January 13, 2006
HTA ANNOUNCES ITS AWARDS
The Standardbred Retirement Foundation, the New Vocations
Racehorse Adoption Program, and the late, great harness racing journalist
Evan Shipman are the 2006 recipients of Harness Tracks of America’s
Distinguished Service awards and Dan Patch award.
The SRF and New Vocations programs, both of which save
at-risk horses from destruction, have rehabilitated hundreds of
standardbreds, SRF for the last 17 years and New Vocations for 15. Paula
Campbell and Judy Bokman, wives of driver John Campbell and Dr. Stephen
Bokman, were instrumental in the early success of the SRF, and the New
Vocations program was and is the result of the work of Ohio horsewoman Dot
Morgan, aunt of driver Tony Morgan. Mrs. Morgan will receive her award
personally at the Night of Stars dinner Wednesday night, Feb. 8, at Bellagio
in Las Vegas, and the SRF award will be accepted by Hall of Fame trainer
Chuck Sylvester and his wife Sharon, both directors of the foundation.
Evan Shipman was for many years both a harness racing and
thoroughbred columnist for the old Morning Telegraph and
Daily Racing Form. He also was an accomplished published poet,
author, literary figure and close friend and confidante of Ernest Hemingway.
Shipman was second only to the immortal John Hervey as a dual breed
authority, widely respected for his knowledge of both sports. His harness
racing novel, Free for All, was lauded by Sherwood Anderson
and others as a major sporting work. Hemingway dedicated his 1927 novel
Men Without Women to Shipman, and the two wrote together, drank
together and fought together in the Spanish Civil War. Shipman was official
handicapper for Roosevelt Raceway in its early days, and his column "In the
Sulky" was a regular feature in the Morning Telegraph. He died
in 1957.
