Annual Goshen Historic Track, Harness Hall Museum weekend festivities start Friday
Ken McMillan
The annual Great American Weekend festivities will once again include the popular three-day harness racing meet at Goshen Historic Track.
Gates open at 11 a.m. and action kicks off at 1 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, culminating Sunday evening with the induction of the newest members to the Harness Racing Hall of Fame at the adjacent museum. Tickets are $7, and kids 12-under get in free. The 2,200-seat grandstand is typically packed on the weekend.
The Friday racing card will be the New York County Fair races. The Saturday card will feature the New York Sire Stakes Pacers, 3-year-old Landmarks races and the featured C.K.G. Billings event. The Sunday card will have Sire Stakes Trotters, 2-year-old Landmarks and the Hall of Fame Trot. As usual, there has been no parimutuel betting since the late 1970s.
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This year will have additional New York County Fair races on Sept. 1.
The Goshen meet regularly attracts a host of horses from local farms and local drivers; it also attracts some of the top harness drivers from The Meadowlands, Yonkers Raceway and Monticello Raceway.
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There will be a bit of sadness this weekend with the sudden passing of long-time harness racing photographer Geri Schwarz last week. Schwarz was the photographer at Goshen Historic (since 1998) and Monticello Raceway. She was recognized in 2014 with the Monticello/Goshen USTA Award.
The extensive list of Hall of Fame inductees include Jim Campbell, Ed Lohmeyer and David McDuffee and communicators Tim Bojarski and the late Dave Brower.
The horses named to the Living Horse Hall of Fame are Gimpanzee, Mission Brief, Tall Dark Stranger, Wiggle It Jiggleit and broodmares Shyaway and Western Montana. The immortals to be added include Col. Elisha A. Buck, James Clark and Direct Scooter.
The Amateur Club driving champion Mike Kimelman will be honored, as will Confederate, the Delvin & Mary Lib Miller 2023 Horse of the Year Perpetual Trophy.
Tickets to the dinner are $150.
There will be free admission to the Museum all weekend from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The facility will present a new exhibit for the Communicators Hall of Fame, with a Saturday 10 a.m. ceremony and ensuing reception. Author Lettie Teague will present a book reading at 10:30 a.m., also in Haughton Hall.
Last week the Museum debuted a sculpture celebrating the Standardbred Horse on its Walk of Fame near the Museum entrance. The sculpture was crafted by Parisian Rosamonde Pinchot.
Goshen Historic Track has a history of racing dating back to the 1750s, and the current site has been utilized since 1838. The oval is a half-mile in length, requiring two laps for the mile-long races. The track was added as a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
The village estimates 20,000 people visit Goshen during each day of the festival. The Saturday and Sunday event has 150 draft vendors, live music, family and children activities and plenty of food.
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Race lineups and results will be posted at RecordOnline.com/sports as received.