.

Some veteran horsemen concluded that she would never survive the rigors of training. But that meant nothing to Claire Mazik. She and her husband, Ken Mazik, came to the Liberty Bell auction in 1973 to buy a racehorse as an investment. Destiny brought the Maziks and Silk Stockings together.

On the way to the sale Claire Mazik's sale book kept falling open to the same page, the page for yearling filly Silk Stockings. Interpreting this as a "sign from God," she convinced her husband to buy the filly.

The scrawny little filly transformed as she aged into a flawless racing machine under the guidance of trainer/driver Preston Burris.

Silk Stockings went on to dominate her class as a 2 and 3-Year-Old and was the first filly to win the Pacer of the Year award (1975).   In free-for-all racing Silk Stockings defeated many of the great stallions and geldings of the day.

Although her best times and her money earnings pale against today's standards, Silk Stockings had more impact on the sport than any other pacing mare in modern times. She toured the country, she made personal appearances and she had days named after her. Children got days off from school to see her race.

Trainers, grooms and owners alike would take time out of their hectic schedules to come and see her race or just pat her head in the barn. One such driver proclaimed after staring at her head for several minutes.

"I had to see her head. During the race, all I ever see is the other end!"

In June 2003, Claire Mazik passed away, a few months later one of Silk Stockings greatest fans, Stan Wolf, also passed.

Silk Stockings died on October 3, 2003 at Boxwood Farms in New Jersey at the age of 31. But as long as we remember Silk Stockings, she really won't be gone.

Silk Stocking's Career Racing Statistics
Year/Starts/Wins/2nds/3rds     Earnings     Record
1977   21        7       3       2       $124,920      5, 1:56.1M M M 05/28/1977
1976   12       8         1      0        $89,552        4, 1:55.2M
1975    24      15       5       3        $336,312      3, 1:55.2M
1974    0      0          0       0        $0                 2, 1:58.2M
Total    57     30         9      5        $694,894       3, 1:55.2M