Endurance Racing? Pat Fitzgerald!

May 20 2026

By Merri Melde

Verne R. Albright published this short book, “Endurance Racing? Pat Fitzgerald!” in 1969 about endurance riding’s legend.

Robert and Linda Manley got permission from Albright to place the full contents of Albright’s book on the Wordpress website:

https://patfitzgerald487771351.wordpress.com/

The book offers a glimpse into the endurance life, horses, stories, and quips by Pat Fitzgerald during his endurance heyday, and his approach to riding and training (and winning).

Many of his quotes and thoughts are applicable to today’s endurance riders, such as:

 • “There’s lot of luck to winning these rides, but if you do your homework your luck will be a lot better.”

 • “You have to ride your own race,” Pat reminds. “Don’t worry about what the other riders are doing. Just stick to your own methods.”

 • “I always ride alone,” he says, “so my horse and I don’t get dependent on anyone else. You learn to pay attention to your horse that way.”

The Fitzgeralds were heroes to Robert Manley, who has a few stories of his own to share.

“In February of 1967,” Robert says, “I was riding my half Thoroughbred gelding on one of the many old mining roads in the area when here came a guy who turned out to be Pat on his (1963) Tevis Cup winning gelding Ken (from Rushcreek). That moment was when I first heard about the ‘hundred miler’ ride [Tevis]. As a seven-year-old kid, I had finally learned to read by repeatedly puzzling my way through a book about a twelve-year-old Vermont girl training her horse for the 100 miles in three days Green Mountain Trail Ride, so I was all-ears for what Pat had to say.

“That year that Thoroughbred was slightly lame (and fully-out, of course) at Robinson Flat. The next year, Pat put me on what was to become the terrific endurance horse Quist (also from Rushcreek). That was an easy-to-get Tevis buckle for me. Two years  later, Quist and Pat finished second behind Witezarif and Donna as they won their first Tevis Cup.

“By the way, I was sort of present at the creation. Very early in the morning of a day in the spring of 1968 I was feeding Pat and Donna’s horses during their trip to Nebraska. Their pickup suddenly rolled in with two small horses on board. I asked Pat if the bay gelding was a yearling. He said, ‘No, he’s five years old.’ I must have at least smiled because Pat said, ‘You can laugh if you want to, but this is going to be a great endurance horse.’

“What he knew, of course, was that little bay had the same mom (Razifa) as the gelding Razlind, who had already finished second twice on the 100-miler with Donna. Pat also knew that, unlike Razlind, the little bay, Witezarif, was a paternal grandson of the immortal Witez II. Blood tells.” (Razifa was also the dam of El Karbaj and Law Thunder.)

“Donna really didn’t need a pit crew, but I was her entire pit crew on her second and third Tevis Cup winning rides. I hope I was helpful, but I certainly didn’t do anything special on my first pit crew attempt. As you probably know, Donna was a very quiet person. It wasn’t easy to know what, if anything, she wanted done. 

“The second time was similar except that Pat (who was in the ride himself) gave me very specific instructions as to what to do if Witezarif was having even a slight issue in his quarters and thighs. He specifically said that if it happened at all, it would probably be at Forest Hill. He equipped me with several containers of Bengay. He emphasized not worrying about wasting it. He wanted it poured on liberally and rubbed in vigorously. 

“Sure enough, Witezarif had that issue at Forest Hill. I did what I was told. (I later wondered if that was against the rules at that time. I don’t believe it was because Witezarif was one of the first horses into Forest Hill, and there were dozens of people there——including vets and ride-officials, of course. I don’t remember making any effort to hide what I was doing. Anyway, little Witezarif passed the Forest Hill vet check and all the checks after that—-and won that year’s Tevis Cup.”

Robert Manley has plenty more stories of his own, but he and Linda would love for more people to read Verne Albright’s book on their website,

https://patfitzgerald487771351.wordpress.com/

Verne Albright is also author of Horseback Across Three Americas, available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Horseback-Across-Three-Americas-Albright/dp/1555719988/ref=sr_1_1?

*top photo of Pat and Ken in the Tevis Cup by Charles Barieau