Giving back is in Pietranduono’s blood

Denny Pietranduono is the kind of guy who always gives back; and he’s certainly done that within the harness racing industry.

The 71-year-old Chicago native, who resides in Evergreen Park, Illinois, has kept his Standardbred ties close to his heart, and close to his community.

“I started going to the tracks when I was five,” Denny related. “One night at Sportsman’s Park, Wilbur Emig, the outrider there at the time, sat me on the back of one of his horses, and I’ve been enamored by them ever since.”

After decades of working in, and eventually owning and running Ryan Meat Company, the business his father founded in 1961 on Chicago’s south side, Denny retired in 2018, to focus his efforts full time on renewing community interest in both horses and the Chicago High School of Agricultural Sciences—one of only three such schools in the United States, and the last existing farm located within Chicago’s city limits.

Located just 15 miles south of the famous Windy City Loop, the Chicago High School of Agriculture Sciences sits on 74 acres of farmland, smack in the middle of a blue-collar neighborhood at 111th Street and Pulaski Road.

More than 3,500 Chicagoland students apply to the school annually, with 700 youngsters garnered the opportunity to attend—where they spend their days working hands on with horses, goats, chickens, and other livestock as well as a hydroponic garden, and tilapia breeding facility.

Denny has made it his passion to work with special needs students who attend and work at the school—which up until the Covid pandemic—included the breeding and raising of Standardbred racehorses.

“Covid just shut us down completely,” Denny said. “Now, we’re finally able to begin rebuilding the program. It hasn’t been easy.”

For years, Denny had plied his wares as a harness racing fan and occasional handicapper, before purchasing his first horse in April 1992, a pacer named Lockport Ideal. That began his involvement as an owner, which saw him purchase and race some 135 horses who competed at the now defunct venues of Sportsman’s Park, Maywood, and Balmoral Parks.

“I was taking my grandkids to visit the animals and horses at the school, and it struck me that there wasn’t a therapeutic riding program anywhere in the area,” Denny recalled. “So, I took my idea to then school president Bill Hook, who grew up across the alley from me in our old neighborhood and he loved my idea, and by 2011, we had the program in place.”

The transition to breeding and raising horses was a major deal for the school, Denny said.

“From the onset, my goal was to breed and raise foals, and then sell the yearlings to raise money for the school and to help fund their programs. I came out of the Chicago public school system and when I was a kid, we were proud of our school and our neighborhood. The interaction between the kids and the horses was something I felt was missing, and that experience for special needs kids was something I wanted to focus on.”

The school has several divisions including agricultural mechanics, food science, agricultural finance, horticulture landscape design, and the animal segments.

“The students would spend time exploring each division during their freshman and sophomore years in addition to their regular high school classes, and then they chose a specific pathway of concentration for their junior and senior years,” Denny explained.

“The kids occupied the barn all day, every day, with special needs kids partnering up with able-bodied students who act as mentors, helping them with hands-on work and helping them to establish various life skills.”

Wildly popular, the program also included beef cattle and a variety of crops, which were then harvested and sold at community markets—all run by the special needs segment of the high school community.

“The program was really strong and now we’re looking to rebuild,” Denny stressed. “I really want to get it up and running again, as it’s important not only to the kids who attend the school, but also to the community.”

Overall, the school is growing, and last year a large riding arena was built, complete with lifts and ramps to help facilitate kids who need assistance climbing in the saddle. Denny says besides a disabled riding program, he also wants to establish a riding program for the community, where folks who want to learn to ride, can take lessons.

“We’ve got this beautiful facility with all the bells and whistles and now we need to find a reliable person to run it,” he said. “My goal is to reestablish the breeding program, and the Standardbreds are the perfect breed for that.”

In 2015 Denny took on the role of helping to establish the Jim Sexton Park, a 50-acre area located about two miles from the school, that is home to farm animals, including some retired Standardbred mares.

“That was insanity,” Denny admitted. “The former Mayor (Jim Sexton) and I are good friends, and some 25 years ago, he and I had talked about having something of this nature for the community, and when the opportunity arose, we ran with it. We have goats, chickens, and the mares, and it’s something everyone in the Evergreen can experience. Three of the kids from the school help run the facility and work there full time. It’s really been a boom for the community.”

Denny said finding a “PAT” certified individual—a person who has the credentials to teach therapeutic riding and work with disabled individuals—can be difficult to find.

“We are currently looking for a solid, reliable person to run the program, as well as someone who is PAT certified,” Denny related. “The pandemic really put this program in a tailspin, and we’re looking for people who share our passion, and want to give back to the community and to enrich the lives of all students. At the end of the day, it’s all about the kids and our community.”

To learn more about the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, click here, and to watch a video of the kids working with the horses at the school, click here.

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink