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OPPrairiedaily.com sports
the orland park prairie | October 3, 2019 | 39
fastbreak
THURSDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
Area harness racing history small but interesting
TIM CRONIN/22ND CENTURY
MEDIA
1st and 3
A FEW POSTSEASON
GOLF NOTES AS THE
IHSA OPENS WITH
REGIONALS OCT. 7
and OCT. 10
1. Recent memory
lane
Sandburg teammates
Max Farley
and Matt James
tied for first place
with 71s in regional
action in
2018 and Farley
defeated James in
a one-hole playoff.
2. Sandburg success
The Eagles boys
won six regional
titles since 2011
and the girls won
four from 2013
through 2016.
3. Back for more
Sandburg’s Athena
Kwon (above) tied
for 15th in the
state in Class 2A
as a sophomore
last year.
Jeff Vorva
Sports Editor
Ready to start horsing
around?
Signs are pointing
to Tinley Park getting
its proposed racino on
the site the former Tinley
Park Mental Health Center
property on Harlem
Avenue and 183rd Street.
Even though there is a lot
of stuff that needs to be
done, including details
such as actually building
the track, the Illinois
Racing Board recently
approved 12 racing dates
in December 2020.
There is a lot to look
forward to. But I also
wanted to look back and
wondered how rich the
harness racing history was
in Tinley and Orland Park
before all of this.
Well, there is a tiny bit
of history for both communities,
but it is quality
history courtesy for former
Orland Park resident
John Barnard and current
TP resident Tom Kelley.
Here are their stories.
St Elmo on fire
Barnard, who lived in
Orland from 1989-2004,
bought a hoss named St
Elmo Hero in a claiming
race on July 14, 2010, at
now shuttered Balmoral
Park. Elmo won that race
— his first — and Barnard
shelled out close to $9,000
to buy the gelding.
“He was a 4-year old,
which is old for a horse
just starting out,” Barnard
said. “This horse was
potentially going to the
slaughterhouse. By the
time he was 4, he was
ready to race and was
a pretty good claimer.
Someone I knew tipped
me off to the horse, and I
took a look at him. I liked
him.”
Then, Elmo won his
second race. And third.
As the months piled up,
so did the winning, and
Elmo won 25 races in
a row. He finally lost in
April, 2011, in a photo
finish after losing a shoe
in the race. Elmo had
90 races with 39 wins,
16 places and 11 shows,
and earned $747,981 and
is retired at a farm in
Michigan.
“Looking back on it
now, it’s more exciting
now than when we actually
did it,” Barnard said.
“It’s hard to get a horse
to win two or three in a
row, let alone 25 in a row.
But at the time, we were
just taking it one race at a
time.”
Barnard, who was the
president of the Crystal
Tree Country Club when
Harness racing could be coming to the area in December 2020.
he lived in Orland, is
based in Miami now and
said he has horses racing
all over the East Coast.
He said he will have
great memories of Elmo’s
career.
“This horse is a poster
child for animal rescue,”
he said. “You can see
what happens when you
take care of animals. He is
a special horse.”
Walking encyclopedia
Tinley Park’s Tom Kelley
is a local harness racing
icon and is a walking
encyclopedia on the sport.
He has worked as a
handicapper, a public relations
man, a TV announcer,
a track announcer, a
writer, a handicapper, a
judge and a steward for
the last 35 years at tracks
in Illinois and Indiana.
He loves horses, but
you won’t find him hanging
around them.
“I’m deathly allergic to
them, so I stay out of the
paddock,” Kelley said. “I
was in my mid-20s and
I was announcing and
one morning I went back
in the paddock and I felt
like I was having a heart
attack. My throat started
to swell up and I had a
rash all over my face and
hands. I still want to be
near them, but I can’t.”
He seems like he has
done it all in the sport that
he loves.
“I admire the athleticism
of the horses,” he
said. “I don’t think people
realize they are going
35-40 mph now in a race,
The drivers are amazing.
It’s not like steering a car.
You have to make snap
decisions and split-second
decisions, and they just
don’t turn on a dime.
There is a lot of grace and
beauty of it. The horses all
have their own personalities.”
Kelley, for one, would
love it if the racino comes
to Tinley.
“If there is a 7 p.m.
post, I could leave the
house at 6:50 and get
there with 5 minutes to
spare,” he said.
LISTEN UP
“This horse is a poster child for animal rescue. You can
see what happens when you take care of animals.”
John Barnard - Former Orland Park resident who owned
the horse St Elmo Hero, who won his first 25 harness
races
WHAT2WATCH
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Various times, Friday, Oct. 4 and Saturday, Oct. 5
• Sandburg heads to the Mother McAuley Asics
Challenge which will be jam packed with some
of the top teams in the state and country.
Index
35 - Athlete of the Week
35 - Athlete of the Month
Compiled by Sports Editor Jeff Vorva,
J.vorva@22ndcm.com