by Keith Gisser, Project Manager, Harness Horse Youth Foundation

East Rutherford, NJ — During the Saturday, January 12 race card at The Meadowlands, Martin Scharf presented Julia Zenker, the daughter of Deborah Lass and Drew Zenker, with a $15,000 check as the winner of the Gallo Blue Chip scholarship. Zenker is a graduate of New York’s Port Jervis High School and is currently attending Wagner College in Staten Island majoring in Philosophy and Spanish, in pursuit of a law degree. She has maintained a 3.9 GPA at Wagner. The scholarship is named for Scharf’s great pacer, who retired as the richest pacer in the history of the sport, earning over $4.25 million dollars in his career, which lasted from 1999-2005.

Lisa Photo

Martin Scharf, at left, in the Meadowlands winners circle with Julia Zenker, 3rd from left and flanked by her parents.

For the last two years Zenker has divided her summer days between being a full time exercise rider at the Schnittker Stable and parade marshal at Goshen Historic Track. She has worked with several other trainers at Goshen since she was young. She also has a wide array of non-equine volunteer experience, including tutoring at El Centro del Inmigrante in Staten Island (The Immigration Center of Staten island), She has also interned With the Calro Project, been a project aide at the African Refugee Center in Staten Island, and served as Generation Citizen Campus Executive Director at Wagner)

The HHYF has posted applications for the 2013 Gallo Blue Chip Scholarship on the website. The Harness Horse Youth Foundation is a charitable 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing young people and their families educational opportunities with harness horses, in order to foster the next generation of participants and fans. The Foundation has been making a difference in young people’s lives since 1976, and its programs include interactive learning experiences with these versatile animals, scholarship programs, and creation and distribution of educational materials. For more information on opportunities through HHYF, or to support its mission, go to www.hhyf.org.