Lou Rapone turning a youthful 97 years old

It’s my birthday on July 9…a once in a lifetime birthday celebrated by few.

Yes, I will be 79 on July 9—7-9.

I tell people that I am 27 Celsius, instead of 79 (Fahrenheit) so maybe I can buy a few extra years to keep writing about our grand sport of harness racing.

But it’s also someone else’s birthday on July 9 and that someone else is Lou Rapone, who turns an amazing 97 years old on this day.

One of the very first members in harness racing’s 1,000-win club, Lou Rapone rubbed shoulders with the best of the raceway drivers from coast to coast in an era that featured greats including Farrington and Insko and O’Brien and Chappie and Carmine and Bobby Williams and Chris Boring. You can add Bruce Nickells, Billy Shuter, Jim Dennis and Lucien “Loosh” Fontaine to that list, too.

Louie is up New York way these days—where he got started—and, as he begins his 98th year on this earth, it is only fitting that we look back on his 11 decades of history in celebrating his big day.

Born in Caledonia, N.Y. in 1925, young Lou Rapone lived near the fairgrounds in that town, leading to his long and successful tenure in harness racing.

Formal schooling ended after grade school, but his “real” formal education really began with right after at age 13, becoming a caretaker for Mark Kyler.

Lou recalled, “it was the summer of 1938 when I joined that stable and learned a lot and then I moved on to the Hatchell Stable.

“I stayed there until I was called into the service and wound up in the Navy.”

Lou played in the theatre over in Europe—the European Theatre during the war years (1944-46)—and participated in the landings at Anzio, Normandy and Palermo and was severely injured during the Palermo landing and hospitalized for several months.

After being honorably discharged from the service because of his injuries, Lou came back to the states and bought his first horse, Flaxey Girl, making his first start at Batavia Downs.

“I learned a lot from guys like Billy Haughton, Del Miller and the Senior Simpson (John) and they taught me just about everything I knew in treating problems that come up with horses.”

One such problem horse was a knee-knocker by the name of Scudder.

“Scudder was a knee-knocking pacer,” Lou recalled, “and I really couldn’t make much progress with him, so I turned him into a trotter, and he was pretty good going, too. after that!”

But Lou didn’t make a name for himself with the “Scudders of the world,”

Instead, he came to prominence with horses like Bold Colby and Grace Frost on the trot and Jimmy Norman and Pole Adios on the pace, to name a few.

“Pole Adios was a nasty thing—very fast and game—but he was really nasty and had to be trained to a pickup truck!

“But he was a top horse and very competitive in the top classes and one of the rare sub-2:00 pacers back then back in the late ’50’s and early ’60’s.”

Longtime friend and horseman Odell Thompson reflected on his continuing friendship with Lou Rapone saying, “I first met Louie back at Washington Park in the early 1960’s and I can tell you he was one helluva horseman.

“I mean, all day long at the stable gate, the announcements came over ‘Lou Rapone, message at the stable gate.’ These owners all wanted Louie to catch-drive for them…that’s how great of a horseman he was.

“We’ve been friends for over 60 years…with all the ups and downs in this business. He’s just a great man!”

Dale Frost was another great pacer that Louie drove in the late 1950’s—winning against some of the cream of the crop in that golden era.

“Yeah,” Lou remembered, “he beat some pretty great horseflesh like the champion mare Dottie’s Pick, and Speedy Pick, who held a world record back then, and Adios Harry, a very fast horse in his own right, but kind of temperamental at times!

“He (Dale Frost) could pace in (1):58 back when that was really something!”

Known as one of the best “gate men” in the business on any size track, Lou Rapone was successful at venues such as the one-mile ovals at Hollywood Park and Washington Park, the 7/8s Vernon Downs track, Sportsman’s Park’s famed 5/8th mile frame and, of course, the half mile tracks in New York State, among others.

“Back in those early days,” Lou recalled, “if a two-year-old could go in 2:10 that was something…and even a 2:05 mile for a three-year-old made headlines.

“Heck, I remember one night—it was my birthday—in the early ’50’s, I was driving a pacer who hadn’t won in a couple of years, and she won in 2:09 and a piece and you’d have thought she won a $100,000 stake race because she broke 2:10. I think she had a mark of around 2:24 coming in.”

(The mare was Liza Jane Grattan and she won on Lou’s 27th birthday in 2:09.2, lowering her previous best by :24 3/5 seconds!)

The anecdote about the catch-driver asking a trainer if his horse could “leave” may have started with Lou Rapone in the 1950’s when he asked a trainer that very question and the trainer replied, “I don’t know, I’ve only had him a year and a half!”

Lou sent this 2:08 pacer blasting off the wings and led every step (except the last) of his mile “in 2:03 and a piece” and, although he didn’t win, it was the first time he hit the board and further solidified the greatness of one Lou Rapone.

When he brought the horse back to the paddock, the trainer said, “well, you answered that question for me!”

Another time at Sportsman’s Park, Lou was driving Meadow Russ, and, during the post parade, Lou bent over to scratch his nose. The grandstand full of fans took notice and everyone was whispering, “Louie’s going…Louie’s going!” From 15 to 1 to 9 to 2 on the board in one flash…and all because Louie’s nose itched!”

Lou Rapone had a powerful stable for decades that included Tarport Prince and Meadow Russ, among others and his 120-pound frame propelled him into the winner’s circle 2,069 times, primarily in an era when racing was conducted some eight months of the year.

Years ago, when inducted into the Florida USHWA Chapter’s Hall of Fame, Rapone was asked about his most memorable moments in the sport and he said, “To me, every trip to the winner’s circle is memorable but, probably the most memorable was the night I won four races at Batavia Downs. I can tell you the names—Governor Baldwin, Dixie Lee Direct, Will Counsel and Blue Skylark. I can tell you the date, too. It was September 20, 1958…and I’ll never forget it because it was the day my daughter Betty Lou was born. It doesn’t get any more memorable that that!”

Betty Lou joined her three brothers completing the Rapone family.

In his most recent years as a trainer at Pompano Park, Lou had was blessed with a great owner named Kelly Neely.

“She was so good to me in so many ways and everyone should be blessed with a ‘Kelly Neely’.”

While it’s been a long road stretching almost a full century thus far, it hasn’t been all “a bed of roses,” Lou said.

“I’ve had a lot of great memories over the years, along with some very tough moments.

“My son, Patsy, died when he was in his early 40’s (42 in 1996) from brain cancer and you never really heal from something like that.

It’s been a wild ride for Lou Rapone with its ups and downs but, “all-in-all,” Lou said, “I’ve been luckier than most!”

As the famed auctioneer George Swinebroad used to say, “Nuff said!”

Happy birthday, Lou! We hope you have 97 more!!!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink

(Got a story idea for Harnesslink? Email johnberry@harnesslink.com)