Grove City, Ohio — When the Harness Horse Youth Foundation (HHYF)/Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association’s Ohio Grand Tour 2019 arrived at the Van Wert, Ohio, Fairgrounds they were greeted by a roadside sign announcing their classroom date of Friday (June 7).

Speed Committee members Roger Wilkin and Aaron Knittle made the five-pony ensemble comfortable with donated straw and hay from the Chad Williamson and Dennis Putnam Stables and set the  up in one of the “new” barns.

Van Wert hosted a smaller group on Thursday (June 6) while Friday was definitely a full house. So much so that the youngsters had to be grouped and assigned a name of a famous harness horse from the past five years. The assignments included: Wiggle It Jiggleit, the 2015 Little Brown Jug winner, Always B Miki, the fastest Standardbred of all time and What The Hill.

What The Hill is currently is a stallion at Hickory Lane Farms in Findlay, Ohio.

It was a morning of workshops as the children were educated in basic horsemanship and equipment. They were also treated to a fine question and answer seminars with Delphos, Ohio, veterinarian Dr. Amanda Durand and Mike Smith, a blacksmith who has resided in Van Vert for more than 40 years.

A lunch break with numerous types of pizza was followed by all of the well-behaved juveniles jogging the horses as trainers Ben Thatcher, Rex Davis, and Dennis Putnam volunteered their time to ride along.

An added bonus was when Van Wert’s prodigal son Brandon Bates came in from Indiana. The 44-year-old Bates, a driver with over 860 career wins and $6.8 million in earnings, had his breakout years in 2017 and 2018 when his mounts tallied over $1.6 million in each of the racing seasons.

Bates spoke to the attentive group at the end of a fun day and fielded their questions like a pro. When asked about his family he proudly told the youngsters that he “had three in college” and laughed that he was “going to soon be an empty-nester.”

He paused and pointed at pointed at the barn number two just across the way.

“I grew up in that barn right over there,” he humbly noted. “And I won my first race here too.”