by Chris Tully, general manager, Goshen Historic Track

Goshen, NY — High School seniors from 12 Orange County, New York school districts have been selected from dozens of applicants to represent their respective schools in the second annual Goshen Historic Track High School Scholarship Race.

Last year’s inaugural event was developed and orchestrated by leading trainer/driver Ray Schnittker, who single-handedly raised $40,000 in purse money that was distributed to local college-bound seniors and the school districts they represented.

This year’s event will feature two six-horse elimination races on Sunday, June 6, in conjunction with Historic Track’s Youth Day Matinee Races. The first four finishers from each division will return to their two-seated jog carts, coupled with leading professional drivers, to compete in an eight-horse final on Sunday, June 20. The new final race format was added to increase exposure and is slated to coincide with the Richie Ingrassia Hall of Fame Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, June 20, at 8 a.m.

Goshen Historic Track photo

Ciara Scrobe is all smiles while learning to drive a racehorse with Ray Schnittker.

With two weeks to prepare, the participants were all at Historic Track this past Saturday morning to learn about harness racing and to practice driving racehorses. Many of the students were working directly with Schnittker, who personally instructed them on driving skills and even let them turn the ‘right way’ of the track.

“All the girls did really well for their first time,” Schnittker noted. “I told them to come back and practice any chance they had.”

Team Schnittker was very helpful and had the horses ready one right after the other as the students waited anxiously for their maiden voyage. A handful of parents were in the grandstand taking pictures and were equally excited for their college-bound teens.

Following the racetrack experience, the students were treated to lunch and a guided tour of the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame.

The students were selected based on the quality of a written essay that was submitted along with their applications. All the participants were very enthusiastic about the event and are sure to be proud ambassadors for their particular high schools. The selected students are encouraged to bring family and friends to help cheer them on, as the school with the loudest and most populous representation will win an additional $1,000 school spirit scholarship.

The 12 lucky students, in alphabetical order by high school are: Kerry Lange, Burke; Ciara Scrobe, Chester; Katelyn Faliski, Florida; Chelsea Collins, Goshen; Claudia Anzini, Middletown; Beth Michel, Minisink Valley; Kelly Parness, Monroe-Woodbury; Alyson Haas, Pine Bush; Julia Zenker, Port Jervis; Jennifer Kelly, Tuxedo; Grace Caskey, Warwick Valley; and Danielle Dwyer, Washingtonville.

Matinee Racing at Goshen Historic Track begins with Youth Day on Sunday, June 6. Gates open at 9 a.m. with free admission for young people 18 and under. Post time is at 1 p.m. Fun-filled activities, which are co-sponsored by Orange-Ulster BOCES, include nationally-renowned ventriloquist Sylvia and the Magic Trunk, a petting zoo, representative horses from the Harness Horse Youth Foundation, police K-9 hurdle demonstration and bicycle safety, parent-child I.D. cards, fire trucks, I-pod giveaways and a whole lot more.

Matinee racing continues June 13 and June 20. In addition, The World’s Oldest Harness Track will celebrate 100 years of Grand Circuit racing July 2 through July 5, in conjunction with Goshen’s Great American Weekend.