Tioga Downs, the Southern Tier Harness Horsemen’s Association, and the Harness Horse Breeders’ of NYS are joining together to host a scholarship race

for high school seniors.

The groups are working with five area high schools: Athens Area High School, Owego Free Academy, Sayre High School, Tioga Central High School, and Waverly High School.

The students will compete in a double-seated jog cart with professional drivers and trainers from Tioga Downs.

Hannah Alford from Athens Area High School will be teamed up with trainer-driver Phil Fluet, Mary Goodspeed of Tioga Central High School will be teamed with Tioga Downs leading driver Corey Braden, Kaley Goodrich of Owego Free Academy will be with trainer Edgar Clarke, Katherin Cybulak from Sayre High School will learn from Tioga Downs reigning co-trainer of the year Mike Deters, while Martha Vandewall from Waverly High School will join trainer Tim Lanpher.

Students will receive three training sessions at Tioga Downs prior to the race, which will be held Sunday. The day’s races also include the $200,000 Bettors Delight, featuring the best older pacers in North America.

Scholarships for the event will be given out in the order of finish of the race, with first place receiving $3,000, second place $2,000, third place $1,200, fourth place $800, and fifth place $500.

On June 20, eight students from the Goshen area will compete at Historic Track. Eliminations for the second annual event, organized by driver-trainer Ray Schnittker, were held June 6. The 12 participants practiced jogging and training horses with the Schnittker Stable since mid-May.

Boasting six-horse fields, the high school seniors were coupled with professional drivers. The first division, won by Warwick Valley’s Grace Caskey, featured an extremely close finish, with just a half-length separating the winning team of Grace Caskey and Jordan “The Kid” Stratton from second-place finisher Julia Zenker of Port Jervis. Finishing third was Ciara Scrobe of Chester, whose school won the $1,000 School Spirit Scholarship Cheering Contest. Rounding out the top four was Minisink Valley’s Beth Michel, who advanced to the final by a nose.

The second division was captured by Katelyn Faliski of Florida’s S.S. Seward High School. Finishing second was Alyson Haas of Pine Bush, third was Claudia Anzini of Middletown, and fourth was Kelly Parness of Monroe-Woodbury.

Each of the 12 students received a $1,000 college scholarship, as well as earning additional funds for the school district they represented. The distribution of scholarships, the total of which is rising toward $40,000 thanks to generous donations from industry horsemen and businesses, will be determined by each student’s finish in the final.

The World’s Oldest Harness Track will celebrate 100 years of Grand Circuit racing July 2 through July 5, in conjunction with Goshen’s Great American Weekend. There are also two more matinee cards: June 13 and June 20. All post times are 1 p.m.

This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.