by Mary Lou Lawless

Independence, IA — July 4th dawned bright and beautiful at the Humboldt County Fair track in Humboldt, Iowa, where about 70 horses competed in 11 contests for $40,000 in purses on Wednesday afternoon.

Sporting red, white and blue attire, a smiling and always supportive State Representative Delores Mertz pronounced county fair racing “a special, positive form of entertainment” and graced the winner’s circle as the program got underway.

Mary Lou Lawless photo

Family members of Mark and Ethel Insko celebrate at Humboldt on July 4th.

An unprecedented, four generation tribute to Iowa natives Mark and Ethel Insko included a guest drive by national and Iowa harness racing Hall of Fame member Delmer “Del” Insko, and highlighted the $18,000 sophomore pacing series which was named in their honor.

Princess Zoie, by Village Juno, out of the Sportsmaster mare Lady Fantasy, claimed the first leg of the memorial race, in 2:01 flat, and her half-sister, Sun Belle Perfect (Village Juno-Almost Exactly-Cole Muffler), closely mimicked her performance in the second of the four contests, achieving the same time. Both fillies are trained by Curtis Carey of Columbus Junction and were driven to perfection by John De Long of Clinton, Wisconsin for the Carey/Clinton stables and, in Zoie’s case, for partner R.N. Ainesworth of Cedar Rapids as well.

Racing connections of both winners readily agreed, without the flip of a coin, that the girls could take turns wearing the stunning gold lettered, royal purple memorial blanket, and all came together for a photo with the Insko Family.

Trained and driven by Will Roland of Gilman, Iowa, Roger Roland’s flamboyant Panaramic Art, by Hot Pans, captured the third leg of the Insko Pace in 2:03, and his stablemate and half-brother R Capital Gains, owned by Will Roland and Brandon Simpson, got the winner’s share of the final $4,500 purse for his 2:03.2 victory.

The $19,000 Glen Jenson Memorial Trot was contested in alternate races 2, 4, 6, and 8, for $4,750 per race, and the trophy blanket was awarded to Long Beach Tuffy (Tuff As Millie-Miss Patty L-Swiss Connection), the speediest trotter of the day, in 2:04.2. Trained by Curtis Carey and driven on this day by Nick Roland, the colt is owned by N.J. Acton of Branson, Mo. and Jeff and Nancy Carey of Columbus Junction, Iowa.

Other winners in the Jenson Memorial Series included Cyclone May, by Lucky Twenty Five, owned by Dr. Jim Cummings of Bedford, Iowa, trained by Michael Conte and driven by John Reese; Rick Huffman’s Whatgetsyougoin, by Band Of Chips, owned by Rick in partnership with Martha Walker of Washington, Iowa; and the Six Alarm colt Tap Dancin, owned, trained and driven by Brian Larson of Canton, S.D., in 2:08.4.

Winners of $1,000 condition races were the Hot Pans filly, JR Flash (2:06.4), trained, driven and owned by Dan Roland, in partnership with Steven Arkema and James Henderson; the Band Of Chips filly BB Band (2:06.3), bred, owned, trained and driven by Jim Reese of Bedford; and the Armbro Khaki colt Sonofastreak (2:04.2), driven by Scott Smith for trainer Mike Smith, who shares ownership with Debbie Philipp.

Iowa racing moves to What Cheer this weekend, where two huge Iowa Registered programs will be contested and $80,000 in purses awarded. First post time is 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.