On Sunday, April 7 at 1:00 p.m., the Pinehurst Training Center in North Carolina will be featuring its annual matinee, with horses who have been training there through the winter featured.
The true grass roots event will see thousands of causal racing fans attend, with many receiving their indoctrination to harness racing by tailgating around the track, setting up tents to watch the exhibitions and generally celebrating a festival atmosphere. The training centre is surrounded by the world famous Pinehurst Golf resort, which will host the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Open in 2014.
Another grass roots organization, the Harness Horse Youth Foundation, will have a presence at the Pinehurst matinee for the second year in a row, educating the race-goers about harness racing through educational materials and interactive activities.
“We will have our pacing boards there, allowing children to get a feel of the pacing gait," said HHYF Project Manager Keith Gisser. "We will also have a number of harness-racing related games available, and we will feature a storyboard on the ‘Tar Heel Terror’ Bill Gallon. Last year we featured Tar Heel.”
Bill Gallon, a trotter who was inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York, in 1984, was North Carolina owned, and trained when he won the sport’s most prestigious race, the Hambletonian, in 1941. He was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms.
“We will be available to answer questions about racing, as well as to promote HHYF’s educational activities, but this event is really about the Village of Pinehurst and the surrounding communities coming together to celebrate the historical significance of harness racing to the state,” said Gisser.
(HHYF)
