By: Ken Weingartner
The Dey family name is virtually synonymous with equine veterinary medicine and Standardbred racing.
Stephen P. Dey and his two sons, Stephen III and Greg, all are well-respected vets specializing in working with harness racehorses. But it almost didn’t turn out that way.
Dr. Dey, the patriarch of the group, originally intended to work with cattle. While attending Cornell Veterinary School, from which he graduated in 1960, he visited the University of Pennsylvania. He received a tour of the large animal clinic there and was given an invitation to serve as an intern and resident.
"I was 22 at the time," Dr. Dey said. "I thought, heck, maybe horses are more interesting than cows. And I’ve never looked back. Horses definitely are more interesting than cows. That’s how I got into horses, just by accident."
Dr. Dey said he attended Cornell because it had the best cattle school in the nation. Although his goal was to become a herdsman manager/veterinarian on a large beef farm out West, he did spend some time working with horses at night.
His reason for selecting horses over cattle was simple.
"They have personality," Dr. Dey said. "They appreciate what you do for them. And they’re more of a challenge. There isn’t any challenge to a cow. A cow sits there. It needs to eat, it gives milk and it puts down manure. They don’t show any emotion whatsoever.
"A horse shows you he likes you, he shows you that he appreciates what you’re doing for him, and they’re beautiful. It’s great to watch a real athlete. And not just Standardbreds. In any field, people just don’t appreciate how extremely good these horses are."
Dr. Dey grew up in the Allentown area. His father had a farm on Route 539 in Upper Freehold, two miles north of the borough. Dr. Dey’s nephew, Butch, lives there now.
In the 1940s, the family farmed potatoes and wheat. From 1946 to 1948, there were 350 acres of potatoes on the property, Dr. Dey said.
"But we didn’t have any irrigation," Dr. Dey said. "If you didn’t have water between 1948 and 1952, you went broke. So we switched. We had tomatoes. Our family got into 4-H and we had baby beef."
Which led to Dr. Dey’s interest in cattle. After entering the equine field and completing his residency at Pennsylvania, he worked briefly with Thoroughbreds in Maryland. In November 1962, he returned to the area to start his own practice.
Dr. Dey started Heritage Hill Farm on Hill Road near Ellisdale. It gradually grew to where the family has 504 acres and approximately 160 head of horses.
"And I have about 300 acres of hay," Dr. Dey said. "That’s now one of my major projects. So I’ve slowed down as far as being a veterinarian because I’ve got two boys who are both veterinarians also. Half my time I farm now and half my time I spend practicing veterinary medicine."
In addition to working as a vet, Dr. Dey – who first got into harness racing by helping a brother-in-law train Standardbreds – operated a successful breeding operation at Heritage Hill. The facility ranks among the top 50 in the nation this year, having produced seven winners (for a total of 25 victories) and $589,239 in purse earnings.
Success on the breeding side started in the early 1970s, Dr. Dey said.
"We won a lot of races," he said. "I think that’s what got the kids interested in maybe going on and being veterinarians. They went to the track to get their picture taken.
"Historically, veterinarians’ children do not go into veterinary medicine because they see how hard their dad is working and figure it’s not for them; it’s not the way to make a living," he added. "I think that winning horse races and the breeding, they got to appreciate that this is fun."
It’s even more fun for the Deys, who routinely work on the top harness racehorses in North America. Two years ago, Dr. Dey said, eight of the 10 Breeders Crown winners had been under their care.
Among the best horses to come off Heritage Hill Farm was HH Shadow, a filly champion who was second in the Cane Pace in 1986, Dr. Dey said.
In addition to his two sons, Dr. Dey has a daughter, Wendy. She is a nurse.
His wife, Elizabeth, is a "combination of a cook and a seamstress," Dr. Dey said. She was the salutatorian of her class at the University of Maine and has a master’s in nutrition. She works with numerous community groups, and helped found the Villagers of Allentown social club. She has no interest in horses or medicine, Dr. Dey said.
"It sort of rounds out the family," he said.
Recently, Dr. Dey was elected to the state Board of Agriculture, representing the equine industry. He said his goal is to increase purse money in the state as part of an effort to keep horsemen in the area.
"The horse industry needs a boost to do that," he said. "It all trickles down from racing. That’s where the money starts.
"The Horse Park of New Jersey, for example, is a baby started by the Equine Advisory Board. The Equine Advisory Board gets its funding from a very small percentage of the handle at the racetrack. Through the Horse Park we’re able to showcase all of the nonracing breeds to try to help elevate their status and make them worth more money."
Dr. Dey said he is going to "slow down" some in the future. But he added that being an equine practitioner is "the epitome of success."
"The most rewarding thing is to take a horse that everyone else has looked at and fix him," said Dr. Dey, who in the early 1990s received the Governor’s Trophy for outstanding individual service to the equine industry. "Some of those aren’t champions. But that is the epitome of being an equine practitioner, being able to take a lame horse and make him sound.
"It’s rewarding, it’s very difficult to do, which makes it more challenging," he added. "I wouldn’t pick any other profession."
