Legends of Pine Village, Indiana: Champion Racehorse Dan Patch Helped by Blacksmith Tommy Fenton

Dan Patch was one of the most famous racehorses of all time. Charles Leerhsen’s book entitled Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America argues that the pacer became America’s first sports celebrity. Dan Messner of Oxford, Indiana, perceived that the colt had promise, but the young Patch “interfered,” which meant that his back hoof skinned his front leg. Dan brought the colt to my great grandmother’s brother, Thomas Eleazer Fenton (1852–1929), who was a blacksmith in my hometown of Pine Village, located just south of Oxford. After observing the colt pulling a sulky on the track at Pine Village, Tommy and a helper designed a special horseshoe that prevented Dan Patch from interfering and that made Dan Patch a winner. Growing up in the town where Tommy and one of his forges helped an otherwise clumsy horse to victory, I heard several stories about Dan Patch, who was originally owned by Dan Messner of nearby Oxford. I am fortunate to have Tommy’s original blacksmith sign. Readers who visit my website can view a movie made from a 1909 booklet of photographs that, when riffled, made the horse, sulky, and driver (H. C. Hersey) come to life.

Roberttrhode.org Title Graphic

Superimposed on Detail from

Marion Willis Savage Print

of Celebrity Racehorse Dan Patch

Charles Leerhsen misspelled my ancestor’s middle name “Eleazer,” making it “Eleazor” by mistake, but I highly recommend Leerhsen’s book anyway. In my view, it is the first—and only—accurate history of Dan Patch and his stardom. On May 26^th in 2008, Leerhsen sent me this email: “Bob, thank you so much for contributing to my book Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America. The book is being published by Simon and Schuster and has already received positive reviews in The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek and in publications devoted to the horse. The scholarship and the historical information you provided was invaluable to me in the preparation of what has become the definitive biography of the biggest sports and pop culture phenomenon of the first decade of the 20^th Century.”

Blacksmith Thomas “Tommy” Eleazer Fenton

of Pine Village, Indiana,

Who Helped Make Dan Patch

a Champion Racehorse

Dan Patch inspired these anti-gambling lines performed by con man Harold Hill in Meredith Wilson’s 1957 Broadway hit musical and 1962 popular film entitled The Music Man: “ … horse-race gamblin’. Not a wholesome trottin’ race, no! But a race where they set down right on the horse! Like to see some stuck-up jockey boy sittin’ on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil? Well, I should say.”

Sign That Stood on Lafayette Street in Front of

Thomas “Tommy” Eleazer Fenton’s Blacksmith Shop

in Pine Village, Indiana

If, like me, you grew up near Oxford, you remember the clothing store that had been in the Messner family for generations. In the 1950s and 60s, my parents often shopped there. Just being inside the building was a sufficient occasion for my father to mention Dan Messner, Tommy Fenton, and Dan Patch. You also recall the Messner barn where Dan Patch had his stall.

My Dan Patch Print Sold by Marion Willis Savage

Marion Willis Savage of Minneapolis, Minnesota, bought Dan Patch, as well as a giant livestock feed company, and, quite literally, the rest is history. Most people who have heard of Dan Patch associate him with Minnesota, but the famous harness horse began his life near where I began mine. Crazy Good depicts Dan Patch as kind toward the children of Oxford, and I like to picture the horse pulling a sleigh full of boys and girls on the icy streets of Oxford in the good ol’ days.

Champion Pacer Dan Patch