While the "official" track record for aged pacers is listed as 1:56h at Richwood, Sunday's performance by Laura & Paul Baker's homebred two-year-old colt Little Woody [Woodstock-Cool Cruiser by Yankee Cruiser] who won by 15 in 1:58.2h... that was a heckuva mile.
Trained by Jimmy Arledge Jr. and sent down the pike by Jeremy Smith,
Richwood - known for its lush woods - was a later addition to Union County, Ohio which had began in 1820 by the union of lands from four other counties, hence the name.
The first building in Richwood along the newly-constructed gravelly road in 1834 was a one- room log cabin near the present day center. It was the home of Dr. John P. Brookins [1801-1878] and his family. For many years, he was the only doctor in Richwood and served as Justice of the Peace and as well as Postmaster.
A favorite joke was supposedly when someone would stick their head into the Justice of the Peace' office and ask if "is the Doctor in?"
"I think he's mailing a letter," the Doctor would reply.
Richwood became a village in 1835 and by 1840 there were 40 families living there. Train service arrived in 1850 and the town grew, even having an Opera House.
In 1892 The Richwood Independent Fair began and is held the Wednesday before and runs through Labor Day.
The Richwood Independent Fair
More coming soon...
Mister Gorbachev... tear down this stall!
Old barns
along
the way...
Fort Findlay in 1815
The Hancock County Fair
Twice married and divorced he would write over 400 songs. It is the Old Mill Stream that we remember most. After the success of that song he purchased an old farm on East Sandusky Street in Findlay, near where several of his siblings lived.
Part of the property became Findlay’s first golf course and he later sold much of the land to the Hancock County Agricultural Society where it was turned into the Old Mill Stream Fairgrounds. Taylor’s house and barn still stand and are now part of the Hancock County Fairgrounds.
So when your golfing buddies are the naysayers or your racetrack pals try to put a damper on your efforts, remember William Taylor and those four million copies… they'll soon be singing a different tune. And you can run and “Tell“ that.
Singer, songwriter, vaudeville actor, and music publisher William “Tell” Taylor was born in Vanlue, 11 miles southeast of Findlay in 1876.
He began by singing in church choirs locally often being called upon to give performances in neighboring towns. Taylor studied music at Findlay College but the excitement of New York City called and he moved there in the late 1890's.
By 1905 he was cast in several comedy productions with W. C. Fields, Sophie Tucker and Al Jolson and played the leading role in the Broadway musical comedies "In Panama" and "In New York Town."
In 1908, he wrote "Down by the Old Mill Stream" while fishing along the Blanchard River near the old Misamore Mill on a visit back home to Findlay. His friends persuaded him not to publish it as it didn’t “have any commercial value.”
In 1910 it was finally published and performed by the vaudeville quartet "The Orpheus Comedy Four." After they sang it in a Kansas City Woolworth’s it was so popular that Taylor sold the entire 1,000 copies of sheet music that he had with him.
By 1937, at the time of his death, he had sold over four million copies.
French tailor and fur trapper Jean Jacques Blanchard arrived in the area about 1760. He traded with the native Shawnee along the now-named Blanchard River and married a young maiden and had seven children.
With the defeat of France in 1763 many families were relocated to Louisiana. During the War of 1812, Colonel James Findlay [1770-1835] , cut a road through the wilderness from Dayton to Detroit and constructed Fort Findlay. After the War, when the lands were secured, lots were laid out in 1821 and the first settler Asa Lake, who had served under General Washington, brought his family here.
By 1828 the County had been organized and was named after John Hancock [1736-1793] of Boston, an immensely popular Patriot of the American Revolution. His large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence [so that the poor-sighted "King George III could read it”] became synonymous for a signature.
Since 1852 the Hancock County Fair has been a family tradition bringing exhibitors as well as competitors for the fine folks around Findlay.
Ohhhhhhh yeah!!!
The Shawnee were fierce warriors, fighting alongside the French until the fur trading posts were turned over to the British in 1763.
Then they allied with the British against the Americans during the American Revolution.
Tecumseh, [1768-1813] was a leader of an Ohio band of the Shawnee who led a resistance against the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809.
Born near Chillicothe, Ohio - his name means "Shooting Star" - from his youth he tried to reunite the his people against the frontier settlers until he was defeated by General William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe near Lafayette, Indiana in 1811.
The 169th Morrow County Fair
The village now know as Mount Gilead began in 1817 and was originally called Whetstone, what the Shawnee Indian village located along the Whetstone River there was known as.
It was soon being referred to as Youngstown for a pioneering settler family.
In 1832 the citizens voted almost unanimously to change the name to Mount Gilead …the Biblical land west of Jordan in ancient Palestine.
In 1848 Morrow County was created and named in honor of Jeremiah Morrow [1771-1852] who was the 9th governor of Ohio.
The bids are echoing off the walls of The Coliseum at the Delaware County Fairgrounds as the pre-Jug sale gets underway on Monday morning August 31st.
the years. When Frank was told of his wife of 50 years death he simply stopped eating and died 18 days later.
They are both buried in Greenville.
Phoebe Ann Mosey was born in rural Darke County in 1860. She was taught to hunt and shoot by her father to help feed the impoverished family and her 7 siblings.
When she was 15 she defeated a noted famous sharpshooter in 1875 at a competition at The Cincinnati Ohio Fair, he was very taken with her. They would eventually marry and tour the country with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show from 1885-1902, even visiting the Crowned Heads of Europe.
He was Frank Butler [1847-1926] and her stage name would be Annie Oakley.
In 1916 they would make their winter retirement home near the newly-opened Pinehurst, NC harness facility where she continued to do her exhibitions. They moved back to Darke County and Greenville in 1922 as her health failed.
She passed in 1926, from pernicious anemia and probably lead poisoning because of all the ammunition that she'd handled through
No better legacy can be written of a person than by the lasting effect one has on the Sport. The names of the horses he developed and drove such as Arnie Almahurst, Jay Time, Three Diamonds, Troublemaker, Leah Almahurst and Life Sign are permanently etched into the record books.
But there were two outstanding pacers that Riegle campaigned for George Segal during the 1990's that are prominent and dominant in the bloodlines of today's champions. Every time one steps into the Winners Circle they are remembered: Artsplace and Western Hanover.
And those exceptional stallions will be forever linked with Gene Riegle.
Gene Riegle was born into harness racing in 1928 in Greenville, Ohio. He started, as it is said, from "the bottom up" by cleaning out stalls for his noted father Roy. In 1951 at the age of 17, in his first drive ever, he bested Hall of Famer Saunders Russell [1900-1982] at Darke County Fair... no small task.
When his parents Roy and Delilah were killed in a car accident in 1957 Gene and his brother Dick stepped up to the plate and took over the family businesses. They finished 2-3 in the 1958 Hambeltonian.
against the Miami Indians. He was serving under General Arthur St. Clair [1736-1818] the 1st Governor of the Northwest Territories. Of the over 1,000 Americans involved, only 24 escaped unharmed. It was the worst defeat against the Indians in American History.
Miami comes from the Algonquin Native tongue "Myaamia" or "downstream people" as they had been pushed into Ohio and Indiana from the area now known as New Jersey/Delaware originally.
After his victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, Wayne initiated a treaty in 1795 with the 13 tribes that displaced them west and essentially opened up the Northwest Territories to settlers.
Greenville officially began in 1808 and, to this day, is known as "The Treaty City."
Darke County - named after the now revered General William Darke - was established in 1809.
In late 1793, General “Mad Anthony” Wayne [1745 - 1796] - so called for his eagerness and abrasiveness to rush into combat - began a 55 acre fortification he called Greene Ville. It was named for his late comrade in the American Revolution, General Nathanael Greene [1742 - 1786] who was from an old Warwick, RI family. He had fought and served with Wayne through several campaigns including the Winter at Valley Forge in 1776.
After Greene Ville was established Wayne's army marched against the American Indians of the Ohio Country. He was seeking revenge for the battle of St. Clair's Defeat in 1791. Colonel William Darke [1736-1801] - a hero of The American Revolution - had lost an extremely high number of his men in The Battle of the Wabash
Hugh M. Parshall was born in 1898 in Hillsboro, Ohio but grew
up in Liberty in Henry County where he was raised with horses. After high
school, as he attended Indiana Veterinary School, he took $500 earmarked
for his education [worth $12,200 today] and bought a horse. It turned out
well as he won 3 out of 6 races and earned him $1,500 - equal to $36,600 in
2015. He graduated, thus earning the title "Doc" and decided to train and
drive horses. He developed many a great animal and in 1929 earned
$50,000... $704,000 nowadays. From 1927-1933 he won 401 races and was
the country's leading driver six times.
Training in Urbana, Ohio he become one of their most famous citizens winning the Hambletonian in 1934 and 1939 and presented Chiefs Counsel, Mc I Win and numerous others to the racing world.
As he became ill in 1950, his friend and fellow outstanding driver 37-year-old Delvin Miller [1913-1996] took over the reins for him. Delvin would finish 1-2-3 in the 1950 Little Brown Jug, a training triple.
Parshall would pass shortly after that remarkable feat in November of that year.
The Darke County Fair was first held in 1853 just off Broadway in downtown Greenville. In 1858 it expanded and moved and then by 1870 it had settled 1 1/2 miles south of the original site.
It has been going every year since then except for three: 1862 & 1863 as the Civil War raged and 1949.
When 28,000 fans attended the 1898 edition it had to be called The Great Darke County Fair. That year $2,200 [$63,000 in today’s monies] was offered up in for "speed programs" ...harness racing. The races were so popular in Greenville that a larger grandstand was built in 1910.
In 1949 there was an outbreak of Polio as 33 people died in town and public activities were curtailed until it subsided. 1950 saw a resurgence of The Fair the same year that famed Ohio native Hugh "Doc" Parshall passed at the age of 51.
2015's Fair, especially Friday night's races, would be just what the "Doc" would have ordered... a truly Riegle evening.
The Great Darke County Fair
The 166th Wayne County Fair
Corn and soy, corn and soy, corn and soy AND fresh air!
A Good Call...
As Jeremy Smith teamed another winner home, this time in the FFA in a time of 1:57.4h, it was Ha Ha a 4- year-old gelding by Yankee Cruiser out of Fava by Sugar Valley Dudly ...by Sugar Tree by Greentree Adios ...Okay?
Announcer Ayers Ratliff called out as he win by two: "And for all of you who bet Ha Ha... you can laugh all the way to the windows!"
The 164th Wyandot County Fair
Created in 1820 and named after General John Hardin [1753-1792] who was a well-known hunter and sharpshooter that fought in the American Revolution. He also was involved in campaigns in the newly-opened Kentucky and Ohio frontiers. While on a mission to negotiate with the Shawnee he was killed in his sleep in nearby Shelby County.
Simon Kenton [1755-1836] was a frontiersman and scout who once save the life of Daniel Boone. He was involved in many major conflicts in the area during the War of Independence and after serving under "Mad Anthony" Wayne. While he had no formal education, in 1805 he attained the rank of Brigadier General. He fought in Canada during the War of 1812, retired to Zanesville, and is interred in Urbana.
The 2015 Fair was the 151st and its 76th consecutive. During the 1930's there t'weren't too much to celebrate but there is now as the seven day Fair drew great crowds and hosted some pretty fine racing.
Scenes from the trip...
It was a proud Mama [Deb Noble, pictured at far right] in the Winners Circle as the late Sam's [Chip] and her daughter Meredith won The Ladies Pace at Kenton on Thursday evening.
...not to mention that son Dan win four on the night.
The Hardin County Fair
WCMH 4 says: DELAWARE, Ohio —
It could be the most horses you will ever see in one place.
The annual All horse Parade steps off at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon in Delaware.
The three-mile long parade features horses, ponies, wagons and cowgirls.
The parade happens every year on the Sunday before the Delaware County Fair.
Gi-Gi-Giddy yup!
Christi Porkornowski's Reckoning Day p4, 1:51.1f
The Ohio Agricultural Fair began in 1849 and had three different locations in Wooster before its present site in 1887.
Wayne County was established in 1808 and named for General Anthony Wayne. His tactics at The Battle of Stoney Point, NY in 1777 as he led his troops in a daring and successful nighttime climb of a mountain earned him the nickname of "Mad Anthony."
Also in 1808 the town was named after David Wooster [1710-1777] of Connecticut, a Yale graduate in 1738, who joined the militia in 1739. He served in the French and Indian Wars [1755-1763] and The War of Independence. He would rise to the rank of General before he fell during The Battle of Ridgefield [CT] in 1777. He is called "the Revolution's most forgotten Hero."
THE 30th ANNUAL DELAWARE HORSE PARADE
it was over a track that had been dulled by 2" of rain the day before.
We'll call it the "unofficial" track record for two-year-old pacing colts.
They were strung out like an old cheap pearl necklace.
And before you ask about who the lightly-raced Woodstock p3, Q1:50.3 $173,176 was by...
Rocknroll Hanover. Rock on.
Originally called "Wendat" they were Hurons from southern Ontario, eh? The Wyandot tribe's name means "around the plains" and "dwellers on the peninsula" in the Algonquian language. They were related to the Iroquois who attacked them from what is now Buffalo, NY and drove them from their homeland along the Georgian Bay into Ohio via Detroit before the Europeans arrived.
A fierce group of warriors that resisted strongly against the treaties of the early 1800's that were all later broken, the Wyandots were the last tribe to be pushed West and not until 1842.
Lots were laid out in 1843 and the settlers arrived.
The Sandusky River flows through Ohio for 133 miles . Its name is taken from the Natives who lived at its mouth on Lake Erie. Saandusti is Wyandot meaning "water, within water-pools." Since the town is 50 miles upstream it is called Upper Sandusky.
The first county fair was held downtown in 1851. In 1856 it was moved north to the current Fairgrounds on its outskirts.
Stop and smell the Roses ...well, maybe not just now.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2015
When someone says "we sent him down the highway... "
now THIS is what we're talkin' about!!!
THE DELAWARE DAILY
A little bit camera shy.
DELAWARE, OHIO [Sept. 19th] - This morning's opening ceremonies marked another great chapter in Ohio's Number One County Fair.
A statewide favorite since 1834, it adds a genuine homespun feeling to the historic city of 35,000.
This Thursday, Sept. 24th, the 70th Edition of Harness Racings' world-famous event for three-year-old pacers: the Little Brown Jug goes to post at the oval.
THE FAIR IS UNDERWAY!
News from the 2015 Delaware County Fair
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