by Bill Peters

Oak Harbor, OH — The Ottawa County Fair in Oak Harbor, Ohio wrapped up its two-day meet with a nine-race program on Tuesday, July 20. Featured on the program were the Portage River Pace, which is a part of the Signature Series, and the Anniversary Trot, which was in honor of the 25th year of the very active Ottawa County Harness Horsemen’s Association.

Just Plain Jesse (Jailhouse Jesse-Just Plain Denise) grabbed the lone division of the 2-year-old colt trot in 2:09.1. John Konesky III is the gelding’s trainer-driver with Maryann and Patrick Konesky being the owners.

Those same Konesky connections captured the fastest split of the 3-year-old colt trot with Jesse Fect (Jailhouse Jesse-Perfect Comer). Jesse Fect toured the Oak Harbor oval in 2:02. The other division went to Win Master (Master Lavec-Sexy Sahbra) in 2:06. Roger Huard is Win Master’s owner-trainer with Jason Thompson picking up the winning catch-drive.

Duke Sugg was the winning driver in both divisions of the 2-year-old colt pace. The fastest split went to Manny Shuffle (Mantacular-Lady Shuffle) in 2:03.1. Ivan Sugg trains the colt and co-owns him with Dr. Robert Hutchison and Dr. Randy Hutchison. Mary Halbisen-Einsel’s Goes On Forever (Stand Forever-Noble Sooze) won the other division in 2:04.1. Pat Karcher is the trainer of Goes On Forever.

The Bill Webb-trained Solid Stand (Stand Forever-Candy Kiss) found the winner’s circle in the lone division of the 3-year-old colt pace. Solid Stand’s 1:58.4 mile was the fastest of the two-day meet. Webb co-owns the gelding with Brady and Jane Galliers, while Mark Headworth did the piloting.

Kathy Hawk’s Forever Friendly won the Portage River Pace in 2:00.2. Chris Short trains the gelding with 17-year-old Tyler Smith getting the winning drive.

Baked Azalea came home first in the fastest division of the Anniversary Trot with a mile in 2:00. Orrin Turner is the owner-trainer-driver of the 10-year-old mare. The other split went to Ronald Zeman’s La’sent in 2:07.4. Karen Tkaczyk trains La’sent with Mark Headworth doing the driving.