Scarborough, Maine - Charles Leerhsen, executive editor of Sports Illustrated magazine, will help kick off Maine’s Super Sire Stakes weekend on Saturday, October 11 at Scarborough Downs, outside Portland.
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Charles
Leerhsen,
author
of CRAZY
GOOD:
THE TRUE
STORY OF
DAN
PATCH,
THE MOST
FAMOUS
HORSE IN
AMERICAN,
poses
with
WESTERN
GRADUATE,
an eight
times
granddaughter
of DAN
PATCH -
(USTA Photo).
|
Leerhsen will read from and sign copies of his new book Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, The Most Famous Horse in America, starting at 11:30 a.m. in the track’s Winners Circle Lounge. Leerhsen will do a brief interview trackside after race one before signing copies of his book in the Grandstand. Sales will benefit the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization of Maine, which promotes post-racing careers for race horses.
Crazy Good is the story of the pacer Dan Patch, who raced extensively throughout New England and North America in the first decade of the 20th century. Dan Patch was so popular that he drew as many as 100,000 fans in an era when major league baseball games typically drew less than 5,000. Dan Patch made as much as $1 million in a year when Ty Cobb made just $12,000. The book has been excerpted in Sports Illustrated and positively reviewed in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, USA Today, Readers Digest and other major publications.
Leerhsen has also written biographies of Donald Trump, test pilot Chuck Yeager and television executive Brandon Tartikoff. He is a lifelong harness racing fan and worked as a publicist for the sport in the 1980s. For more information on the book, go to www.crazygoodbook.com.
The signing kicks off a weekend that will showcase Maine’s best trotters and pacers, as the track hosts the finals of the Maine Sire Stakes on October 11 and 12, for horses bred in the Pine Tree state. Live racing on Saturday, Oct. 11th features the Maine Breeders Stakes 2-year-old finals; Sunday, October 12th features the 3-year-old finals, with purses totaling over $500,000. Post time both days is 12:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Additionally, Maine Governor John Baldacci is scheduled to appear, making a special and official proclamation that October 11 and 12th are “Maine Harness Racing Days.”
For more information, contact Susan Higgins at 883-4331 or via email at shiggins@scarboroughdowns.com
