by Jay Wolf, assistant publicity director, The Little Brown Jug

Delaware, OH — The remnants of Hurricane Ike moved into the area, bringing 40–50 mile per hour winds, forcing an early cancellation of the first day of Grand Circuit racing at the Delaware County Fair.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Horsemen hold on to their hats as others catch the wind blown jog carts in the paddock during the strong wind gusts.

The first 15 races on the Sunday, September 14, card were contested, but the winds continued to increase, forcing the early closure of the entire fairgrounds.

The cancelled stakes races (the Ohio Breeders Championships and the Fouts Memorial Pace) will be moved to 12:00 noon on Monday, September 15. The original Monday card will be contested at approximately 1:00 p.m.

Two divisions of the Ohio Breeders Championship for sophomore filly trotters were contested.

In the first $19,859 division, Norma’s Rose (Aaron Merriman) found enough room late in the stretch to edge Britt Van (Kyle Ater). The Master Lavec-Lilyad lass is trained by Scott Cox for Jack Tramonte. The victory in 2:00 was her sixth of the year in 13 seasonal starts.

In the second division, Southern Jade (Ray Paver) scored in a lifetime best 1:59.2. The sophomore daughter of Master Lavec-Wintergreen is owned by James B. Bianchi and trained by Hugh Beatty. R U Watching (Jim Dailey) and Less Stress (Russell Swartz) completed the trifecta.

Four divisions of the Billings contested

The fans sent Bob Troyer and Ima Spur off as the heavy favorite and the fans had a bit of concern when Troyer was forced to go a long mile, but the Pegasus Spur son held on for a 1-1/2 length victory over SJ’s Chuck (Tim Miller) in 1:58.4 in the opening division of the Billings Amateur Trot.

The win is Troyer’s fourth at Delaware and puts him into a first place tie with Roger Huston, Gregg Kiedel and Brent Davis for career Billings wins at Delaware.

Other divisions went to Filly Photo (Todd Whitney), Make It Hot (Bud Hatfield) and Eng-Amer Bobby (Stephen Oldfield).