Patterson, world-record horse trainer, dies at age 83

<p>John Frank Patterson Sr., a horse harness racing trainer and driver, died Sunday after a long battle with leukemia. He was 83.</p><p>Although few people in his native Georgia may have recognized him or his sport of harness racing, he was well known in the Northeast where the horse-drawn cart sport originated in the early 1800s.</p><p>Patterson, from Dalton, was inducted in the sport's Hall of Fame in 1993 for training and racing world-record-winning horses.</p><p>"Aside from his outstanding horsemanship, he was very much beloved in our sport for his courtly and gentlemanly manner," said Ellen Harvey, spokeswoman for the U.S. Trotting Association.</p><p>Patterson trained and raced the multiple world record holder Overtrick, who won the Little Brown Jug _ one of the sport's major races _ in 1963 in Delaware, Ohio.</p><p>He also raced Merrie Annabelle, who set four world records and broke a milestone in the sport in 1958 by being the first filly to log a two-minute time on a mile-long course in Lexington, Ky.</p><p>"People thought it couldn't be done," Harvey said.</p><p>But Merrie Annabelle died before her full potential could be reached. A week after her record-setting win, she rared up and fell over while preparing to train, hitting her head. She died a month later.</p><p>Patterson also loved farming, but horses were "pretty much his life," said his son, Tony Patterson.</p><p>"He was a hard worker and an extremely honest man and he stood by his work," Tony Patterson said. "He loved his family."</p><p>Harness racing began in the 19th century when people would race each other on country back roads after going to church on Sunday, Harvey said. Eventually carts got lighter and lighter as the sport evolved. Today, a horse in harness racing pulls a "sulky," a light one-person cart.</p><p>Patterson was expected to be buried at West Hill Cemetery in Dalton on Tuesday. Survivors include his wife, Sybil; three children, Phillis Dill of Dayton, Tenn., John Jr. and Tony, both of Dalton; seven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.</p>