Page 23 - July 2017

IndIana Holds YoutH daY
The Quarter Horse Racing Association
of Indiana held their annual Youth Racing Experience event June 17 at Indiana Grand. The program is designed to teach 16- to 18-year- olds about Quarter Horse racing and introduce youth to various careers offered at the track. The event drew a total of 13 students from Indiana and Illinois.
Students learned different aspects of racing from guest speakers who talked about veterinary work, race marketing, security, track maintenance and other facets of the racetrack. After lunch, the group took a tour of the Indiana Horse Racing Commission offices and received honorary licenses for their time at the track. They also got an in-depth look inside the Quarter Horse barn and talked to several trainers about conditioning the sprinters for racing.
The afternoon session was followed by a
test on what they learned throughout the day. The top two scores from the tests will advance to the national Youth Racing League hosted by the American Quarter Horse Association during the Bank of America Challenge Championships set for mid-October at Prairie Meadows near Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to the trip, the students advancing to the final will also receive a $1,000 scholarship from QHRAI.
“This will be the hardest year we have ever had to choose the winners,” said Vickie Duke, coordinator of the event for QHRAI. “All of
these kids came in here so knowledgeable, and their attitudes about life were unbelievable. They were very appreciative of the entire experience, and it will come down to the test to determine who advances. We will send two to the final, but I’m hoping AQHA will allow us to send four since we had some kids from out of state in our local event.”
Illinois does not offer a Youth Racing Experience program so two students made the trip all the way to Indiana Grand to participate in the program. The program at Indiana Grand was the closest for the students to attend with hopes of advancing onto the final round in October.
Students attending the event came from all across Indiana. Most had prior knowledge of horses, but very few had any experience around racehorses, including Alyssa Witherington of Norman, Indiana. She is headed into her junior year at Medora High School and has a strong interest in learning more about Quarter Horse racing.
“I actually found out about this program
on Facebook,” said Witherington, who is active on the Quarter Horse barrel circuit in Indiana. “Getting to meet the trainers and having full blown conversations with them was one of the best parts for me. We were able to see the inside story into Quarter Horse racing.”
Witherington’s father, Jerry, brought his daughter more than two hours up to Indiana Grand for the program. He noted they have
been to Indiana Grand before but in a different capacity.
“We come up to the races a lot, but we are always spectators,” said Jerry Witherington. “We’ve been running barrels for years and years, but this is the first opportunity we have ever had to get behind the scenes. We’ve got one now that is born to be a runner, so we hope to get him in training for next year.”
The Youth Racing Experience was part of
an evening that included two Quarter Horse Futurity finals. The 15th running of the $123,900 Jaguar Rocket Futurity and the eighth running of the $184,000 Gordon Mobley Futurity highlighted the racing program. Students were able to go back to the barn before the races and shadow the trainer of a horse in one of the two stakes.
Witherington was assigned to Matt Frazier, who conditioned winner Apollitical Regard in the Jaguar Rocket Futurity.
Hunter Duncan of Terre Haute, Indiana, who finished second at the 2016 Indiana Youth Racing Experience, was in attendance this year to give some insight on the national Youth Racing Experience held in conjunction with AQHA’s Challenge Championships.
The 15th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing continues through October 28 at Indiana Grand Visit www. IndianaGrand.com for racing information and stakes schedule.
SPEEDHORSE, July 2017 21
track chatter
Photo by Linscott Photography