Kleinsteiber wants Dan Patch legacy to live on

By Greg Ylvisaker of the Daily Times staff
Friday, July 25, 2008 10:04 PM CDT

Watertown native Diane Kleinsteiber wants to preserve the memory of the horse Dan Patch. (JOHN HART/Daily Times)

In October 2003, the Daily Times printed an article about a harness race horse named Dan Patch. This article was printed at the time Seabiscuit was back in the spotlight, but reported a horse with a better record than Seabiscuit's.

What resulted from the Daily Times article was a resurrection of sorts. Watertown native Diane Kleinsteiber read the article and remembered a connection to Dan Patch she hadn't thought about very often after her grandfather passed away. In addition to the article, meeting “Crazy Good” author Charles Leerhsen who was in search of information while attempting to write a book about Dan Patch, and offering to help, prompted a desire to learn more about this horse that meant so much to so many.

Arguably the best horse to ever race professionally, Dan Patch had been all but forgotten for several reasons. The automobile was quickly taking over the horse's role in life, carrying people and their goods. Dan Patch was a harness racer, pulling a two-wheeled cart, or sulky, with a driver, rather than the more popular thoroughbred racers like Seabiscuit and War Admiral.

Dan Patch's owner, Marion Willis Savage, died about 32 hours after the death of Dan Patch. His property was divided up, and Dan Patch was buried in a secret grave on the 700 acre training facility Savage owned.

Aside from a few racing enthusiasts, people just weren't talking about him anymore. However, those enthusiasts, like Kleinsteiber now is, still remember Dan Patch, and their goal is to ensure his legacy lives on.

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Dan Patch never lost a race throughout his long and storied career. He won his first race as a 4-year-old with a crooked left hind leg. When he was born he was nearly euthanized because of that leg, and his first owners wondered if he would even walk. Despite the crooked leg, Dan Patch managed to complete a mile in 1 minute 55 seconds, a harness racing world record at the time.

In 1904 Sylvester Redford, Kleinsteiber's grandfather, went to see Dan Patch race at the Wisconsin State Fair. Redford grew up farming, loving horses his entire life. He was also a harness racer. Dan Patch threw a shoe while warming up at the Wisconsin State Fair, and was brought to the blacksmith for a new shoe. Redford followed the sulky as Dan Patch pulled it to the smithy, curious to see what was happening with the most highly acclaimed athlete of the day.

The horse's hoof had a ragged edge, much like a hang nail, which the blacksmith simply filed off. As the hoof fragment fell to the ground, Redford snatched it up and put it in his pocket. He made a hole in the hoof, and attached a note to it with a blue ribbon. The note said, “This is a piece of hoof off of Dan Patch, champion pacer of the world.” He kept it in a small medicine tin, which he would bring out occasionally to tell the story of how he came to have it.

Kleinsteiber has it now, and it is the centerpiece of an extensive collection of Dan Patch memorabilia. Jens Bohn, president of the Dan Patch Historical Society in Savage, Minn., was quoted as saying to her, “You've got just about the only piece of Dan Patch above ground.” Dan Patch died in 1916, and the site of his grave, if it still exists, is uncertain. Kleinsteiber's hoof fragment could be the only existing piece of the greatest horse racing champion ever to have lived, making it a treasure to Dan Patch collectors and fans. The town of Savage, Minn., renamed in 1904 for Dan Patch owner Marion Willis Savage, embraces their connection with Dan Patch's legacy.

People may wonder why people who never saw him race, or weren't even born until years after he died, cling so strongly to the memory of a horse who died nearly 100 years ago. Some may be history buffs, while others may see this as a unique collector's opportunity. For Kleinsteiber it is more of a labor of love. She was born shortly after the death of her grandmother, and as she grew up she and her grandfather became very close. They also shared a love of horses, Dan Patch in particular.

“I never knew my grandmother,” she said. “I was born shortly after she died, and kind of became her replacement. I was grandfather's little sidekick. We hung out together and he got me my first horse. When I'm doing this I really feel him driving me. I can't think of another way I would've been able to uncover all of this in a year and a half without his help. This really has been a blessing from the Lord.”

Kleinsteiber said because a horse like Dan Patch would be too expensive for most people of the time to purchase, not considering the fact Savage wouldn't sell him to anyone, people would name horses after him for marketing purposes.

“Horses were very valuable then,” Kleinsteiber said. “People were always competing with heir horses. Horses were also heir number one way of transportation. With this horse, he was so nice to everybody. He wouldn't kick or bite, he was a people horse. When he was born he was nurtured right away by humans, and I think he adopted that characteristic. When a phenomenal horse like this one ran a mile in 1 minute 55 seconds where they usually ran it in two minutes ... it was kind of unreal. It made him kind of a hero. Mr. Savage was also a fantastic marketer.”

Her grandfather said if he could have a piece of a famous horse and a beautiful woman on his arm (referring to Kleinsteiber's grandmother), you've got everything going for you. Kleinsteiber thinks this reflects the philosophy of the time.

“That's the way I perceive it,” she said. “When you look at it that way, it makes sense that my grandfather would have grabbed a piece of Dan Patch. He and my grandmother both loved horses, and my grandfather would have wanted to be closer to the barns. As a farmer he knew if something was going to happen, that's where you would want to be.”

Dan Patch competed in Wisconsin three times, in 1904, 1908 and 1909. When she went to the State Fair Historical Society for information about the horse, she was told there were no records of Dan Patch competing in Wisconsin in 1904. After much searching, Kleinsteiber found old news clippings in Madison, describing how a race, with 50,000 people in attendance, was held up due to a horse throwing a shoe. This went along with what her grandfather had told her. Eventually she also found a program and several postcards advertising this race and some of his other races.

Kleinsteiber was contacted by Leerhsen in his search for Dan Patch information. The two of them began unearthing information about Dan Patch as a team. This quickly became a passion for her. It was very important to her that people know Dan Patch raced in Wisconsin. She took the information to the historical society, and the records were changed to include Dan Patch's race at the Wisconsin State Fair.

The people at the fair weren't paying to see Dan race against another horse. They were paying to see him run around the track by himself as they gazed intently at their stopwatches, hoping to witness him break his own records. Horse owners eventually refused to race their horses against him because he couldn't be beaten. He would instead race against time, and his own records.

Dan Patch had his own train car, much like old circus wagons. He would travel around the country, putting on hundreds of miles while racing. Savage, who owned a feed company, would market the horse with paintings, old flip books, postcards, and many other types of publicity. There was Dan Patch lineament, tobacco, stopwatches and books. Kleinsteiber said a Dan Patch stopwatch now costs about $600.

Savage also worked with Henry Ford. Kleinsteiber tracked down an old poster listing a 1911 model called the Dan Patch. There was also one called the Savage. Both were prototypes, and with the death of Dan Patch and Savage in 1916, Kleinsteiber feels there was no one to push these through to completion.

Kleinsteiber compared a carriage racing organization to a modern NASCAR team. Savage had his own training facility which included a heated, indoor track with 1,400 windows on a 700 acre facility. Living in Minnesota, Savage wanted to ensure there was a place for his horses to train during the winter.

Kleinsteiber has had contact with the descendants of Dan Patch and the Savage family. One of Dan Patch's descendants, Banana Anna, bears a striking resemblance to her once famous ancestor.

“I think it is so cool that they are keeping the bloodline alive,” Kleinsteiber said.

She said the Savage family had tears in their eyes when she showed them her hoof fragment from Dan Patch. The Savage family hasn't had much to do with the continued legacy of Dan Patch in the almost 100 years since he died. They no longer live in Minnesota. They do have mementos of the great horse's career, but the hoof clipping was the first physical link to those days.

“Right now they only have blankets, halters and some pictures,” she said. “They aren't really connected anymore. The Dan Patch Days celebration has been going on for 70 or 80 years in Savage, Minn., but to them it didn't really mean much. To let them see a piece of him above ground made it very special to them.”

Dan Patch Days is an annual celebration in Savage. There is a festival and a parade, and it all centers around Dan Patch. There is even a scavenger hunt. The goal is to find a horseshoe hidden somewhere in the town using clues printed in the town paper. There is also a new harness racing facility in Savage called Running Aces Harness Park. This is a tradition that began in Savage in 1953.

"It's amazing to me how this story keeps getting bigger,” said Bohn. “There are two books out now, and artifacts and news articles are being found all the time. Diane has been tremendous in the amount of work and research she's done about Dan's races in Wisconsin. She's been very dedicated.”

Bohn said her hoof clipping was a huge find for Dan Patch fans and collectors. Bohn first met her when she made the five hour drive to Savage to show him her artifact.

Bohn grew up in Savage and has been collecting memorabilia for about 25 years. Bohn called Dan Patch “one of the world's most remarkable athletes.”

The tradition of Dan Patch and harness racing was chronicled in the 2008 publication of the book “Crazy Good” by Leerhsen. In it he tells the story of Dan Patch from the time he was sired to his death in 1916. Leerhsen is an executive editor with Sports Illustrated.

He said the story of Dan Patch is, in a way, a better story than that of Seabiscuit because of Dan Patch's popularity. As an example, he cited the 27,000 people in attendance at Seabiscuit's big race, and compares it to the 90,000 watching Dan Patch run against his own time at the Minnesota State Fair.

“It's one of the great, forgotten stories in American sports,” Leerhsen said. “Dan Patch was the single best athlete in the most popular sport of his time. He was easily as well known as Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan in 1904. He was of a breed of horses created here in the United States. It's an incredible story and it's been almost completely forgotten.”

He said Dan Patch was a magnificent looking animal with a personality matching his appearance.

“Little children were able to run under his belly and he would stand still,” he said. “He would tolerate having strands of his main and tail pulled out without kicking or biting. After a race he would stop in front of the grandstand and bow to the crowd. They'd go nuts.”

Kleinsteiber and her grandfather's story are mentioned in the prelude section of Leerhsen's book. He also mentions her in the acknowledgments section, in appreciation for all the work she put into helping make his book a success.

“She helped me a lot,” Leerhsen said. “She found clippings in Kansas from when Dan Patch nearly died at the state fair down there. She also sent me information about his times in Wisconsin. I wouldn't have known about any of these things without her help. She's tireless in her search for material about Dan Patch, and as time goes on her enthusiasm seems to build.”

Kleinsteiber will have a booth near the horse barns at the Wisconsin State Fair where her collection of Dan Patch memorabilia will be on display. She also wears clothing similar to the clothing worn during Dan Patch's racing days. Information regarding Leerhsen's book will be available at her booth.