By Wes Mayberry
The Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association is hosting a bevy of fun events for all ages at Eldorado Scioto Downs on Friday and Saturday (Aug. 28-29).
The OHHA is hosting Charity Night on Friday. Ten participating local charities will be randomly paired with a horse in a designated race of that night’s card and will receive a financial donation amount corresponding to how well their horse finishes in the race. The charity paired with the first-place finisher will receive $10,000, while second and third place will receive $5,000 and $3,000, respectively. All other charities will receive a $2,000 donation from the OHHA for participating.
Saturday’s festivities include a TV and Tickets giveaway and Youth Night.
Great prizes will be up for grabs in the TV and Tickets giveaway. The five grand prizes include tickets to a major college football game, 55-inch television, Roku stick, and a one-month subscription to Racetrack Television Network. The contest is free to enter and open to anyone ages 18 years and older. No purchase is required, but participants must be present to win. Entry forms will be available at the OHHA table. There is a limit of one entry per person, and each entry is limited to one prize. Participants will be selected randomly from the entry drum before each of the five designated giveaway races. The number of participants will be based on the number of horses in each giveaway race. Those selected will draw an envelope that will have the name of a horse for the corresponding race. If that horse wins, the contestant will win the prize package.
The Youth Night gathering, held from 5:30-9 p.m., welcomes kids to participate in paddock tours and horseshoe decorating while getting immersed in the exciting world of harness racing. Current OHHA youth members who bring their membership ID will receive a free T-shirt.
Both Friday and Saturday will also feature a special appearance by Queenie, the Shetland pony travel companion to 3-year-old filly pacer and Ohio Sires Stakes competitor Rhodena Blue. Owned by Canadian horseman Neil MacInnis and his daughter, Rory, Queenie will be available to “hoof-o-graph” copies of a commemorative book about her friendship with Rhodena Blue, who currently sits ninth in the OSS standings and is scheduled to compete in race eight on Friday with a projected post time of 8:30 p.m. Queenie will be in the grandstand from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Friday and 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
First-race post time for the 16-race cards at Scioto Downs on Friday and Saturday is 5:25 p.m.