Hall of Fame

Nancy Hanks was a daughter of Happy Medium and Nancy Lee, bred by Hart Boswell of Lexington, Kentucky. As a three-year-old her best heat was in 2:24 1/2. J. Malcolm Forbes purchased her the following year after she had trotted in 2:14 1/2, paying $45,000 and setting a new price record for trotting mares, not exceeded until 1909 when H. M. Hanna paid John E. Madden $50,000 for Hamburg Belle. Under the training of Budd Doble, Nancy Hanks continued to lower world records until 1892 when, on September 28, she trotted in 2:04 at Terre Haute, Indiana. She was retired to Forbes Farm, where she produced foals by the champions of the day. At the death of Forbes in 1904, Nancy Hanks was sold for $4,000 to J. M. Johnson, Calais, Maine. In November 1907, she went to John E. Madden of Hamburg Place, Kentucky, for $1,500. Nancy Hanks died there on August 16, 1915, age twenty-nine.

 Hamburg Place, Lexington, KY

Published in the Harness Racing Museum's 1994 book, The Immortals