After dedicating more than a decade to building nationally ranked driving careers, this summer was supposed to be a fun time and a reunion of sorts for drivers Gary, Marc and Joey Mosher, at the place where it all began for them years ago – Bangor Raceway.

But those plans went awry when Marc showed up at Bangor Raceway hobbling around on crutches with a broken knee after being involved in a five-horse pileup recently at Yonkers Raceway. When Marc gets healthy (about the time Skowhegan Fair opens in late July) racing fans will have the opportunity to compare the different driving styles that the Moshers have developed over the years.

The three Mosher men (Gary and Marc are brothers and Joey is a cousin) grew up in the Waterville-Oakland-Skowhegan area, graduated from Skowhegan High School and each made a choice to drive racehorses rather than tend to milk cows. All the Moshers credit their grandfather, Merle Mosher, a converted dairy farmer, for their love, interest and their chance in the harness sport.

Gary, the oldest, was the first one to leave Maine for greater racing opportunities and bigger purses. After graduating from Skowhegan High School in 1977, he decided to “try his luck” at Bangor Raceway. As a young, nervous reinsman, Gary’s first competitive drive came near the end of the Bangor extended race meet driving a horse named Al and Ira. He finished third behind race winner Clayton White, driving Senga Martin. His first lifetime win came a week later at Skowhegan Raceway in 2:12.2 with his grandfather’s horse, Mutiny Brooke.

In 1982, Gary left Maine and moved to Freehold Raceway in New Jersey. Two seasons later, he moved to Monticello Raceway in upstate New York, and then on to Roosevelt Raceway (now closed) and Yonkers Raceway in New York.

He plied his craft at major tracks for almost 12 years earning almost 1,400 wins and some $26 million in purse money.

He says the best horse he ever drove was Lorryland Butler. Gary set two track pacing records at Bangor Raceway with Butler, a mile in 1:55.4 in 1994 and the next year, he lowered it to 1:53,3 in the $10,000 Penobscot High Stakes Bingo Invitational Pace. It still remains the track pacing standard at Bangor.

His fastest winning mile was in 1:52.4 sitting behind Do Run Run Bluegrass at Yonkers Raceway.

By 1995, both he and his wife, Michelle, had enough of the “big city life” and decided to return to Maine to raise their two children, Sarah and Garrett, in a less hectic environment. Now living comfortably in their lakeside home on the shores of McGrath Pond in Belgrade, Gary says he will continue to race Maine’s extended meet tracks and fair circuit as long as the stakes program remain decent and there is still interest for owners.

“I will stay as long as I can,” Mosher said.

On the state of the Maine horse racing industry, Gary says, “the live on-track bet is not good and off-track betting has overtaken it. It has taken the people out of the grandstand and Bangor depends on those people for a good live handle. Even with state stipend money and money from Miller’s OTB, it’s tough today to increase your handle. But it seems to be a nationwide trend.

“Bangor does the best promotional job of any track in the country, giving cars away, handing out money and having animals for kids to look at and pet. If they can’t make a go of it, with Fred Nichols promoting, I don’t know what anyone could add to turn it around,” Mosher said.

“If Bangor ever closes, horsemen might just as well get out of the business. It’s just like having one of the major food store chains close. If one of those grocery chains ever close, don’t expect your groceries to be lowered, they probably will increase because there is no competition,” Mosher concluded.

Like most younger brothers, Marc Mosher says he not only enjoyed having his grandfather and older brother “show him the ropes,” but received a lot of help in his early horse-learning apprenticeship working for trainer Scott Rollins in Pittsfield. In 1986, by the time he was 18, Marc had graduated from Skowhegan High School, earned his class A driving license and won 300 races that season, mostly behind Rollins’ horses. Impressive credentials for a youngster still in his teens.

Marc’s first win came in 1985 in a claiming event at Farmington Fair when he teamed his grandfather’s horse, Lost His Name, to a 2:05.4 victory. He spent the next few years on the Maine driving circuit and in 1992, moved to Pompano Park in Florida to try his luck on the five-eighths mile track at Pompano Beach.

He returned briefly to Maine in the spring of 1993 and when Foxboro Park in Massachusetts re-opened, Marc moved his public stable to the Bay State racing facility. For the past few years, he has been a regular driver at both Yonkers Raceway and Foxboro Park.

Marc said one of the best horses he ever drove was at Bangor Raceway with former Bangor track pacing record-holder, Michael’s All Star.

“Michael’s All Star was a very nice horse,” Mosher said. “He did everthing right, just the way he was supposed to. No surprises with him. Another good driving horse I remember was Gottcha Lookin.”

To date, Marc has amassed more than 1,500 wins.

Concerning Maine racing and the fair industry, Marc said, “I would like to see the Maine agricultural fairs protected a little better. I think simulcasting is a slow death, but that’s just my opinion. Bangor needs the protection and support of Maine horsemen. Without Bangor, they couldn’t get enough horses and there wouldn’t be a fair racing circuit. It all begins each year with Bangor’s meet.”

Marc says he will be ready to return to the racing competition by Skowhegan Fair in July. “This year, I’ll just race the Maine fair curcuit. Now that I am married, my values and priorities have changed considerably. I’m no longer a single guy. I’ve got to take care of my wife Sarita and our daughter, Jessica. I doubt that I will leave Maine again.”

In 1982, Joey Mosher, the youngest of the clan, was still in Skowhegan High School and carefully following the driving careers of his cousins, Gary and Marc, who were winning consistantly.

“About a year after Marc got into it and started doing good, I decided I would rather learn to drive race horses than work on his father’s dairy farm in Oakland,” he said.

Joey moved to Scarborough Downs and began “mucking out” stalls for trainer Elmer Ballard. He earned his qualifying license (a provisional license to drive specified races) and moved back to Oakland and bought a horse named, Kerrigans Me Name, from Ron Alexander.

In his first competitive drive, Joey had the rail with his horse, Kerrigans Me Name.

“I tried to time the gate as it left, but my timing was all wrong, and I finished up the track,” Mosher laughed. He later redeemed himself by getting his first win at Windsor Fair with Oateater Bluegrass for owner Ronald Dyer of Strong.

“Gary Hall parked me the whole mile and I went right on by and won the race,” Mosher said.

Joey moved to Bangor Raceway for its extended meet where he raced what he considers his best horse, Witsend’s Sport for his in-laws, Dick and Trudy Glaster of Brewer. During the next few years, Joey amassed 820 driving wins primarily in Maine, although in 1990, he had a good win average driving at The Meadows, in Pennsylvania and Yonkers Raceway in New York.

He will continue to race the Maine fair circuit and may move to Yonkers Raceway in early November. Last Sunday, at Bangor Raceway, over a heavy track in pouring rain in the feature pace, Joey drove Durhams Big Guy to a 2:02.3 win for owners Scott Lovely of Newport and his cousin Marc. He beat the outstanding pacers, S K Hurricane and Comedy Hour.

Now married, he and his wife, Wendy, live in Orrington and have a daughter, Emily. Joey branched out last September, working as a farrier, shoeing horses.

“While shoeing, I’ve found that a lot of people don’t realize how easy it is to get involved in owning and racing a horse. We need to do better promotion of the sport,” he said.

The three Mosher men are good Maine ambassadors of the racing sport. If their past performances are any indicator of their driving styles, you could categorize the Moshers as: Joey, the aggressor; Marc, the cool manager; and Gary, the collector.