Hall of Fame

Margot Lynn Taylor (née Marlatt) was born on September 8, 1934 and was on the back of her first Saddlebred at the age of three. Her father died tragically when Margot was just 13 and she assumed the role of breadwinner for her mother and two younger siblings. Her first venture into harness racing was as a writer and publicist for the Indiana county fairs in 1953. 

While working that summer, Margot met trainer/driver Richard Taylor and they married later that fall. She immersed herself in his racing stable, progressing from caretaker to trainer and eventually became one of the few licensed female drivers in the country. She still holds the trotting track record with Kay Way at the Terre Haute, Indiana oval.

Margot and Dick’s Parlay Farm produced generations of Illinois and Indiana trotting state champions including 1964 Indiana Horse of the Year Matann 2,2:06.4 ($3,472), his son and Taylor’s beloved Majestic Cliff 3,2:02.3 ($42,685), and Allot 7,1:58.3h ($286,193).

While raising a family and working in the barn, Taylor wrote a weekly column for the Indianapolis Star newspaper in the mid-1960s. She was instrumental in forming the Indiana Sulky Club for amateur drivers, and served as chairperson for the Indiana Standardbred Hall of Fame and as a director on the Indiana Trotting & Pacing Horse Association. She also worked arduously to legalize pari-mutuel wagering in the Hoosier State.

In 1978 Taylor’s life would pivot when she was asked to serve as the first trustee outside of Ohio on the Harness Horse Youth Foundation (HHYF) board. Although a woman with little patience and no particular fondness for children, she jumped at the invitation and thrived at the opportunity to share her love of harness racing with future generations. She created programs and expanded the reach of camps; she fundraised; she wrote manuals and curricula; she inspired committee workers; she traveled coast to coast to spread the HHYF mission both within harness racing circles and with other equine youth organizations. Taylor served as President of HHYF from 1990 until her death in 1994. As HHYF founder David Dolezal once said, “I started HHYF but Margot gave it life.”  

A perfectionist and an overachiever, Taylor received many honors including the United States Harness Writers Association Proximity Award both for herself (1994) and for HHYF (1996).

Margot Taylor passed away on September 2, 1994, after the last race on opening night of Hoosier Park.