XENIA — Through nine of the night’s scheduled dozen races, a pair of drivers and their horses’ trainers had come away with dual wins, during Thursday’s final night of harness racing at the Greene County Fair.
Brady Galliers started the evening off in grand style by going 2-for-2 in wins in the evening’s first two races. Galliers subbed for fellow competitor Scott Cisco, and won the opening race on Sausalito Hanover. He then hustled back to the horse barn, found a horse named Dawnna Marie, and drove to another win.
Galliers, who won in a pair of pace events on Thursday, is the current track record holder among trotters with a time of 1:57.2 aboard Insomniac set last year. The pacer track mark is 1:53.4 set by Xenia’s Dan Noble last year as well, on a horse named Rock On Line.
Don’t feel bad for Scott Cisco though. He might have kindly given Galliers both of those winning rides early on, but Cisco then drove Shake It Mary to a win in the night’s fourth race, and piloted Princess Deep to a win in race nine.
Gallier’s two winners were trained by Dustin Arledge; Cisco’s two winners were Kimberly Dailey-trained horses.
The finish to the sixth race of the night had a lot of Greene County owners smiling. The top three harness racing horses were all from county stables. Jimmy Ray Lou, driven by Jeff Nisonger and owned by Charles Purvis of Xenia, won the race, followed by D’Big Promise, a horse driven by Wednesday winner Jazmin Arnold and owned by Cedarville’s Brian Witt, and then Robin’s Big Boy, a Kent Saunders Xenia-owned horse driven by Roy Wilson.
Moments after the Steve Phillips Memorial race (won by Lady’s Man and driver Charles Bolen), several members of the Greene County Harness Horsemen’s Association presented retiring Fair Secretary Esther Pierson with a plaque in gratitude for her 27 years of service.
The plaque read: “Esther L. Pierson, in Recognition of 27 Year of Dedicated Service, Thank You for your Love and Support of the Greene County Harness Horsemen’s Association.”
Results of the final five races of Thursday’s 12-race card had yet to be finalized as of presstime, but Dateline Hanover, Princess Deep, Stratego and David’s Dream were listed as the unofficial winners.
The annual Chip Noble Memorial race, with its $10,200 winner’s purse, had yet to go off, also as of presstime.
For a complete rundown of the week’s races, go to racing.ustrotting.com, click on the Fairs tab, and go to the Thu 8/1/2019 listing of results.
