Frederick, MD — Unsettled weather this past Wednesday and a cancellation of that day’s card hardly dampened the spirits surrounding the harness racing action at the historic Western Maryland oval this last week. The 162nd installment of The Great Frederick Fair delivered several memorable moments.
The Thursday finale saw a new track record for pacers occur with the 1:57.3 mile of Freddie Faves. The 6-year-old was driven by Kevin Altig and trained by owner Steve Wetzel. This new course record surpassed a three-way tie of 1:58 that had been accumulating for over a decade.
On Saturday’s action, Gary Botsch won the opening mile, a match race, with Count Chocalot, to strike a 500th career driving victory. Botsch, a long time man about the racing action in the Mid-Atlantic, scored his first driving victory as a teenager in 1977 at Frederick with Emmy Liner.
Botsch had a banner week at Frederick, as he additionally led all drivers in the meet with five total wins. Brian Tomlinson finished second by collecting four.