by Garnet Barnsdale

Fair racing season is in full-flight in Ohio and sometimes you see some things happen at the fairs that you aren’t likely to see watching racing from a major circuit, especially when young horses are involved.

Such a race was contested by rookie trotters at the Logan County Fair in Bellefontaine, OH on Wednesday, which featured some racing oddities.

The first race on the card was a two-year-old colt trot early closer for a purse of $3,805 raced over a good track. The even money favorite, I’mnotlikemymom was by Mr Apples, which was the first oddity being that Mr Apples is a pacer and from his first 20 offspring to hit the track, this was the first trotter. I’mnotlikemymom is the first foal out of the Firm Belief mare Firm N Sassy, being a homebred owned by Joyce Jackson of Urbana, OH.

I’mnotlikemymom made a break at the start of this one-mile dash, but somehow, he found himself 30 lengths in front as the field passed the opening quarter in :34, which is a bit hard to imagine. Meanwhile, there were two other breakers at the start, yet the three horses that managed to stay trotting were behind by 30, 41 and 46 lengths respectively after a quarter. Williewewinkle trotted his opening quarter in :43.1.

Passing the half, all but one of the rookie trotters stayed on gait as a second consecutive :34 quarter was carved out by leader I’mnotlikemymom, who continued to enjoy a 30-length bulge on Tc’s Happy Times, who would be heard from later in the mile.

By the time the leader hit the 3/4 pole in 1:43.2, his lead was down to 10 lengths and evaporating quickly as Tc’s Happy Times and driver Jay Weller were closing the gap quickly.

Down the stretch, Tc’s Happy Times would pass the leader and go on to an 8 3/4 length win, with only one problem. He galloped most of the lane without losing ground and he was placed second behind I’mnotlikemymom, driven by Jack Dailey. Never Looked Finer, the only colt in the race that did not break stride at some point, finished third beaten 10 lengths.

While I’mnotlikemymom could do no better than trot a :35.3 final quarter, he survived an event-filled Logan County fair dash to become pacer Mr. Apples’ first winning trotting progeny, and he now sports an unbeaten record and a mark of 2:19.