I
f you want to know the answer and
have any friends in the harness busi-
ness, they will have no problem tell-
ing you. Adam Bowden is the person
who, at age 24, set out to create a
Standardbred breeding operation that
would be second to none. On the surface,
he might have come across as too gullible,
too young and certain to fail. His experi-
ence amounted to a couple of summer in-
ternships at Hanover Shoe Farms, his fami-
ly's claim to fame in harness racing was that
it had owned a handful of cheap horses on
the Maine circuit and he was entering har-
ness racing at a time, 2005, when the sport
seemed to falling apart and most everyone
else was getting out.
But Bowden had big plans.
"Mediocrity doesn't really work for me,"
he said. "That's fine for some other people,
but I don't want to be second or third best. I
want to be the best."
It was easy to imagine a scenario where
the youngster would get his clock cleaned
and disappear from the sport within a year
or two. That's not what happened. Bowden
