Harness Racing At Fairgrounds This Weekend
June 16, 2021 at 10:40 p.m.
Harness Racing At Fairgrounds This Weekend
By David [email protected]
This weekend, the horses return to the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds, 1400 E. Smith St., Warsaw, for two nights of harness racing.
Races start at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday. There will be 14-15 races each night, with the races ending between 8 and 9 p.m. each night. Tickets are $5 each.
Alan Earl, chairman of the board of the International Trotting & Pacing Association, and Steve Pippenger, Goshen fairgrounds track representative, have been involved in harness racing most of their lives.
“I remember racing here as a kid back in the early ’70s maybe,” Earl said during an interview Wednesday at the Fairgrounds. “... But we’ve been involved in harness racing for years.”
He said what they’re involved with is pony racing.
“Now, it’s kind of misleading. What they did back in the ’50s, ’60s, they took a hackney, a shetland pony or a welsh pony and bred it to a standard breed, which is a big racehorse. And then what they did then was they took that off-breed and bred it to a standard breed. Now you’ve got a three-quarters standard breed,” Earl said. “If you look at our horses, they just look like small horses. They don’t look like ponies. These are horses.”
There is a height regulation of 51.5 inches tall at the withers that can’t be exceeded. Every spring, they have to measure the horses so they’re 51.5 inches. A horse is 56 inches.
“If they get too big, then they go to a buggy. They’re no good for us,” Earl said.
Pippenger said a sulky – a two-wheeled cart – is what the driver rides on.
“Here, you’re going to do two laps because it’s a quarter-mile track. So we’ll start on the front stretch, we’ll come around, go through there, come around and finish on the front stretch,” Earl said.
“We race a half-mile distance,” Pippenger said. He said the distance for a race is the same anywhere, but it’s the length of the track that determines how many laps.
Earl said they could race up to eight horses at a time, but he didn’t know if they’d have full fields this weekend because the Fairgrounds track is new.
“Most of our races this week will be four-horse races, just to kind of get the feel for a new track,” he said.
Racers vary from 12 to 80 years old and there’s no test for them to qualify. Earl said about 70% of the racers are Amish. Each race has a purse. Earl said the weekly races’ purses range from $290 to $220.
“We’re not doing this to get wealthy or get rich. We do it for the love of what we do,” Earl said.
He said the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds track is the only track that will be clay-based. Most other race tracks are set up for all-weather, so they’re basically limestone tracks, he said.
“We want to eliminate as many stones as we can. We want to eliminate as many bumps because that’s an easy way for a horse to lose its footing ... and lose its momentum,” Earl said.
Pippenger said they’re also taking the care on the track for the horses’ sake.
“I will tell you we’re all horse owners and we all love our horses, so the majority of us look out for the best interest of” our horses, Earl said.
Tickets will be available at the gate and don’t need to be purchased in advance. Restrooms and concessions will be available.
“It’s a good night of family entertainment,” Earl said.
“And it will only get better at this place as the track gets better,” Pippenger said.
There will be one night of harness racing during the week of the Fair, July 11-17. Another night is scheduled for Sept. 11.
Pippenger said harness racing was done here in the 1970s.
Randy Shepherd, Fair board, said, “Well, actually, if you go back and look at the history of this fairgrounds, before they moved here on this location, at the old fairgrounds, which is where Owen’s is today, that was the fairgrounds and horse racing was the main stay of the fairgrounds.”
Pippenger said, “County fairs were built on horse racing. It was big.”
There was even a horse track in Winona Lake at the turn of the last century.
“Harness racing is what built fairs, and unfortunately through the 1980s, it kind of got away from it and people wanted to see racecars, people wanted to see motorcycles, people wanted to see monster trucks and stuff like that,” Earl said.
He said time’s have changed and Indiana is in the “hub” of harness racing.
Earl said it is a family sport and as he and Pippenger get closer to the end of their time in the sport, they want to see new people get involved and take it over.
“It’s family entertainment and it’s a family sport,” Pippenger reiterated.
“We’re thankful for the opportunity to be here,” Earl concluded.
This weekend, the horses return to the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds, 1400 E. Smith St., Warsaw, for two nights of harness racing.
Races start at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday. There will be 14-15 races each night, with the races ending between 8 and 9 p.m. each night. Tickets are $5 each.
Alan Earl, chairman of the board of the International Trotting & Pacing Association, and Steve Pippenger, Goshen fairgrounds track representative, have been involved in harness racing most of their lives.
“I remember racing here as a kid back in the early ’70s maybe,” Earl said during an interview Wednesday at the Fairgrounds. “... But we’ve been involved in harness racing for years.”
He said what they’re involved with is pony racing.
“Now, it’s kind of misleading. What they did back in the ’50s, ’60s, they took a hackney, a shetland pony or a welsh pony and bred it to a standard breed, which is a big racehorse. And then what they did then was they took that off-breed and bred it to a standard breed. Now you’ve got a three-quarters standard breed,” Earl said. “If you look at our horses, they just look like small horses. They don’t look like ponies. These are horses.”
There is a height regulation of 51.5 inches tall at the withers that can’t be exceeded. Every spring, they have to measure the horses so they’re 51.5 inches. A horse is 56 inches.
“If they get too big, then they go to a buggy. They’re no good for us,” Earl said.
Pippenger said a sulky – a two-wheeled cart – is what the driver rides on.
“Here, you’re going to do two laps because it’s a quarter-mile track. So we’ll start on the front stretch, we’ll come around, go through there, come around and finish on the front stretch,” Earl said.
“We race a half-mile distance,” Pippenger said. He said the distance for a race is the same anywhere, but it’s the length of the track that determines how many laps.
Earl said they could race up to eight horses at a time, but he didn’t know if they’d have full fields this weekend because the Fairgrounds track is new.
“Most of our races this week will be four-horse races, just to kind of get the feel for a new track,” he said.
Racers vary from 12 to 80 years old and there’s no test for them to qualify. Earl said about 70% of the racers are Amish. Each race has a purse. Earl said the weekly races’ purses range from $290 to $220.
“We’re not doing this to get wealthy or get rich. We do it for the love of what we do,” Earl said.
He said the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds track is the only track that will be clay-based. Most other race tracks are set up for all-weather, so they’re basically limestone tracks, he said.
“We want to eliminate as many stones as we can. We want to eliminate as many bumps because that’s an easy way for a horse to lose its footing ... and lose its momentum,” Earl said.
Pippenger said they’re also taking the care on the track for the horses’ sake.
“I will tell you we’re all horse owners and we all love our horses, so the majority of us look out for the best interest of” our horses, Earl said.
Tickets will be available at the gate and don’t need to be purchased in advance. Restrooms and concessions will be available.
“It’s a good night of family entertainment,” Earl said.
“And it will only get better at this place as the track gets better,” Pippenger said.
There will be one night of harness racing during the week of the Fair, July 11-17. Another night is scheduled for Sept. 11.
Pippenger said harness racing was done here in the 1970s.
Randy Shepherd, Fair board, said, “Well, actually, if you go back and look at the history of this fairgrounds, before they moved here on this location, at the old fairgrounds, which is where Owen’s is today, that was the fairgrounds and horse racing was the main stay of the fairgrounds.”
Pippenger said, “County fairs were built on horse racing. It was big.”
There was even a horse track in Winona Lake at the turn of the last century.
“Harness racing is what built fairs, and unfortunately through the 1980s, it kind of got away from it and people wanted to see racecars, people wanted to see motorcycles, people wanted to see monster trucks and stuff like that,” Earl said.
He said time’s have changed and Indiana is in the “hub” of harness racing.
Earl said it is a family sport and as he and Pippenger get closer to the end of their time in the sport, they want to see new people get involved and take it over.
“It’s family entertainment and it’s a family sport,” Pippenger reiterated.
“We’re thankful for the opportunity to be here,” Earl concluded.
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