It was 1968 & 69. I was only about 30 yrs. old and had found a harness racing magazine that belonged to the janitor of the kids grammer school. I saw in it a pic of a harness horse with an incredibly broad chest and long stride and the janitor gave me permission to take it home. I always loved horses so decided to paint it. Within the week the news showed a similar horse as having broken the two yr old record. Sure enough, it was Nevele Pride and when the next year he did the same I was thrilled to have painted such a horse and so I was able to go to the banquet and meet the man.

This is a snap of the great harness horse trainer and racer, Stanley Dancer, with portrait I painter of his FAMOUS harness horse "Nevele Pride". His horse broke the two and three year old world records at the Indianapolis Fair Grounds around 1969 & 1970. He flew up from The Pompano Race Track as a Guest of Honor at the annual Harness Horse Banquet in Anderson Indiana. I was there and met him. He said I could use the picture any way I wanted. Such a gracious man. He told how all the horses selected to be trained at his stable in New Egypt, NJ have to under go a complete physical exam before starting, as the training is so costly and rigerous. Nenvele Pride was selected, but some time after starting training his leg broke down. Because he had proven to be so promising, he was given the rest and medical treatment required to get him sound. They carefully checked over the original Xrays and found that they had overlooked a hairline fracture in one leg. Had they seen it at the beginning Nevele Pride would never have been given a chance, and he turned out to be a two time world record breaker. Stanley Dancer himself had, the year before racing and breaking the records, been in a terrible car accident and was told he would never race again. He also proved them wrong by breaking both records. He said, " I don't care what you look like, if you're short or tall, fat or thin. If you have a dream, FOLLOW IT!