John L. Dodge

Career Bell & Co. He was employed as a clerk at the Groton pharmacy in his youth. He later moved to New York City, where he became a drug salesman before traveling as a pharmaceutical sales representative for a manufacturer, marketing products directly to physicians. Around 1900, he began producing and distributing Bell's Syrup of Codeine for Coughs, a remedy based on a prescription prepared by a New York druggist named Bell. He also helped develop Pay-pa-ans Bell, later marketed as Bells-Ans, a digestive aid containing papain, which became one of the best-selling tablets of its era. Dodge served as president of Bell & Co., a pharmaceutical manufacturing company headquartered in New York City. At Orangeburg, he began racing horses, initially employing a professional trainer and driver while also driving his own horses on the minor circuits. Driving Redinda on eastern speedways marked Dodge's entry into harness racing. He had Redinda when he first began breeding at the Orangeburg track.

In 1905, he bought a 60-acre apple orchard at the foot of Clausland Mountain Park and moved his business out from New York City. He located his business in Rockland County to be near the Rockland County Fairgrounds race track. In the early days, the medicine factory output was hauled into New York City twice a week by a six-mule team. The horses bred on the farm all had the name of Hollyrood attached to them. He abandoned the use of a professional trainer, taking charge of preparing and driving his horses himself. Though retaining his amateur driver status, he raced against the professionals each week of the Grand Circuit for many years. He transferred his operation to Lexington after buying the farm from the late George Whitney, a noted breeder of thoroughbreds. Around this time, he also bought a farm and mile track at Grovetown, Georgia, where he spent each winter and trained his horses. John L. Dodge driving Periscope (2:03¼), The New York Herald, 1921 Periscope, bred by John E. Madden, was another noted trotter who was added to the Dodge outfit in 1918.

He and his wife founded the Gentleman's Driving Club of Lexington in 1931.

Semi-Retirement Dodge retired from active driving in 1932, but came back later with Hollyrood Dennis. He was back racing by 1933, but he became less active during the mid-1930s. He served as the secretary.

At the age of 73, he drove Hollyrood Happy Thought and Hollywood Hera to victories at Aiken, South Carolina in 1939. She was a noted driver who in 1934 guided Hollyrood Portia to win a women's world exhibition record for trotters driven a mile on a half-mile track.

Death John L. Dodge died on April 7, 1940, in Grovetown, Georgia, United States, at 74 years old.

Legacy In 1921, Dodge became the first driver to record mile heats of better than 2:04 with three different trotters. He was regarded by many as the leading breeder of 2:05 trotters.

He was inducted into the United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1958.