By Joe Tuscano

Staff writer

jtuscano@observer-reporter.com

Mickey Burke has this vision that he can't shake from his mind.

He is in an airplane, maybe 9,000 feet in the air, standing at the open side door of the plane and staring out at an awesome sight.

The world is in front of him now, ready to be conquered with a lot of nerve and a parachute strapped to his back. He envisions himself simply dropping out of the plane and allowing gravity to take over while he enjoys the ride.

In those precious few moments, Burke would be on top of the world.

Reality, however, is a different thing for Burke. He knows that his legs, which have undergone three double-knee replacement surgeries in his 71 years, would never take the pressure of the landing, no matter how soft.

And there is another problem he believes he won't be able to overcome.

"I would faint as soon as I jumped," he said. "I'd never be able to pull the rip cord."

Burke may or may not be aware that the rip cord can be automatically opened shortly after leaving the plane, but let that be our little secret.

Because it would be a shame for harness racing's $10 million man to take unnecessary risks, not after abandoning a lucrative life in the automobile business to pursue his passion of training horses; not after slowly building a stable that earned him an OK living at first but has surpassed his wildest expectations; not after honing his skills as a horseman for decades just so he could revel in the winner's circle after the most prestigious event, the Adios, at his home track, The Meadows.

And not after the success of 2007, which saw Burke reach heights in harness racing to which no airplane could elevate him:

• $10.62 million in winnings, a mark never reached by a trainer in racing history and nearly $4 million ahead of second-place Ervin M. Miller.

• an astounding 664 first-place finishes, 232 more than Miller's second-place total of 432.

• and 1,452 horses finishing in the money in 2,747 starts, which is 53 percent if you don't have a calculator available.

"I never dreamed this would happen," said Burke, who stables 160 horses at five track locations. "I drove my first race in 1956 at the Warren County Fair in Ohio but I didn't drive my first pari-mutuel race until 1981. I'm one of the few people still active who drove in a soft hat and without wheel discs."

Still, none of this would have been possible without the say-so of Sylvia, Burke's wife.

A big change

If he wanted to, Burke could have made an excellent living in the automobile business but something was tugging at his heart.

"I showed horses as a hobby," he said. "I felt I could do it for a living. I made a deal with Sylvia that if it didn't work out after the first year, I'd go back to selling cars. If we didn't make a dime after the first year, we could still eat and the mortgage would be paid. At the end of the first year, we broke even. By the end of that year, I had people asking me to train horses. So we tried it a second year, and then a third."

Burke sold his car dealership in 1981 at the age of 45. It was a bold move because he was raising a family that includes two boys and three girls on his 30-acre farm in Fredericktown.

"When I left the car business, I was making a good living at it," he says. "It was the only time in my life where I didn't look back."

Burke struck up a friendship and partnership with another local horseman Bert Corfield. It would be a team that stayed together for 32 years. Burke started his second career with 25 horses, all low end claimers, and began to build his empire.

In the movies, this would be the point where good fortune smiles on Burke and his career skyrockets. But it didn't happen that way. It was a steady and methodical climb, long hours on the road, trying to decide which horse could make him money and which might send him back to selling cars.

"Bert and I split the stable," Burke said. "I owned five low-end claimers and won $74,000 with them in 1982. With no employees, that wasn't a bad income. It was a gradual thing. We upgraded every year."

Roger Huston, track announcer at The Meadows, has known Burke since that decision to train horses. Like many others, Huston believed good things were in store for this affable middle-aged man.

On one of Huston's broadcasts, he was asked how he thought Burke would do.

"I said he will rewrite the record books at The Meadows," Huston recalled.

A nice compliment for Burke but Huston caught flak for the remark because "all his horses will be favorites and you won't make any money on him," Huston chuckled.

With each purchase, Burke's stable became more profitable. He had a knack for finding a horse, training it with meticulous care, and getting it to finish in the money.

While he was living the dream he held for so many years, there was one aspect of it that caught him by surprise. His two sons, Mickey and Ron, and daughter Melissa, were learning the business.

More important, they were learning to love the business.

"A lot of the credit has to go to his son, Ron," Huston said. "He knows his horses. His being there made it much easier for Mickey."

And Sylvia? Well, Burke makes sure he takes his wife on three or four cruises a year. It's Burke's way of saying thanks for believing in him in 1981.

"You know, I'm still putting more hours on the road for a person my age," Burke says. "We've been so busy that I've been hard-pressed to fit in one cruise a year."

The one prize

Burke has never missed an Adios and the thought of winning this race has never been far from his thoughts. He has attended each Pace for the Orchids since the track began hosting the event in 1967.

He watched as some of the top names in harness racing stood in the winner's circle after this prestigious event and couldn't help but allow some envy enter his heart.

Burke had some close calls, especially in 2006, when three of his horses were among the first four posts in the final, including True North Hanover at the pole.

But a 19-1 longshot, Cactus Creek, stunned the field and won the race.

"I always wanted to win the Adios," Burke said. "That was the one I wanted."

It finally happened last Aug. 12, Burke's 71st birthday. And it could not have been any more satisfying for Burke because of the way it happened.

Another surprise, May June Character, a bay gelding, shocked the field by storming from eighth to first in 1:51.1. Burke horses finished 1-2-3 in the Adios, unheard of for this race.

"I was thrilled to win it," Burke said. "I chased it for 41 years."

Burke splits his time between Florida in the winter and Washington County in the summer. He has earned the right to throttle back but don't tell him that.

"My future is to go as long as God gives me health," he said. "If you don't go forward, you go backwards."

Burke hasn't lost his touch. While his children have a bigger responsibility in the family business, he still has the eye for horses. In 2004, he purchased Maltese Artist, a 3-year-old and the son of Artiscape.

The purchase price for Burke was $146,000. The following year, Maltese Artist took in $500,000 in purse money and last year the number went to $1.05 million after winning 13 of 27 starts.

"What's so nice about Mickey is that he is the same Mickey Burke I knew in 1976," Huston said. "We talk about the same things. It's a bigger operation now but the fundamentals are still there. He still works hard."

Burke has a different feeling about his life after winning the Adios, but not in the way you might suspect.

"You know what the highlight of (winning the Adios) was? It was getting to see my children (prepare for the race) without my help and it went off without a hitch," he said. "I knew then that if I died that night, everything would be OK."

So maybe skydiving is not totally out of the question.

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