Local Harness Horses Competed at State Fairgrounds

No fewer than 10 harness horses with local and area connections competed Wednesday afternoon in a 17-race program at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, as the Illinois Department of Agriculture entered the second week of its restructured county fair racing plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effingham’s Darla Martin-Lohman led the way for the local contingent, as she trained and drove Ashlee’s Spur to victory in 1:57.4 in a division of the three-year-old filly pace for owners Dean Debolt of Iuka and Scott Durblin of Dalton City. The same connections earned a runner-up finish with Miller Girl in a separate division of the same race.

BBR Lady cruised by 13 lengths in the two-year-old filly trot for owners Elizabeth Roedl of Edgewood and Freddie Patton Jr. of Clinton, Mississippi, stopping the timer in 2:04.3. Trained and driven by Patton, the filly won for the second time in as many weeks.

T E’s Smoothas Silk, owned by former Brownstown resident T. E. Harre Jr., took runner-up honors in a division of the three-year-old filly pace, while Newton’s Alan Finn trained and drove Casie Marie’s TT to a second-place finish in a race for older pacing mares.

A number of local horses posted third-place efforts on the day, including Brush With Fame, owned by Brian and Kandi Herzog of Beecher City; Emsroscopcoletrain, owned by Jacob Roedl of Edgewood; Clearly The Bomb, owned and driven by Altamont native Angie Coleman; Easy E O, owned by Chuck Doehring of Brownstown; and Princess Poprocks, owned by Toni and Keli Bell of Windsor.Wednesday’s races offered a combined total of $25,000 in purses.