Harness racing at the Orleans County Fair in Barton, VT wrapped up a successful 143rd season and was highlighted by the inaugural edition of the Canada vs. U.S. “Border Battle”
.
Stephane Bouchard, Herve Filion and his brother Yves represented Barton’s neighbors to the North, while Jordan Stratton, Todd Whitney and two local horsemen, Nelson Haley and Kenny Martin, represented the home country.
Even though Bouchard grew up in Quebec, he had never raced at Barton before and had no idea what he was getting himself in to.
“I was not sure before I left what to expect, but I had a great time and I wish I could have spent the day,” said Bouchard. Both he and Stratton were flown up to Barton in the morning on race day, Thursday, Aug. 19, and then had to be back on the plane only four hours later to make it back to Yonkers for some New York Sire Stakes races that had an early 6 p.m. post time.
It had been at least 20 years since Herve and Yves had driven together so the organizers of the event decided to make Yves a surprise for his brother.
Even though the Filions arrived at roughly the same time to the fairgrounds, Herve and his sons were taken to the barn that housed the horses for the International races, while Yves and his travel companions were whisked away by Barton’s Lori Royer to keep in hiding until driver introductions prior to the races.
The drivers were each presented to the crowd in the winner’s circle with Yves announced last.
Whitney remembers watching Herve as track announcer Dave Little introduced the surprise guest.
“He was talking with Bouchard and then a couple of things the announcer was saying caught his attention and you could see he was putting it together. Then he said, ‘they’re talking about Yves, Yves is here’,” Whitney said.
From his hiding spot next to the grandstand, Yves was able to see his brother’s reaction.
“I saw him looking for me. He was looking all over,” Yves said.
The drivers were then all presented with trophies specially designed for the event by Whitney Fields of L.V. Harkness.
The exhibition races were videotaped from 30 feet in the air from a bucket truck provided by Mark Hinton and operated by Jim Richardson.
“We wanted to tape the races and Debbie Little was willing to go up in the bucket truck and do it,” said Kim Brooks, assistant racing director.
The International Trot was won by Shes Got Credit and Bouchard in 2:08, while the International Pace went to Nine Innings and Whitney in 2:02 4/5. The winners were two of the six horses provided for the event by Whitney and his owners. The event was sponsored by the Western New England Harness Horsemen’s Association at Rockingham Park.
Following the two races, the drivers met with fans in the grandstand and signed a commemorative photo designed by Jessica Schroeder, assistant fair liaison of the U.S. Trotting Association.
Bouchard recognized quite a few people from the time he spent competing in Montreal.
“There were a lot of people there speaking French,” Bouchard said.
Yves, who drove down from his home west of Montreal, said he could see why people from Quebec would travel to Barton.
“It was my first time and for a fair it was really well organized,” said Yves, who is considering bringing horses to race at the fair next year.
Whitney, who drove in from Maine, raced some horses over the two-day meet, won four of the 18 programmed races and ended up with the leading driver title.
“I’ve never been the leading driver anywhere before so this is very special,” he said.
One of Whitney’s four wins was with Nine Innings in the free for all pacing final that went in 1:59.1, the second fastest mile ever at Barton. It was also the second sub-2:00 mile in the track’s history. The record of 1:56.2 was set last year by open pacer Noble Falcon.
Whitney has every intention of coming back next year and has his sights set on breaking the track’s trotting record of 2:03 ¾, which was set in 1939, and the Vermont state record of 2:02, set at Rutland in 1996.
The drivers have also all said they would love to come back next year for Barton’s “Border Battle II”. In addition, there has been talk that Tony Verruso, president of the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Drivers, who put one of his horses in an international race this year, is considering a Billings race at Barton for next year.
Kim Brooks said she would welcome more international races as well as the Billings to Barton.
“I’d like to thank Fran and Melanie Azur and everyone who supported our race meet this year, especially the horsemen,” said Brooks.
“It’s obvious our 144th year is already setting up to be a good one,” she added.
For a photo gallery of the races at Barton, click here.