by Bob Lieberman

Plainville, MA — It all started in 2001, when eight gentlemen decided to organize an amateur driving club, elected officers and raced at Plainridge Racecourse. The rest is history for this group.

They were given the opportunity to hold matinee races before the regular races. The races were co-sponsored by the Plainridge Racecourse management team of C.O.O. Gary Piontkowski, General Manager Steve O’Toole and the Harness Horsemen’s Association of New England. The race track management team and racing secretary Paul Verrette were totally behind this new idea 100 percent.

In 2002, the Association added a few more members with proper licenses and they were given the green light to race in pari-mutuel races, which helped the organization draw in new members as things continued to move in a positive direction.

The organization was now able to donate monies to charities and more members continued to come on board. By 2005 the membership rose to 25 active members and they were still making regular donations to charitable causes throughout the year.

Heading into 2010, the membership again has increased, and the best thing that has happened, according to original member and current President Bill Abdelnour, is the group continues to contribute to charity.

“We are so lucky to be able to donate all the monies that we can to a lot of charities that can really use the help and it gives our club such a big boost that you can’t believe it,” he said. “Within the last five years, we have probably donated around $20,000 to charities and we originally started with nothing, so we have come a long way in that department, and also the ability of the drivers have also improved — which also helped.”

The club is a non-profit organization with a 501c (3) rating and is looking for new members all the time. The club is open to anyone with a valid harness racing license. Any interested parties should click onto the club Web site at www.neahdc.com.