by Mike Wandishin

It’s less than three weeks until the Great Pocomoke City Fair returns and preparations for its one day of harness racing are just about complete.

The harness racing will take place on August 25, with a first post of 12:30 p.m. Total purses are estimated to be in excess of $14,000 for the card and the entry box will be open from 12:00 noon on August 22 through 12:00 midnight on August 23.

This year two additional classes have been added to the condition sheet, they being an appoximate mile and a half “Survivor” trot-pace with up to seven starters, and the widely anticipated first annual Heavyweight Challenge, for pacers with drivers that weigh 250 pounds or more in their colors. Jog carts will be used for this “Battle of the Titans.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be the Great Pocomoke City Fair without the fifth annual Jack Dolby Stars Of The Future races for drivers 14 to 18. This event has become the centerpiece of the Fair’s races and several of the graduates of this program have gone on to become drivers and trainers, most notably Delmarva’s Rising Star Brandon Givens, who has gone on to be among the leading drivers at all three Delmarva peninsula tracks and has held his own when making an occasional trip to the Meadowlands.

For more details contact Mike Wandishin, Race Secretary, at (765) 621-7959, Chuck Barnes at (443) 235-9009, or visit the Great Pocomoke City Fair’s Web site at http://www.thegreatpocomokefair.org.

It is antipicated that with the continued growth and success a sanctioned meet will soon return to Pocomoke City on a limited basis; however, this year’s meet is unsanctioned by the USTA. This fair is the last of the primarily harness racing oriented fairs on the Eastern shore and it continues to grow in both purses and horses raced.