William Robert (Billy) Haughton (November 23, 1923 – July 15, 1986) was an American harness driver and trainer. He was one of only three drivers to win the Hambletonian four times, the only one to win the Little Brown Jug five times, and the only one to win the

Messenger Stakes The Messenger Stakes is an American harness racing event for 3-year-old pacing horses. It was organized in 1956 at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York (on suburban Long Island) to join with the Cane Pace and the Little Brown Jug to create th ...

seven times. With a career record of 4,910 wins and about $40 million in earnings, he was first in annual winnings 12 times – 1952–59, 1963, 1965, 1967, and 1968 – and in heats won from 1953 to 1958.

Early life and career

Born in

Gloversville Gloversville is a city in the Mohawk Valley region of Upstate New York, and the most populous city in Fulton County. Gloversville was once the hub of the United States' glovemaking industry, with over two hundred manufacturers in Gloversville ...

, New York, Haughton came from a farming background, where he competed in fairground races before coming into harness driving. In the early 1960s, he started developing a stable of his own. His best horses were

Rum Customer Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar ...

that won the pacing Triple Crown in 1968,

Green Speed Green Speed (December 18, 1974 - June 27, 1983) was a Standardbred trotter owned by Mrs. Beverly Loyds and who was trained by Billy Haughton. Although not eligible for the Kentucky Futurity The Kentucky Futurity is a stakes race for three-ye ...

that was named Harness Horse of the Year in 1977, and

Nihilator Nihilator (1982–1991) was an American champion Standardbred racehorse and was the United States Harness Horse of the Year in 1985. The first standardbred to win $3 million, at the time of his retirement he was the leading stakes earning pacer ...

that was named Harness Horse of the Year for 1985. With his Meadow Paige, Haughton paced a world record 1:55.2-minute mile in a time trial at Lexington in 1967.

Personal life and death

Haughton was married to Dorothy Bischoff, and together they had five children. On July 15, 1986, Haughton died in Valhalla, New York, from head injuries sustained at Yonkers Raceway at the age of 62. Haughton's son, Peter, who was also a driver, died in a car crash in 1980. His wife Dorothy died on March 31, 2019, at the age of 87 in Newfields, New Hampshire.

References

External links

* 1923 births 1986 deaths People from Gloversville, New York American harness racing drivers American horse trainers United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductees Sports deaths in New York (state) {{US-horseracing-bio-stub