By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
On Thursday evening, the Crawford County Fair featured something that hadn’t been seen in a while at the grandstands – multiple days of horse racing.
After some extra money was released to the fairs from the state of Ohio, it allowed for many of the fairs to gain larger purses specifically for harness racing.
Crawford County Fair Treasurer Tom Laughbaum explained. “The VTL’s and the casinos that extra money comes in, this came from Ohio Harness Racing Association, they got the money this year, sometimes it comes from the Ohio State Racing commission,” Laughbaum said. “I think it was $6,000 a race from the Ohio Harness Racing Association, so the rest of it is the horsemen’s money, and it encourages more people to race.”
With the extra money at stake, it drew in international harness racing competitors. One such competitor was trainer/driver Tom Litt, who traveled to the fair circuit of harness racing from Canada. Litt, whose horse, Real Wicked, went from last to second only to be beaten by a head, reflected on his time in Ohio.
“This is only my first day here, the fair circuit around here is pretty nice,” Litt said. “I’m liking it over here, and enjoying the races. It is nice to go somewhere and have some fun.”
Litt explained that growing up in the harness racing business influenced him to carry on the family tradition.
“It has been generational, I am the fourth generation in my family, so I guess I would say the tradition of it.”
While waiting for his name to be called, horse trainer/driver Duke Sugg reflected on what an added day of racing meant to him as a competitor.
“More opportunity, you know there is more horses being bred in Ohio right now, so it is nice that they split the days up,” Sugg said. “Back in the 80’s and 90’s there were a lot of fairs that had three days of racing.
“It is a little bit more convenient to bring a horse in for two days, for one, because the fair can only accommodate so many races and horses,” Sugg added. “So there is more opportunity for a driver to race horses right now.”