Randy Manges dies at 72

Randy Delbert Manges, the longtime sales manager for the Kentucky Standardbred Horse Sales Company and later the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, died Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. He was 72.

Mr. Manges was born in Northville, MI, the son of Del Manges, who was racing his stable of horses at the time at Northville Downs. Mr. Manges helped as a caretaker in his father’s stable, which was primarily based on the Buffalo/Batavia Downs circuit before moving to Delaware in the late 1970s.

Mr. Manges graduated from the last class ever at Harrington (DE) High School in 1969. He then obtained an Associate’s degree from Delaware Technical and Community College. After college he got a job in racetrack management, with his first employment coming at Brandywine Raceway in the program department then run by American Publishing Co. of Washington, D.C., alongside John Bradley and Mike Davis. Mr. Manges then expanded his program role to Liberty Bell Park.

In 1976, Mr. Manges was hired by Phil Tully’s Woodstock Stud, working there for seven years before moving on to the Standardbred Sales Company in Harrisburg, Pa. After just one year there, Mr. Manges was hired by Andy Grant to work for Grant’s Bradford Bloodstock Agency. When Bradford closed 11 years later, he served as assistant racing secretary at Dover Downs along with a short stint managing Harrington Raceway.

In 1993, Randy went to work for Tom Crouch and the Kentucky Standardbred Horse Sales Company, which was holding a yearling sale at the time at Garden State Park in New Jersey. For the next 30 years, Mr. Manges managed the Kentucky Standardbred Horse Sales Company and then continued as sales manager with the merger with the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale through 2022.

One of the best in the business, Randy loved traveling across the country to evaluate yearlings, including doing so for the Ohio Selected Jug Sale as well. At the end of 2022 and through 2023, Mr. Manges had moved into a role as consultant for the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale as he began to transition into retirement, capping off a career and lifetime dedicated to harness racing.

An advocate for the entire harness racing industry, Mr. Manges was a longtime member of the U.S. Trotting Association and the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), the latter of which honored him as its Member of the Year in 2007. Mr. Manges served as chairman of USHWA’s Broodmare of the Year Selection Committee and he also is one of only a handful of members who were appointed to consecutive six-year terms on USHWA’s Hall of Fame Screening Committee.

Randy was known for his candor, dry wit, and his ability to deliver a punchline to anyone in distance of hearing him, especially in front of larger gatherings at the annual USHWA meetings and Dan Patch Awards dinner. For more than the past dozen years Mr. Manges’ beloved Jack Russell terrier Olivia was at his side, with the dog joining her owner daily at his sales office.

Randy was a loving father, grandfather, brother, and uncle. He is survived by his son, David (Kristan); a daughter, Carey (Chris) Hoffman; brothers, Dean (Jonnie) and Brian (Marge); a sister, Midge (Richard) Finch; grandchildren, Allison and Kate Hoffman and Paige and Hank Manges; and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his father, Del, in 1999, his mother, Dorothy, in 2010, and brothers, Gene, in 2019 and Larry, in 2021.

A memorial service to celebrate Randy’s life will be scheduled in early 2024. Memorial contributions may be made to the Historic Round Barn: “Stable of Memories” Attn: Rikki Caldwell, P.O. Box 11073, Lexington, KY 40512-1073; Harness Horse Youth Foundation: 2711 Friar Tuck Road, Anderson, IN 46013; or the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame: 240 Main St., Goshen, NY 10924.

by Gordon Waterstone, for USHWA