Trotwood’s Tom Aldrich will be inducted this week into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Goshen, New York. (Press Pros Photo Provided)
He was trained to be a lawyer. However, his heart was in racing. And now the standardbred world is the better for it as Trotwood, Ohio’s own Tom Aldrich is inducted this week into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame.
By Bob Roberts for Press Pros
Cleveland, OH – He was on track to argue his way into possibly becoming the next silver-tongued orator. A bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in 1972, and a law degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law in 1975. Surely, clients would await him in the corridors of Buckeye courthouses.
Then he took a turn towards harness racing. Back home, in Trotwood, Ohio, his father was tickled. His mother, not so much.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “We’ve gone through six years of schooling. He was going to be a lawyer. Now he’s going to be in horse racing?”
Not to fret, mom. Your son, Tom Aldrich, has done quite well for himself. So much so, that on July 6 in Goshen, N.Y., he was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame.
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Aldrich earned the honor by piecing together a standardbred career that saw him start at the Harness Tracks of America in Chicago, return home for a stint at the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association in Columbus, then head into track management at Rosecroft Raceway in Maryland and finally at Northfield Park in northeastern Ohio.
The change of course came about after Aldrich, 75, read a short story in Sports Illustrated about legendary Stan Bergstein’s 1974 race call of the Hambletonian (won by Christopher T., driven by Billy Haughton). He sent Bergstein a letter seeking employment at Harness Tracks of America based in Chicago.
“I did so on a whim,” said Aldrich. “I’m too dogmatic to be a lawyer, because I can’t argue both sides, so I sent the letter. I told myself I had to get out of this. My mother was appalled, but my dad was thrilled. He had a Horseman & Fair World Magazine at the gas station that he owned. We used to go the races at night at Lebanon. It was a 45 minute drive from home. We usually didn’t get there until the fourth race, and in those days, they only had nine races. But we loved it.
Aldrich was hired as Bergstein’s executive assistant and was at HTA from the fall of 1975 through January of 1977. He had second thoughts about not using his law degree and returned to Ohio as a law clerk at the First District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. He lasted three years before racing again tugged at his shirt sleeve.
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It was an up-the-road relocation. Aldrich became the general manager of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association, which led to his first racetrack job as the GM of Rosecroft Raceway near Washington, D.C. It was a position that changed his personal life for good.
“It’s where I met my wife, Lynn,” said Aldrich. “She was a patrol judge at Free State (a rival track in Laurel, Maryland). It’s also where I learned that going past post time is a good thing. She was in the first turn and communicated to the starter that track owner Frank DeFrancis, who never wanted to miss a dollar, needed another minute and Frank needs another minute. I’d watch her do all this and that’s where we fell in love. We got married soon after that.”
Aldrich lost his wife, Lynn Fortna, in 2022. She was just two days short of her 72nd birthday, but she left with him with two treasures – daughters Allison and Christine.
“I was too dogmatic to be a lawyer. I had to get out of it. My mother was appalled, but my dad was thrilled.” – Tom Aldrich
What brought Aldrich back home to Ohio was another Bergstein recommendation, this one to then track owner Carl Milstein. It led to Aldrich being hired to be Northfield Park’s general manager.
“That was September of 1985,” said Aldrich. “Carl had brought Northfield out of bankruptcy. It wasn’t a good situation.”
Aldrich, getting support from Milstein, and from a staff that he hand-picked, lifted Northfield into North American racing prominence. Feature races like the Battle of Lake Erie, the Courageous Lady, even a couple of Breeders’ Crown races, made Northfield a pari-mutuel constant with more than 200 racing dates a year.
”Getting the Breeders Crown in 1987 was a big deal, especially for a half-mile track,” said Aldrich. “We ended up having six of them and I’m happy to see Scioto Downs getting next year’s Breeders Crown. The Battle of Lake Erie became our first (in 1986) signature event, followed by the Courageous Lady, the companion to the Battle for fillies.”
Aldrich doesn’t hesitate in pointing to Mary Calabrese, who worked beside him as Northfield’s assistant general manager, as pivotal to the track’s success.
“Mary was the absolute linchpin of the operation” he said. “I get the publicity and the credit, but the pageantry and promotional talent was all her. Her dedication and workaholic approach were truly special. She was the heart and soul of Northfield.”
One of Aldrich’s special work relationships began when he sorted through his mail in 1991 and found a letter from Dave Bianconi.
“I was in the University of Louisville’s racetrack management program, and I started sending out resumes for a summer job, probably to 30 tracks,” said Bianconi. “The only one to get back to me was Aldrich. He told me he hired me because he said I had a perfect resume. No mistakes on it. It helped that my sister was the editor of the Yale Review and that she looked it over. So, I was an intern for the summer of 1991 as assistant race secretary and assistant publicity director. I’ve never left.”
Today, Bianconi is Northfield Director of Racing and Operations. He doesn’t hesitate to give Aldrich full credit for his life in racing.
“I love him. I owe him everything for my career,” said Bianconi.
During Aldrich’s leadership, Northfield battled with Thistledown, its thoroughbred rival located just six miles away. They had several epic showdowns over racing dates and simulcast signal rights that played out before the Ohio State Racing Commission.
“Tom was always a tough competitor,” said Bill Murphy, Thistledown’s former general manager and now an executive with Xpressbet. “I respected Tom. He was knowledgeable. We had our differences, but it was always professional.”
Brent Reitz has a unique perspective on Aldrich and racing in northeastern Ohio. He’s been the general manager at both Thistledown and Northfield.
“I got to know Tom during my last three years at Thistledown,” said Reitz. “He was a man I wanted to work for, and I’ve worked for some incredible leaders, Bill Murphy being one of them. I had an inkling I wanted to learn from Tom. I have the utmost respect for what he’s done over the course of his career.”
Aldrich’s last year as the full time leader of Northfield was 2012. He bought a retirement home in Reno, Nev. and continued as a consultant to the track. He now fills in as an associate judge at both Northfield and the Cuyahoga County Fair.
As for the future of harness racing in Ohio?
“I’m optimistic. I think it can still prosper because the harness industry has been very pro-active in educating the legislators, remaining in good graces, politically,” said Aldrich. “We’re strong. The OHHA covers every county fair. It’s well spent money. People across the country invest in Ohio harness racing, the breeding program, because of it. The leadership at OHHA is phenomenal.”
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