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By Susan Weisenreider
Green Bay Press-Gazette (1984)
Maywood, Ill. - Dave Magee said
he never really intended to be a harness horse racer
when he was growing up on his family’s 120-acre
farm near Pulaski.
But when he was unable to find a
direction for his life after graduating from Pulaski
High in 1971, he drifted into harness racing. And now,
at 31, he has won more than $10 million in purses.
Last year, he was the leading
money-winning driver in Illinois with more than $1.9
million in earnings. He has added $431,255 to that
total this year and is approaching 2,500 career wins.
Magee had planned to go to
college at one time but didn’t know what he would
study. So after several odd jobs he went back home.
“My uncle Elwood had
harness horses and needed help,” said Magee, who
now lives in Illinois. “I always liked animals
and the outdoors, growing up on a 120-acre farm with
crops, cows and a few riding horses, but I never meant
to pursue racing.
“”Then I figured,
‘What the hell.’ My uncle never got into a
position where he didn’t need help, so I groomed
and trained. I really enjoyed racing the Wisconsin
fairs.”
So, at 19, Magee got his license
and went to what is now Quad City Downs in East Moline,
Ill, to be on his own. “I had no responsibilities
besides myself and had some leased horses, just old
plugs,” he said.
After finishing in the top five
at East Moline in his first year and dominating the
scene there for several years afterward, Magee moved up
to the tougher Chicago circuit where the purses were
larger.
He continued to do quite a bit of
catch-driving - a sort of freelance racing where he
rode for more than one owner. And he began dominating
the Chicago circuit as well, winning leading driver
titles over and over again.
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“I just worked hard, tried to
be honest and do my best,” he said. “Nobody
really teaches you how to drive, you just pick it up by
studying things and hope you pick up the right things, not
wrong.”
In 1984, Magee set a world record
on a 5/8 mile track by winning the Canadian Pacing
Derby at Greenwood Raceway in Canada in 1:54 with aged
(over 4 years old) pacing horse, Mr. Dalrae.
He rates Mr. Dalrae, owned by
Willard Smith of A La Carte Stables, as a superhorse.
“Everybody should have one,” he said.
“He’s beat the best around.”
This year, Smith and supervising
trainer Jim Dennis sent Mr. Dalrae back to Chicago for
Magee to handle after a disappointing winter on the
East Coast.
On March 15, Magee turned Mr.
Dalrae’s fortunes around when he ran the fastest
mile of the year (1:57) on national half-mile tracks at
Maywood Park in Illinois. Mr. Dalrae bettered that
record March 30 with a 1:56.2 at Maywood.
That Davey is a damn good
driver,” Dennis said. He has light hands and he
never abuses a horse. That’s why he wins as often
as he does catch-driving.”
Magee presently has seven horses
of his own at the track. Five are racing.
“I’d like to develop
a real nice state-bred,” he said. “It means
more to win with your own horse because you’re
closer to that animal.”
He plans to expand soon and would
like to buy another farm. He presently shares a
Plainfield, Ill., farm with a fellow competitor.
Magee also is helping along
another Magee, his 20-year-old brother, Dean, the
youngest of five Magee boys and an emerging Chicago
driver.
(The author, Susan Weisenreider,
is director of media relations for Maywood Park Race
Track, located in Maywood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.)
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