by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Williamsport, PA — He races at The Meadows, Pocono Downs and Harrah’s Chester, but Joe Offutt, Pennsylvania’s Trainer of the Year, confesses there’s something about the fair circuit that cleaves to his heart.

“I actually met my wife, Karen, at one of the (Pennsylvania) fairs back in 1977,” the 55-year-old Woodsboro, Md. native said with a chuckle. “She was there for the day with her sister, who was parking cars, and back then, she didn’t know a thing about horse racing.

“That sure changed,” he continued. “While our boys were growing up, she was right there with me at the fairs — even when we had one in the stroller and two running around — getting the horses ready to race.”

PHRC photo

Joe Offutt (left) is presented the 2008 Pennsylvania Trainer of the Year award by Terry Schoeffel, president of the PA Fair Horsemen’s Association.

Offutt, who keeps roughly 35-40 head on his farm and trained the fair circuit’s top 3-year-old trotter Tooth Ache, also regularly competes at Rosecroft Raceway, Colonial Downs and occasionally the Meadowlands. He has earned more than $13 million — $6.5 million in the bike and nearly $6.6 million as a conditioner — throughout his 40-year career and his UTR percentage has only dipped below .300 twice since the USTA began compiling training records in 1991.

“Ever since I was a kid my parents had a farm, actually three farms, with dairy cattle and racehorses,” Offutt explained. “My dad, Bernard, had a real good horse for Maryland when I was about 14 or 15 and that kind of got me into racing. I started buying horses, picked up a few owners, and I’ve just been going at it ever since.”

Like his father, Offutt’s family and farm are two of the main components in his life. His son, Timothy (26), co-owns the Pennsylvania fair circuit’s leading 2-year-old pacing colt DVC Firm Believer with Ryan Knott (27) of Walkersville, Md.

“Timmy, my middle boy, and my youngest Chris (23), help me with the horses and they are really into it,” he said. “They both can drive and are doing very well. Michael (27), my oldest, still lives on the farm, but he works for the government. Maybe we should have had him jog more horses when he was younger.

“We have the main farm and the dairy farm,” Offutt continued. “My brother bought my parents’ third farm. We basically have our own feed mill here and make our own hay and straw. We are pretty self-sufficient and do our own insemination, electric, plumbing and shoeing. My dad shod for a lot of years and so did my brother. I learned when I was about 17 and taught my boys. Timmy and Chris can both shoe real well.”

When Offutt was younger, he raced simply for fun, but as he grew older, it became a way to pay the bills. Although this business is often not profitable, he still prefers this occupation to any other.

“(Racing) is much better than having a job elsewhere,” Offutt said. “No one has to leave home and we are in it together as a family. We spend almost all our time together and most families are not that close, if you know what I mean. It’s been real good to and for us.”

The Offutt family is extremely proud of Joe’s Trainer of the Year trophy.

“You always want to win something like that and we have it on the mantel (at the farm),” he said. “It’s a great thing to have and it’s very nice to have the recognition.”

Offutt is uncertain about what the future holds and may add Tioga Downs to his racing itinerary, but he does know one thing.

“Wherever we are, we are going to be competitive,” he said. “We have to go where we can make money and if we don’t do well, we aren’t going to be hanging around too long.”