Wednesday, July 28, 2021
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Serving Kosciusko County and important parts of Noble & Marshall Counties
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Vol. 51, No. 5
Milford (574) 658-4111 • Warsaw (574) 269-2932 • Syracuse (574) 457-3666
HARNESS RACING
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
returns to Warsaw %\ '$9,' +$=/(',1( 6WDII :ULWHU
On June 18, harness horse racing returned to Warsaw for the first time in roughly 45 years, and few people were as pleased to see it as Steve and Kitty Pippenger of Leesburg. The Pippengers, along with Alan Earl, Vern Hostetler, Brandy Veach and others from International Trotting and Pacing Association and Kosciusko County Fair Board had worked hard to prepare a new, quarter-mile track at Kosciusko County 4-H Fairgrounds in the hopes of exposing more people to an exciting, yet largely unknown sport, which has enriched the lives of generations. “It’s coming back home,” said Steve. Pippenger drove in his first harness race at the age of nine; the youngster nabbed third place. His father trained and raised the ponies and his mother was a secretary for the club in Nappanee at that time. His wife and daughter have also raced. “It gets in your blood,” he commented. “Some people chase golf balls. I chase horse’s tails.” As a young man in the 1960s and ‘70s, Pippenger often raced ponies in Warsaw on a track also used for stock cars. “There was a big crowd of people in the Warsaw area involved at that time.” On June 18, Kitty Pippenger was in the grandstand, where she met several people who recalled those times. “It brought back fond memories,” she said. In fact, one couple had traveled from Michigan for the races. ITPA specializes in a particular brand of harness racing based on the Trottingbred horse, 6.< %281' ³ Steve Pippenger of Leesburg has been breeding, training and driving trottingbred horses since the early 1960s which was developed in the early 1960s by crossand drove in his flrst race at the age of nine. He is pictured with Sky Bound, a trotting stallion he hopes to breed eventually. Photo by ing the strong and tenacious Welsh, Hackney and David Hazledine. Shetland ponies with full standardbred horses for their speed. ITPA ponies cannot be more than 51.5 inches from the ground to the top of the wither. The terms “trotter” and “pacer” refer to the horse’s gait. “These ponies will get up and go,” exclaimed Mike Ganger, who broadcasts ITPA races from the area on YouTube to an audience from places as far-flung as Canada, Puerto Rico and Florida. “It’s like the little engine that could,” said Veach, the ITPA treasurer. “They just go so fast around those tracks … they put on quite a show.” “They have a knack for this,” explained Earl, a longtime trainer and driver. “Let them go and they’ll do the right thing.” Earl reckons about 20% of racing is the driver, 80% the horse. According to Veach, there are roughly 200 horses currently on the circuit from the Midwest and Canada; however, 180 of those are based in Indiana. Another draw is the price, usually $4 or $5. “It’s the cheapest ticket around,” Ganger observed. Nappanee Raceway, for example, “fills up really quick,” he added, with many coming to see particular drivers or horses. “They come to watch certain people race … a neighbor kid, a friend from work … and they know their colors.” Steve Pippenger commented. “We have good hopes for that track,” said Veach of Warsaw. “It’s a beautiful track, wide, and with a lake behind it.” At a quarter mile, the horses go around twice, usually completing the race in just over one minute, a far cry from the two minute races Pippenger remembers from the sixties. 1(&. $1' 1(&. ³ +DUQHVV UDFLQJ UHWXUQHG WR :DUVDZ RQ -XQH ZKHQ WKH ,QWHUQDWLRQDO 7URWWLQJ The next ITPA race in Warsaw will be held Sept. 10-11. Pippenger DQG 3DFLQJ $VVRFLDWLRQ DQG FRXQW\ IDLU YROXQWHHUV FUHDWHG D ODNHVLGH WUDFN DW .RVFLXVNR &RXQW\ + is optimistic. “If we can keep continuing to grow it could be just phenom)DLUJURXQGV 3LFWXUHG LQ WKH ÀUVW UDFH DUH IURQW WR EDFN 5\DQ <RGHU ZLWK .RRO 7KXQGHU 1DWH 0LOOHU ZLWK enal,” 3RNH\·V 7RS )OLJKW DQG -5 6WXW]PDQ RQ &\EHUZDYH 3KRWR E\ +HDWKHU 6WXW]PDQ 0XOEHUU\ +LOO 3KRWRV For more information on ITPA, go to www.itpa.biz.
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