Jeffers Memorial Added To Effingham Co. Fair

Fox Valley Crete captured a Downstate Classic race last summer, as Guatemala native Juan Franco had the winning drive in his first visit ever to the Effingham County Fair.

BY KURT BECKER

ALTAMONT -- Effingham County Fair Board President Phil Hartke and Superintendent of Speed Dean Wetherell have announced revisions to the fair's harness racing schedule for 2023, highlighted by the addition of the Jeffers Memorial to the stakes lineup.

Named for Albert and Mary Lea Jeffers, who ranked among the leading Standardbred owners and breeders in Illinois for the last four decades, the Jeffers Memorial Stakes will offer total purses of approximately $20,000 and will be restricted to Illinois Conceived and Foaled two-year-old trotters and pacers. The Illinois Department of Agriculture confirmed earlier this month that the Effingham County Fair had been chosen to host the event, which will serve as a stepping stone toward the Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes. 

The IDOA also announced that the Downstate Classic for three-year-old harness horses, which had been contested each of the last two summers at the Effingham County Fair, would be relocated in 2023 to the Macon County Fair at Decatur. The latter earned the right to host the event with a record bid of $15,000. 

Six days of harness racing are scheduled for the 79th annual Effingham County Fair, with the Jeffers Memorial set to kick off a week which will also include the Illinois Big Ten Colt Stakes and the Illinois Topline Stakes. Racing is scheduled each afternoon from Sunday, July 30 through Friday, August 4.