Sonny Patterson

 

John “Sonny” Patterson certainly had the breeding to be a harness star as he was the son of the respected Georgia horseman, John Patterson, Sr.  After Sonny graduated from McKenzie Business

 

College in 1963 he drove his first race at the Greenville, Ohio Fair and got his first win at DuQuoin in 1964.  He was the “driving kingpin” at Monticello before he made the move to the New York City

circuit in 1979 already reaching over $2.5 million in purse winnings.  Some of Sonny’s earlier successes were with Overcall, Chief Rival, Chiola Hanover, Distant Thunder, East Cash and Lord Gordon.

 

Sonny won 145 races and $1,480,198 in 1980 and it looked as if New York had a new driving star when Sonny suffered a shattered left heel as a result of a driving accident in January of 1981.  Sonny was out of commission for almost six months but Sonny showed his stuff by still winning 97 races and almost $1 million in a half a season, confirming that he had arrived in the Big Apple to stay.  During the 80’s, some of Sonny’s notables included Fight the Foe, Champagne Happy, Meadow Norm, My Bill Forwood, The Saddler GB, etc.

 

In the mid-80s, averaging over 200 wins was an annual affair for the native of Georgia.  From 1982-1988 Sonny reached that plateau each and every year, with a career best of 277 set in 1985.  Sonny was a regular driver for the Per Eriksson Stable, where he handled some of the top trotters in the sport.  Giant Chill, Giant Force and Lookout Victory have been the top Eriksson-conditioned trotters that Sonny drove on a regular basis.

 

Though his driving activity waned in the late 1990’s, Sonny retained his golden touch in the bike with stakes wins with of Latest Lover, High Tech, Credit Winner, Fillgood and Con Man, the latter scoring important wins in 2003 and 2004.

 

Sonny’s last driving win came at Lexington ’s Red Mile on September 15, 2005 with the trotter Garland Crown OM in the final of the Kentucky Sire Stakes for sophomore trotting fillies.