No electricity? — No problem!

by Timothy M. Jones, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Springfield, IL — The Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield remains closed to the general public and all events cancelled because of electrical problems, which in one instance blew the lid from a utility manhole. For horsemen stabled on the backstretch there, it’s still business as usual — well almost.

Four trainers offered their experiences regarding a situation, which could have resulted in circumstances much worse than originally expected. The general consensus among those horsemen is that the ordeal has not been something they were unable to deal with.

Dirk Simpson, trainer of 2007 Illinois Horse of the Year, Before He Cheats, said that his stable never really altered its training schedule.

A transformer and electric meters are surrounded by cautionary yellow tape alongside the limestone half-mile training track.

“The power was shut off all day on two consecutive Saturdays. We were notified ahead of time, so we just worked around it.”

Simpson jogged his trainees “a couple of miles” on the Fairground’s limestone half-mile track on those occasions without power. Not enough to get them really worked up and hot, but enough to give them at least some work.

“We didn’t have any power for lights, or hot water for full baths. During the daylight hours it wasn’t too bad in the barn. We ended up spraying off horses with cool water after their workout from the knees down. They’re used to that with the water wings anyway, so it wasn’t too stressful for them. Luckily both of those days the track was pretty decent, not sloppy like it can get during the winter, so there wasn’t a whole lot to wash off.”

Rick Schrock trains a stable of around 25 to 30 horses, and like Simpson, did not think the lack of power was too much of a hindrance.

“We trained on Sunday like we normally would have on Saturday — just swapped days. Outside of a couple Saturdays, nothing has changed for us at all. The precautions (state officials) took were probably more than they really needed, but it was better to be careful than not.”

Rumors were circulating when the electrical problems first surfaced, that for safety and liability reasons, horsemen may have to move completely off the fairgrounds. Luckily, that never came to fruition. But that’s not to say trainers were not making contingency plans.

The only building on the fairgrounds with electricity this past Saturday was the blacksmith shop. Farrier Tom Miller borrowed a generator to provide power so he could work. It was very nice and toasty in there compared to the frigid cold of the barns.

“My first thought, if we were told to leave, was move to Du Quoin,” said Schrock. “That would have been my first choice to relocate — if there were stalls available. That would have been a mess. But if you think about it, if you had to do it, it wasn’t impossible.”

Tom Simmons was also thinking of alternatives if a move was needed. He currently trains 40 head and was wondering, “Where would you put 250 (approximate fairgrounds total) head of horses this time of year? You couldn’t go to the county fairgrounds — those tracks aren’t kept up in winter.”

Like Schrock, he too would have considered moving stock, equipment and personnel to Du Quoin. But Simmons also noted that he was able to work through the situation.

“The days without power we got all our horses jogged, but didn’t have a lot of hot water for baths. We knew it was coming, so we trained everything on Friday.

“A couple of days off won’t hurt them, so it didn’t really bother us that bad. There wasn’t a whole lot of light to clean stalls, but as soon as the sun got up, we opened the barn doors and it wasn’t that big a deal.”

Erv Miller’s staff arrived at the barn around 3:30-4:00 a.m. on the Saturdays without power. Barrels were filled with water and submersible heaters placed in them until the power was shut off between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. The stable had enough heated water for the day.

Miller has over 80 horses currently in training at Springfield, with the rest of the stable wintering in Florida.

Erv Miller’s crew continued to work despite no electricity in the barn.

“The power outage didn’t affect us too much; we really had things almost like normal. It was a little dark because we were without lights inside the barn, but not bad.

“Worst case scenario, Chicago would have been better for me than Du Quoin. I talked a little bit with the tracks there, and they said they could work something out for me. That would have been better for us because it’s closer to where we race and they have arrangements for my grooms.

“I could have moved some to Florida, but it would have depended on that particular individual to move to the stable there.”

The shared opinion of all four trainers is that the Agriculture Department handled the situation as best they could have.

While the City of Springfield, local eateries and hotels whine about lost revenue and the economic impact from cancelled events like the Illinois Horse Fair and National Clydesdale Sale — that’s the much abbreviated version of a very long list — no one could have predicted an electrical system failure of this magnitude. With the current, and past, mind-set of governors and legislators, had Agriculture Department officials asked for a larger maintenance budget, they would have been quickly and flatly denied the revenue.

Considering Agriculture Department officials were under a great deal of pressure from the State Fire Marshall to evacuate the entire fairgrounds, the State as a landlord holding the keys to the fairgrounds has remained respectful and sympathetic to the needs of stabled horses, and the people who care for them. Racehorse and baby training has remained on schedule.

Timothy M. Jones photos

The drawgate entrance to the mile track on the backstretch was closed. Last Wednesday was the first day the big track reopened and horsemen were allowed to train on it.

Horsemen have been kept informed from the very beginning by then Agriculture director Chuck Hartke, Assistant director Tom Jennings, and staff. A Sunday phone call led to a Monday morning meeting regarding the lid blown off a manhole by an electrical surge in the southeast quadrant of the fairgrounds. Notification was also given early in the week on the two occasions the power was to be shut off on Saturday.

Since that time, B & B Electrical of Springfield’s $1.8 million bid was accepted to replace miles of underground high voltage cable. The contract calls, and everyone hopes for, work to be completed before Memorial Day.

Horsemen realize they aren’t out of the woods yet, but all echo the sentiment that the winter weather has been more of a hindrance to them than occasional lack of electricity.

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