Standardbred › Drivers & Trainers

For Toronto-born John Chapman, 1947 was a pivotal year. It was the year the 19-year-old sports lover decided to hang up the skates, and head to the race track although, as captain of the team for Toronto St. Michael's, thoughts of a professional hockey career must have been enticing.

But looking back on 31 years in the sulky Chapman can have no regrets, for his has been one of harness racing's greatest careers.

He has won over 3,600 races, a figure which ranks him sixth all-time. His horses have earned more than $17 million, and only four others have driven the winners of so much money. He has recorded more than 70 two-minute miles.

Chapman's first start -- and first win -- came at the old Toronto racing facility, Dufferin Park. He had been born into a racing family, the son of the Clifford Chapman, a noted standardbred trainer of the day, and he has continued to improve with time. For example, his two finest years came in 1976 and 1977 when he won 218 races in each of those years, and collected almost $2.5 million in purses in 1977.

Chapman was the man who drove the sensational Governor Skipper in 1977, urging the pacer to speed records and money-earned records throughout the year. But he has driven other stars of the harness wars, including Rum Customer, Skipper's Dream, Diller Hanover, Savoir and Delmonica Hanover. In fact, Chapman drove Delmonica Hanover to a pair of wins in the prestigious Roosevelt International, winning in 1973 and 1974.

Chapman knows the bad times too. His entire stable was wiped out in a New Year's Eve fire in 1961, but he rebounded in 1962 to have his finest year to that point. He's had his share of serious racing accidents, and spent much of the 1975 season fighting off a strength-sapping illness. It is a measure of the man that he came back in 1976 to record his finest year.

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