Illinois Hall of Fame driver Walter Paisley had many memorable triumphs among his 5,722 harness racing career victories and one that has always stuck out in my mind was in 1974 with Armbro Nesbit in the Sportsman’s Park leg of the $50,000 U.S. Pacing Championship.
It was my first year as the publicity director at the Cicero, Illinois track and the stake lured the absolutely best aged pacers in the country such as 1973 Harness Horse of the Year Sir Dalrae, Otaro Hanover and the Joe O’Brien Stable’s Armbro Nesbit.
Sir Dalrae and Armbro Nesbit had already met twice at that 1974 meeting with Sir Dalrae and Jim Dennis prevailing on June 8 in the $50,000 Grand Prix stake on a sloppy track in 2:00 and O’Brien and Armbeo Nesbit getting revenge with a nose decision three weeks later in 1:56.4, the fastest time on the Chicago circuit that year.
The two rock stars of the industry were to meet again at Sportsman’s on August 3 in a $50,000 leg of the U.S. Pacing Championship, a new stake series that Sir Dalrae swept in its 1973 inaugural, winning on Sportsman’s five-eighths track, Roosevelt Raceway half-mile oval, and Hollywood Park’s mile track.
I’ll let Paisley take over this story:
“At Sportsman’s the horsemen use to park their trucks on the back next to the barn area. I got to know all those guys who worked on the track and in the barn area.
“One night I came in to drive and as I went through the stable gate one guy after another was saying something like “Hey Paisley you’re getting to drive Armbro Nesbit tonight. Good luck.” I was only 33 at the time and told them: ‘Yea, sure I am.’ I thought they were just having some fun with me.
“When I got to the driver’s room I looked at that night’s program and sure enough, I was listed to drive Armbro Nesbit in a big stake. Meanwhile Joe (O’Brien) called me and said: ’I put you down on one of my horses to drive. I hope you don’t mind.’ I told him not at all.
“Joe then proceeded to tell me be careful with Armbro Nesbit. And to either race him on the front end or be last so I wouldn’t get into trouble with the horse. Joe told me I could hit the horse once or twice but that’s it. Then just leave him alone. He said the horse didn’t like the whip.
“That night in the race I got Armbro Nesbit to the front and Herve (Filion) was following me with Otaro Hanover. Herve pulled his horse at the top of the stretch and Otaro Hanover started going by us.
“I said to myself, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to get beat with this chalk. This will be the last time I get any drives from O’Brien.’
“Herve did get by me and it was getting late. He was about a half-length ahead of us. Well I thought since Armbro Nesbit was going to get beat anyway why not go ahead and hit him a couple of times and see what happens.
“So I did, and he responded. We got past Otaro Hanover near the wire and won the race. It was a thrill for me to get a drive and win with a horse like Armbro Nesbit.”
The 4-year-old son of Bye Bye Byrd hit the wire in 1:57, a quick mile back in the mid-1970s, Sir Dalrae came thundering down the stretch to finish third, beaten just 3/4‘s of a length.
Paisley, who would win the first of his four Sportsman’s Park driving titles a year later, went on discuss O’Brien, a national Hall of Famer who brought in many of the elite pacers and trotters to Illinois through the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s.
“Joe was a very nice guy. At first I didn’t know him but later I spent some time with Joe in Europe and got to appreciate him. We talked about a lot of stuff.
“In particular Joe didn’t like the way the horse sales were changing. With syndications horses that would be selling for 50 or 60 thousand were bringing $200,000 because there 4, 5 or more guys involved in buying a horse.
“Joe thought that was really hurting the trainer who only had one owner. He didn’t think a single owner had much of a shot at buying one of the real good yearlings at a sale.
“Joe was a good guy and Armbro Nesbit was a very good horse.”
In January of 1990 at Hawthorne Racecourse Paisley became only the fifth driver in harness racing history to crack the 5,000 victory plateau. The Berwyn, IL native was inducted into the Illinois Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1981.
By Mike Paradise