Haughton, Billy (02 November 1923–15 July 1986), harness driver and horse trainer, was born William Robert Haughton in Gloversville, New York, the son of William F. Haughton, a silk mill proprietor, and Edith Greene. Haughton’s interest in horses and harness driving began early. He was five when his father bought him a pony with a standard basket cart. Some years later, mimicking the harness drivers at a nearby track, the boy converted the cart into a makeshift sulky. His father rewarded him by purchasing a standard sulky for him....
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Haughton, Billy (1923-1986), harness driver and horse trainer
J. Thomas Jable
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White, Benjamin Franklin (1873-1958), harness horse racing driver, trainer, and owner
John Lucas
White, Benjamin Franklin (03 February 1873–20 May 1958), harness horse racing driver, trainer, and owner, was born in Whitevale, Ontario, Canada, the son of a gristmill owner. Though expected to take over his father’s business, White never finished high school. In 1888 he traveled to Markham, Ontario, where he drove his first race behind a mare belonging to his sister. In 1893 White took a job in East Aurora, New York, at C. J. Hamlin’s famed Village Farm stable, a leading breeder of harness horses. Tutored by the noted trainer Edward “Pop” Geers, White served successively as a groom, rider, assistant trainer, and, finally, upon Geers’s departure in 1903, head trainer. In 1906, in the final heat of the Futurity at Columbus, Ohio, White finished with The Abbe in 2 minutes, 10½ seconds, the first time a three-year-old stallion had beaten 2:11. White rode winners every single season for the next 37 years....
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Woodruff, Hiram Washington (1817-1867), trotting driver
John Dizikes
Woodruff, Hiram Washington (22 February 1817–15 March 1867), trotting driver, was born in Birmingham, New Jersey, the son of John Woodruff. His mother’s name is unknown. Hiram’s father was a successful horse trainer, who built up a stable of horses and was moderately prosperous as the proprietor of several race tracks; his uncle George Woodruff was a notable rider and trainer of trotters. The second of four children, Hiram’s three brothers also were horsemen. He had virtually no formal education. In 1836 he married Sarah Ann Howe; there were no children....
