Hot to Trot

THINK OF HARNESS RACING AS A MODERN-DAY chariot race, says Langley, the four-time president of the U.S. Trotting Association, a nonprofit that regulates and promotes the sport. In harness racing, a driver sits atop a lightweight cart, known as a sulky, and leans back at a precarious angle, driving a Standardbred horse. “The horses are inches apart, moving at 30 miles an hour—it can get pretty hairy out there,” he says.

As a child, Langley attended harness races in Sports- man’s Park, Illinois, with his father, Pete, a leading orga- nizer and advocate of the sport. “I learned to read by help- ing my dad figure out which horses qualified for a race,” he says. During his four years in Hanover, Langley kept up with weekly race results. His photographic memory enabled him to reel off race times for any horse. The former history major adds that he’s always been drawn to the sport’s rich history: “I have breeding books in my office that go back to the Civil War.”

Today one of his missions is to inspire new generations of fans. Under his leadership, the Trotting Association has reached out to new audiences via social media, with guidance from a top-level New York City consulting firm. At the association’s Columbus, Ohio, office to which he commutes from Chicago, Langley oversees a staff of 60 that meticulously compiles DNA records and publishes statis- tics on each of the 26,000 horses that compete each year.

Langley, who was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame (an organization headed by Larry DeVan ’70) in 2006, also owns several competitive horses. He spends part of each day at the Balmoral racetrack near his home as the horses train. The best part his job? “Watching races,” he says. “I never get tired of it. Every race is exciting.”