With the 2020 Gold Cup & Saucer week of harness racing set to conclude on Saturday (August 22), the namesake of the award for the week's top driver was fondly recalled by some of the horsemen that knew him best.
“He was the finest man you could find,” Clarkie Smith, a fellow driver and friend of Francis McIsaac, was quoted as saying in an article in The Chronicle Herald. “We were the best of friends, playing cards and telling stories. Francis always loved a good story or a good joke. There wouldn’t be two horsemen in the Maritimes that wouldn’t agree that award should be named after Francis.”
“He was someone you idolized," remembered Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey, who drove horses for and competed against McIsaac in Saint John in the 1970s before his untimely passing. "You just wanted to be around him. If you got Picasso to paint perfection in Atlantic Canadian harness racing it would be Francis McIsaac. You were mystified by the guy. There never was, and there never will be, another Francis McIsaac.”
McIsaac, who passed away after being involved in a Saint John racing accident at the age of just 42, was the leading driver at Old Home Week in 10 of the 11 years leading up to his death in 1979. Inducted into the P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, he accumulated multiple driving titles between Charlottetown and Exhibition Park and was only the third Island driver in the history of harness racing to reach the 1,000-win mark. A dedicated, modest and hard working horseman, McIsaac enjoyed success with the likes of Mr. Jollity, Miss P. K., Cape Breton Doug, Another Mecca, Fly-Past, and Columbia Seelster.
Following Friday's program at Charlottetown Driving Park, there will only be two more cards for drivers to compete for the coveted honour. To view the entries for Saturday's double-header, click on the following link: Saturday Entries - Charlottetown Driving Park.
(With files from The Chronicle Herald and P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame)