by Bob Carson

Editor’s Note: The USTA website is pleased to present freelance writer Bob Carson and his popular “Outside the Box” features. This monthly series is a menu of outlandish proposals presented with a wink — but the purpose behind them is serious. The views contained in this column are that of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the United States Trotting Association.

Bob Carson

A trio of GPS devices did not save me. I could get lost in a fast food drive-thru. This time, however, losing my way proved to be a happy interlude in a hustle bustle world. The roads were narrow blacktop, my windows were down and the location was somewhere in northcentral Ohio (I hoped). An occasional Amish buggy made up the majority of the traffic. The natural serenity was a blessing.

Over the crest of the next hill on my road to who-knew-where, I stumbled across a magical sight. On my left, carved between green crops was a baseball field, complete with a wire backstop and a diamond of base paths. With great enthusiasm, at least 20 Amish boys and girls were playing the great American pastime.

I carefully pulled my car to the side of the road, turned off the thump of the radio and watched this real life field of dreams. A cell phone beep interrupted my reverie. I let it ring. I glanced at the I-pad, computer, chargers and cords on the passenger seat. Then I looked at the Amish children racing around the bases. The contrast was obvious.

The baseball game was an unexpected perk. My ultimate destination was an auction of trotting horses. A few weeks earlier, an invitation from Robert Hershberger at Dublin Farms put me on this road. He suggested, “Maybe you would like to come back and see our trotting auction, you will be surprised and you will enjoy it.”

I came. I saw. I was surprised and found the day to be a pleasure.

The official title of the event is The Mid-Ohio Memorial Trotting Sale. The 2016 edition will be the fourth year of the sale. An afternoon in the Ohio countryside will cover plenty of bases, a pleasant day where “English” visitors are welcome and trotting horses are held in high esteem.

It is important to note that the stars of this sale are not destined to show up at your local harness racetrack. To this point, the majority of the catalogued horses have been for transportation with just a slight dusting of racing prospects. A non-Amish horseperson’s initial visit to this sale should be viewed more as a vacation than a business trip.

Mt. Hope, Ohio is located in the heart of the booming Amish tourism area. There are hotels, inns, restaurants, furniture shops, hardware stores and tours aplenty. According to the enterprising Hershberger, one of the organizers of the trotting sale, “We really want to encourage English to visit, it is absolutely not just for Amish people, all are welcome.”

Racing enthusiasts might consider a visit to the sale this May a scouting trip, a warm up for the future. Next year, a bit of harness horse racing business may be combined with the pleasures of Amish country. The driving force behind the sale, the youthful Hershberger is now standing harness racing stallions at Dublin Farms. Future sales, perhaps as early as next year, will have young racehorse prospects to interest both Amish and English buyers.

The scale of this sale was amazing. It is a big time event — sort of the Amish Super Bowl. The Ohio Amish population in 2015 was listed as 69,255. Pulling into the parking lot, it appeared they all showed up for trotter mania. I may have been the only one wearing shorts or not wearing a long dress, but everyone was friendly and welcoming.

The trotting sale was both familiar and unusual.

It was familiar in that the usual sales rules applied. It was open to Standardbred trotters with papers only, all horses were cataloged with no substitutes, all horses must have a negative Coggins test dated within six months of the date of auction, etc.

However, a few slants on this sale differentiated it from traditional horse sales. Obviously, most of the audience was Amish. The sale was a very social event with a portion of the proceeds earmarked to help with medical expenses for families in need.

There was a waiting list to get into the book of 130 trotting horses. The first horse up for sale did not take place until three o’clock. The late start allowed travelers to trot to Mt. Hope from neighboring communities. Customers arrived early to kick some tires and take some test rides. The catalog encouraged buyers to drive horses in open buggies so they could see how they looked on the road.

When horses were brought into the sales ring, it was not really a ring. As the auctioneers talked, and as the bidders bid, each horse was driven back and forth around a barbell shaped dirt track, while thousands of eyes watched each step.

Pedigree pages played a key role in the sale. The audience followed famous bloodlines. The names below are familiar to trotting aficionados everywhere.

2015 Sale Highlights:

2-year-old stallion by Royal Strength–Balanced Image dam @$40,000
4-year-old mare by Andover Hall–SJ’s Photo dam @$23,000
5-year-old mare by Deweycheatumnhowe–Pine Chip dam @$20,000
7-year-old gelding by Credit Winner–Meadow Road dam @$17,000
10-year-old stallion by Broadway Hall–Muscles Yankee dam @$14,000

Travel recommendations are dicey territory. Some people like jetting to Club Med on a Pacific island, others enjoy a club soda on a rustic cabin porch. I sure enjoyed my afternoon with a club sandwich in the grandstands of Mt. Hope surrounded by trotting horses. Should you want to put away the cell phone and roll down the windows, on May 27 you can take the advice of Robert Frost:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Mid Ohio Memorial Cataloged Trotting Sale-27 May 2016-3 p.m.
Catalog will be available online at www.mthopeauction.com. Mt Hope Auction, Mid Ohio Trotting Sale. P.O. Box 82, Mt Hope, OH. For more information contact Robert Hershberger/Dublin Valley Stables, Fredericksburg, OH 330.231.6209, Jonas Hershberger, Middlefield, OH 440.897.0139 or Thurman Mullet at 330.674.6188.