When he was a young child, around the age of 4 or 5, Pep Moretti sat down with some crayons and began to create his own harness racing driving colors. Now, three decades later, he hopes to begin on a path to put his design to use. Moretti, a police officer from Illinois, is among the 20 participants in the 18th annual U.S. Trotting Association Driving School, which got underway Wednesday (May 31) at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in central Ohio with a welcome dinner and keynote address from Bob Boni, the founder and president of Northwood Bloodstock Agency and co-owner of 2016 Horse of the Year Always B Miki.
Category: Driving School
Cody Coy has been ‘quite the teacher’
Cody Coy has always been special to Carl Easterday Jr. and his wife Chris. Purchased for $2,500 at the 2010 Ohio Selected Jug Sale, the now 8-year-old trotter has won 30 races and earned $188,028 in his career. He was one of the top 2-year-olds on the Ohio circuit, but took a bad step in the days leading up to the Ohio Sire Stakes championship and was sidelined with a cracked pastern. He got to compete in the Sire Stakes final at 3, where he was second by a neck to Rock N Jessie.
USTA Driving School graduates open Bed and Breakfast
Beth and Steve Podhajecki, graduates of the USTA Driving School, have gone pro, but not on the racetrack.
Simpson aims for PA stakes, but first Weiss final
Gary Simpson likes what he’s seen so far from Rewind Again. He hopes the best is yet to come. Rewind Again, the winner of three of seven races this year, competes in Monday’s $30,000 Bobby Weiss Series championship for 3- and 4-year-old female pacers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. She will leave from post No. 9 with driver Victor Kirby.
A different kind of horsepower
Sitting behind a horse wasn’t Mike Cayouette’s first time around a track. Before he found harness racing, Cayouette was active in snowmobile racing. “We raced on horse tracks; they iced them down in the wintertime and we raced on them,” said Cayouette, who lives in Maine. “(Racing) a snowmobile is a little easier,” he added with a laugh. “You’ve got a little more control with that one.”
Winning ‘student’ hopes to become winning ‘teacher’
After winning a race several years ago at Goshen Historic Track as a “student,” Kimberly Gilman-Daios hopes to notch a victory at the upstate New York oval as a “teacher.” Gilman-Daios won the U.S. Trotting Association Driving School exhibition race at Historic Track in 2012, with assistance from professional driver Gareth Dowse. Gilman-Daios attended the USTA Driving School because she wanted to get licensed as a trainer and driver, which she did soon after completing the program.
Love of Standardbreds led Jennifer Leslie to Driving School
When Jennifer Leslie left her job as a social worker for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency in Washington, D.C., and returned to her roots in Lexington, Ky., she was uncertain of her future. But when Leslie looked back on the most joyful days of her life, she realized horses were at the center of it.
Hays and Shoults prepare for horse ownership at Driving School
When Jim Hays was growing up in Corydon, Ind., his family seemed to be the only one in town without a racehorse. Hays, who celebrates his 67th birthday Saturday, hopes to finally change that in the near future. Hays and his partner Linda Shoults are among the 33 participants in the 17th annual U.S. Trotting Association Driving School, being held this year at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in central Ohio. The couple is looking forward to getting their own horses and competing on the fair circuit in Indiana.
Dawn Potter is enjoying her time at Driving School
It’s been nearly five years since Big Bad John won the Little Brown Jug, but Dawn Potter still gets emotional when she thinks back to that magical day. Potter’s husband, Ron, trained Big Bad John, who won the 2011 Little Brown Jug at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in central Ohio. Recently, Dawn started jogging horses. And on Thursday, she took horses around the fairgrounds’ oval as a participant in the 17th annual U.S. Trotting Association Driving School.
USTA Driving School opens
The 17th annual U.S. Trotting Association Driving School got underway Wednesday at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in central Ohio with a welcome dinner and keynote address from trainer George Teague Jr., the owner of harness racing’s 2015 Horse of the Year, Wiggle It Jiggleit.