John L. Hardy Remembers Harry M. Zweig
When John Hardy met Harry Zweig in 1963, “Doc,” as Zweig was known, was president of the Harness Horse Breeders of New York State. He was also working his own horses.
“Doc would jog his horses down the road from his farm to a little track in the town of Nassau that had formerly been a dog track,” Hardy recalls of the man who he says was as savvy a politician as he was a hands-on horse trainer. “Doc had a passion for and understanding of what harness racing meant in the agrarian communities of New York State because he came from a farm and raced horses himself.”
From the start, it was apparent Zweig was ardent in his conviction that the racing industry, particularly harness racing, should be able to carry on.
“Doc had this idea that if a small percentage of the purses from horse racing were diverted into breeders' funds, the racing industry could benefit directly,” Hardy recalls.
Not only did Zweig have an innovative idea but the tenacity to see it through.
| Jack Hardy and his wife, Diane, enjoy seeing old friends. |
“In the halls of the state capital, Zweig was a perfect gentleman,” Hardy recalls, adding, “He just wouldn't let it go.”
Hardy, who at the time was chief of staff of the New York Assembly Ways and Means
Committee, first met Zweig in the latter's veterinary examining room where Hardy had come seeking the veterinarian's care for his pets. Their mutual love of horses was the foundation of a deep friendship. To ease his grief at Zweig's unexpected death in 1977,
Hardy spearheaded the effort to honor Zweig's contribution to the state's racing industry.
Hardy wrote and midwifed the passage of the bill to establish the Harry M. Zweig Memorial Fund for Equine Research. He and Anna Zweig are original members of the fund's steering committee.
“From the start, it has been the committee's intention that the Zweig Fund be permanent,” says Hardy. “While there were times early on when maybe we could have spent more money on worthwhile projects, we always chose the conservative approach—saving money every year as well as spending it.”
Today the fund is on the soundest of fiscal footing. Harry Zweig would be pleased. 
