Brandt honored as Lady Pace

Elizabeth (Betty) Brandt, longtime harness horse owner and widow of the late Richard Brandt Sr., is the 2007 Lady Pace honoree at the Delaware, Ohio County Fair. The Logan, Ohio native will be honored in winner’s circle ceremonies following a 3-year-old pacing filly division of the Ohio Breeders Championship to be raced Jug Day afternoon, Thursday, Sept. 20.

The ceremony is fitting since Betty has served as Brandt Stable bookkeeper for more than 60 years. “I married into a harness racing family when Dick and I eloped in 1939. We bought our first horse, a double-gaited filly named Queen Day, when Dick came out of the service following WW II,” remembers Betty. “We raced throughout the Ohio county fairs and I always staked our horses in the Ohio Breeders Series.”

Betty and her husband raced from coast to coast. “Dick always trained about 40 to 45 head. We shipped our horses by train from Lexington, Ky., the first time we went to Hollywood Park and a few years later we were on the first flight of horses shipped by air from Port Columbus Airport.”

The Brandt Stable campaigned such outstanding horses as Town Leader, Ocean Mouth, Chet Lynn Hayes, King Henry and I’m The Judge. “Town Leader won a $40,000 race in 1974 at Roosevelt Raceway and Dick trained and drove him. That was a lot of money back in those days,” said Mrs. Brandt.  

“We always loved coming to Delaware, meeting old friends. I’ve been there when I almost froze to death. I still go every year.”

“My happiest day came when Dick was elected to the Ohio Harness Racing Hall of Fame. I lost him the next day and I accepted the award on his behalf at the USTA  District One banquet. We were married for 62 years and we had a great time.”

Betty is also a charter member of the Sulky Sweeties, an organization of women in the sport at Scioto Downs.  

Betty still lives on the 216-acre family farm in Logan. Richard Brandt.Jr., chairman of USTA District l and past president and current director of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association, is Betty’s only child. “My son and I own a little piece of four fillies.” (LBJ)

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