 |
06-22-2017, 02:39 PM
|
#1
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: west view, pa. now Lancaster, Ca.
Posts: 3,382
|
Filion passes
Saying farewell to a #harnessracing legend. Hall of Famer Herve Filion passes at age 77
__________________
Buy Sam a drink and get His dog one Too--->mlang
and now in Lancaster, CA.
|
|
|
|
06-22-2017, 03:28 PM
|
#2
|
|
Apple 2GS Wiz
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Clarion, Pa
Posts: 8,478
|
I choose to remember him coming back to the Adios Winners' circle with Hot Hitter, standing on the sulky
rather than the 1995 mess at Yonkers.
The man could drive...
__________________
.
.
.The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.
Bret Harte
|
|
|
|
|
06-22-2017, 06:23 PM
|
#3
|
|
Resurrectionist
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Cheyenne, Wy
Posts: 3,615
|
RIP Herve
__________________
Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood.
|
|
|
|
|
06-22-2017, 06:35 PM
|
#4
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 113
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray2000
I choose to remember him coming back to the Adios Winners' circle with Hot Hitter, standing on the sulky
rather than the 1995 mess at Yonkers.
The man could drive...
|
]
I agree. I will remember him as the greatest driver I ever saw. No one could keep a horse without cover alive better than him.
|
|
|
|
|
06-22-2017, 07:56 PM
|
#5
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 355
|
He was a workaholic. Almost always at Freehold in the afternoon and Roosevelt/Yonkers at night. Didn't take Sundays off either, was at the Bell or Brandywine on Sunday nights.
RIP Herve 
|
|
|
|
|
06-23-2017, 02:13 AM
|
#6
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 8,191
|
Rest in peace Herve.
|
|
|
|
06-23-2017, 07:31 AM
|
#7
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA.
Posts: 7,464
|
Herve was one of the main reasons why I fell in love with harness racing when I was 17. I only had one conversation with him and he was very friendly and interesting to talk to, a colorful character who promoted harness racing all over North America. As a driver, he may have been the best ever. He was much more tactical than most drivers, as he would try to put the horse he had to beat in a bad spot, often pushing them wide, or boxing a horse in. And he could keep a horse alive on the rim better than anyone. He won a lot of races on a long first over grind, often parked the mile, but with his soft hands, he was able to save horse and he would measure the win in the final yards. Herve was truly a master reinsman.
After a stakes race at Roosevelt, where he got beat on the wire by the great Joe O'Brien, I said to Herve, "He never used the whip."
Herve raised his hands in front of his face and mimicked O'Brien's style. With a look of astonishment on his face, Herve said, "He just raises his hands up here and jiggles them!"
|
|
|
|
|
06-23-2017, 01:54 PM
|
#8
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 1,450
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Southbeach
]
I agree. I will remember him as the greatest driver I ever saw. No one could keep a horse without cover alive better than him.
|
He was the CREEPING DEATH. Those words are said with admiration. His horses would pace up first over with absolutely no authority. They would come down the stretch looking totally unenthusiastic. But they never went away. The race was over, and Herve's horse was the winner. Why? How? They just were.
|
|
|
|
|
06-26-2017, 10:03 AM
|
#9
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 536
|
There will be a viewing in Freehold on Wed. I will stop by and pay my respects.
All things considered, he was the greatest driver I ever saw.
|
|
|
|
|
06-26-2017, 02:53 PM
|
#10
|
|
Veteran
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1,831
|
Shame these guys never write a tell all book. Even in their last days.
|
|
|
|
|
06-29-2017, 11:20 AM
|
#11
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 536
|
There was a big turnout for the viewing yesterday. Someone who was there for much of the five hours estimated at least 1,000 stopped by to pay their respects.
A procession drove from the funeral home in downtown Freehold to the Raceway where Filion's son, Brandon, gave a stirring winners' circle eulogy to his father before hundreds of fans. A white horse-drawn hearse then took Herve's coffin for a "final mile" around the Freehold oval as the PA system played Elvis Presley's version of "My Way."
A good number of drivers - both past and present - were in attendance. I saw Cat Manzi, John Campbell, Harold Kelly, Mike LaChance, Dan Dube, as well as Herve's brother Rheo. There were undoubtedly others that I just didn't recognize.
All in all a very fitting tribute to a man who many considered the greatest harness driver ever.
|
|
|
|
|
06-29-2017, 11:53 AM
|
#12
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA.
Posts: 7,464
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by DSB
There was a big turnout for the viewing yesterday. Someone who was there for much of the five hours estimated at least 1,000 stopped by to pay their respects.
A procession drove from the funeral home in downtown Freehold to the Raceway where Filion's son, Brandon, gave a stirring winners' circle eulogy to his father before hundreds of fans. A white horse-drawn hearse then took Herve's coffin for a "final mile" around the Freehold oval as the PA system played Elvis Presley's version of "My Way."
A good number of drivers - both past and present - were in attendance. I saw Cat Manzi, John Campbell, Harold Kelly, Mike LaChance, Dan Dube, as well as Herve's brother Rheo. There were undoubtedly others that I just didn't recognize.
All in all a very fitting tribute to a man who many considered the greatest harness driver ever.
|
Thanks for the update. I wish I could have been there.
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
