by Bill Peters

Oak Harbor, OH — Speed was the name of the game at the Ottawa County Fair at Oak Harbor, Ohio, this past week as seven of the fair’s 10 track records were broken. A big thank you goes out to the track crew of Rich Peterson, Ron Baker, and Rich McGlaughlin for all of their hours of hard work to get the track in excellent racing shape.

Lady Edith (Pilgrims Taj-Hooray For Melody) got the record breaking underway by trotting to a 1:58.4 mile in the 3-year-old filly trot. The time broke both the 3-year-old filly trot record and the overall trotting track record. The old 3-year old filly mark was 2:00.3 by Beehomeontime in 2007 while the previous overall record was 1:59.3 by both Lord Arnold in 1994 and Cinder Char in 2002. Lady Edith is owned by Richard Griffith with Kirk Sparks doing the training and Cameron McCown getting the record-setting drive.

Trainer-driver Tommy Householder steered Dejarming (Dejarmbro-Sheza Jessie) to a 2:04.1 mile to break the 2-year-old filly trot record. The old record was 2:04.3 by Sexy Sahbra in 2001. Andrea Householder co-owns Dejarming with Tommy Householder.

Sureimalynn (Upfront Hannahsboy-Graystone Lynne) snapped the 3-year-old filly pace mark by stopping the timer in 1:57.4. The old record was 1:58.2 by both Pocket O’Dreams in 2000 and Cinco DeMayo in 2002. Pierce Henry had the winning drive on Sureimalynn for owner Phil Groves and trainer Harry Groves.

Secret Trainer (Trainforthefuture-Chiptoria Secret) trotted to a 1:59.4 mile to break the 3-year-old colt trot record. The previous record was 2:01.1 by Rose Run Fastball in 2004. Mike Medors trains Secret Trainer for owners Bob Sidley and Carl Anders, Jr. Duke Sugg had the winning catch-drive on Secret Trainer.

David Lake piloted Big Bad Jason (Big Bad John-Under Her Spell) to a record-equaling mile in the second division of the 2-year-old colt pace. The time of 2:00.2 was the same as for Charging Sahbra in 1999 and Town Bullet in 2002. Kent Hess trains Big Bad Jason for owner Ted Boschma.

Two races after Big Bad Jason’s win, Dancin Fever (Indian Fever-First To Cruise) captured the third division of the 2-year-old colt pace with a record-setting time of 1:58.3. Bill Webb trains Dancin Fever and co-owns him with the D and K Stables LLC. Mark Headworth was the winning driver. Oddly, Dancin Fever’s dam First To Cruise holds the track’s 2-year-old filly pace record of 1:59.2, set in 2008.

The trio of David Lake, Kent Hess, and Ted Boschma found the winner’s circle again after Back The Bank (Break The Bank K-Accountability) broke the 2-year-old colt trotting mark with a mile in 2:02.4. The old mark was 2:03 by Sir James in 2012.

The fastest mile for the week came in the second split of the 3-year-old colt pace when Princeofrocknroll (World Of Rocknroll-Ballroom Princess) came home in 1:57.1 for driver Greg Bateson. Kirk Sparks trains Princeofrocknroll with Carol Johnston picking up the expenses.

Mark Headworth was the leading driver for the meet with five wins. Tyler Bates, Kirk Sparks, Indalecio Arriaga, Bill Webb, Harry Groves, and Kent Hess each had two wins as trainers to share honors in that category.

In addition to the track crew, a big congratulations to Speed Superintendent Ed Wagner and his office help of Nancy Lajti and Patti Knipp for putting on an excellent race program. Also, a big thanks to Hunter Holton with the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association’s “Racing with the Stars” exhibit for getting about 20 young kids to participate in the stick-horse races.

Racing action continues in the Ohio Fair Racing Conference this weekend with the Union County Fair at Marysville hosting racing on Saturday (July 23) and Sunday (July 24). Post time will be 12:30 p.m. each day.

The Seneca County Fair at Tiffin will closely follow that with racing on Monday (July 25) at 6 p.m. and Tuesday (July 26) at 1 p.m.