by Tami Hartman

Circleville, OH — A heavy thunderstorm this past Saturday morning caused the Pickaway County Fair harness races to delay post time by a half-hour.

Fifty ladies attending the races were presented with a carnation, and the races were opened with a brief ceremony acknowledging the contributions of several ladies to harness racing in the county. Linda Pollock, Jean Fissell, Carolyn Cline, Helen Stant, Sara Short, Ann Short, Barb Porter, and Donna Anderson were all present to be honored.

The first race was won by well-known Ohio driver Chip Noble, but unfortunately, track conditions necessitated the cancellation of the rest of the card on Saturday.

Father-son team Mike and Hunter Myers worked several hours to get the track in shape for racing on Sunday morning. Saturday’s card was resumed at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday’s race card began at its scheduled time of 1 p.m., making for a total of 21 heats raced that day.

Driver Chip Noble continued his winning ways, winning four races during the meet. The fastest race was the featured 85th District Pace, won by Forever Friendly. The Kathy Hawk trained pacer was driven to victory by Chip Noble’s son, Dan.

It was also a successful meet for horsemen who train at the Circleville fairgrounds. Al Jones, Bryan Weaver, Tom Blankenship and a newcomer to the grounds, Jerry Kutschback, Jr., were all winners.

In addition, Sunday’s races featured a remembrance of several individuals who had passed away since the last harness meet. The families of Doug Parker, John Fissell, Dr. Robert McCoy, Dr. John Haughn and Robert Collins participated in a ceremony honoring the support and contributions of their loved ones to harness racing in Pickaway County.

Despite the poor weather both days, the harness racing meet was completed successfully and, once again, provided an exciting kick-off to the county fair.