Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Big Money Day for O'Donnell

Every person who has ever driven harness horses for a living has thought about-or fantasized about-doing what Bill O'Donnell did on August 16, 1984. The single Biggest ($$$) day in the history of the sport-for ANY driver-EVER!! Not only did he win more money on that day of August 16,1984, he won MORE RACES in a single day than he had ever done before-or since. NO DRIVER had ever won five races at two DIFFERENT tracks-ON THE SAME DAY-before. That is saying something, EVEN for a Hall Of Famer on this magnitude.

It was at these two tracks that the damage was done-Springfield, Illinois and the Meadowlands in New Jersey. At the conclusion of this remarkable day, Billy would have banked $1,263,882 in purses!! That single DAY total-would have led the way every YEAR from 1946 until 1966 (1967-$1,305,773-Billy Haughton). He would win five times at Springfield, five times at the Meadowlands, and would have winning streaks of 3 and 4 in a row. He would win the single richest race EVER HELD!!-the $2,161,000 Woodrow Wilson with Nihilator, made even more remarkable in that he had NEVER before driven the horse who would retire as the sport richest pacer.

How about this? When would you say was the last time you heard of a driver winning-on the SAME DAY-with TWO Horses Of The Year?? Billy did it with Fancy Crown (1984 HOY) and Nihilator (1985 HOY). If that wasn't enough-want some more?? He not only captured the richest single one event in the sports history-he apparently wasn't much in the mood for sharing-he took BOTH consolations too-and in those days they went for $100,000 and $150,000 a pop!!