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Susan
Schroder, the new Ohio Harness Horsemans Association Project
Coordinator, the
was guest speaker at the 2016 Darke County Harness
Horsemans Saturday at the
Elks Lodge in Greenville. CNO Photos By
George Starks
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Harness
Horseman Annual banquet held
Schroder keynote speaker
By George Starks
GREENVILLE- Saturday night, the Darke County Harness Horseman held its
annual banquet at the Elks Lodge in Greenville.
Susan Schroder, the new Ohio Harness Horsemans Association (OHHA)
Project Coordinator, was the keynote speaker, telling the large
gathering that harness horse racing is coming on strong in Ohio with
the Gene Riegle Memorial being the biggest draw in the county fairs in
Ohio.
Schroder was very upbeat in her speech telling the large crowd that the
OHHA will be helping the county fairs with harness racing by paying two
days of insurance.
A qhuge help for all fairs that have harness racing.
Before Schroder addressed the gathering, she spoke at length to this
reporter.
She started with as mnew idea.
"I will be working closely with the fairs in Ohio," said Schroder. "We
will be introducing something new this year, 'Racing With the Stars'.
There have been several stars that have owned race horses. Annette
Funicello and Micheal Landon (Little House on the Prarie and Bonanza)
are just two celebrities that owned race horses. We're going to
showcase the Ohio stars and we think the fans will like that. It will
be like a traveling exhibit that will go from fair to fair."
With 88 counties in Ohio, it was Darke County that caught the attention
of Schroder.
"I've heard a lot about this county fair," said Schroder. "I wanted to
come here tonight and see the grounds but I was a little late getting
here today. I did see the fairgrounds from the road as I can in and was
very impressed with it."
Now the Project Coordinator, Schroder will look to do what her title
suggests.
"I'm going to promote these tracks and the races," Schroder stated. "I
want to get more people in the seats and fairboards like this. When
they look in the grandstands and only see a handful of people!e, it
doesn't bode well for us so we're helping the fairs to increase
attendance at the races. We Weil be using the Gebbie Press go help
promote the fairs. This is a service that sends out press releases so
we will be using this in the future."
Coming to Ohio as a Project Coordinator, Schroder brings a solid
background with her. As a person that grew up around horses and the
tracks, Schroder is no stranger to the scene.
In tme, Schroder would like to see fais without harness racing to have
it.
"There's lot of money out there available to the fairs through
harness racing," added Schroder. "So if these fairs have a track, we
need to make the racing more attractive to them."
Schroder went on to say that with the purse amounts, she hopes this
will be more appealing to the younger generation, bringing them into
the racing scene.
"I think we have to express the excitement of the sport to the younger
kids," said Schroder. "This is a sport where anybody can do it. It's
not like thurobred racing where you have the little guy on the horse.
It's not the same and anyone casn do it."
There will also be as big change this year ąs the Three Diamonds will
be replaced by the Arnie Almahurst Trot.
Arnie Almahurst was another horse trained by Gene Riegle.
More about this race will come after the annual spring matinee on May
22nd at the Darke County Fairgrounds.
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Richard
Delk and State Representative, Jim Buchy, accepted a donation
from Fitzwater
Lawn and Tree Service. Pictured left to right: Front-
Emily Hay (Dist. OHHA Rep), Richard
Delk and Jim Buchy. Back- Jim
Zumbrink, Dean Neff, Doug Martin and Jerry Marker.
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2015
champions in 11 categories were awarded their championships. The
2016 season
will get underway on May 22 with the annual spring matinee
at the darkje County fairgrounds.
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Four local womens drivers pose with Jim Buchy. Mandy Jones was the
overall points
champion in the innuagural Womens Challenge in 2015.
Pictured left to right are Emily Hay,
Mandy Jones, Jim Buchy, Tabitha
Canarr and Urrika Fox.
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