Harness racing set to begin Thursday
at Logan County Fair     Send a link to a friend

[JULY 30, 2003]  More than $80,000 in prize money will be on the line when the first of four harness racing programs goes to the post on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Logan County Fair. Hall of Famer Del Insko and leading Illinois trainer Ervin Miller are among the horsemen scheduled to compete.

Insko, 72, of South Beloit, went from racing for $200 purses on the Minnesota fair circuit to dominating the driving ranks in Chicago before winning the $2,000 Woodrow Wilson Pace with Land Grant at The Meadowlands in 1980. Insko will compete in Thursday's Illini 3-year-old trot with Frenchrose, who broke a track record at Farmer City two weeks ago.

Miller, an Arthur native who trains more than 70 horses at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, will showcase one of the state's top 2-year-old trotters when Blake's Charger goes toward the post for an $8,600 purse in another Illini Colt Association event. A winner in three of his four starts, Blake's Charger is a son of former Logan County Fair track record-holder Betty Irene, who won a $13,000 contest for juvenile trotters at Lincoln in 1989.

In other action, Mrs. Grant Four will tackle a field of 2-year-old pacers for a purse of $4,700 on Thursday, having posted seven wins and two runner-up finishes from nine starts on the year. Pat DeLong, a 20-year-old reinsman from Clinton, Wis., will be in the race bike.

Harness racing is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. each day from Thursday through Sunday at the Logan County Fair, with Sunday's program to be highlighted by the 12th annual Downstate Classic Stakes for combined purses of approximately $50,000.

[News release]

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