Greenville native Jeff Nisonger guides two-year-old filly Delta Gal (#4) to a win on opening day of Shelby County Fair racing on Tuesday. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
In the first of two nights of harness racing at the Shelby County Fair, a pair of area drivers come back to their racing roots and cash in on Sidney’s half-mile track.
Sidney, OH – Greenville native Jeff Nisonger had a pretty good night of Shelby County Fair racing in Sidney, Tuesday, taking the opener of an eight-race card behind his two-year-old filly named Delta Lady, turning in a pedestrian (by today’s standards) time of 2:03.1, and taking home $7,100 of a $14,369 total purse.
“That’s a great purse for fair racing,” said Nisonger, notching win #3934 in his career…nearly half of them at county fairs.
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“That’s a good purse at a big track,” he added with a big smile. “This is what makes county fair racing so special.”
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And for a lot of others who showed up to race on the first of a two-night card in Sidney, concluding tomorrow (Wednesday).
Sidney (Shelby County) is part of the Ohio Colt Racing Association, comprised of 19 county fairs about the state. More than one who rolled in off Campbell Road with their ‘dually’ and trailer for a night of racing would call it, along with three other such harness racing associations, the ‘roots’ of Ohio Harness Racing.
When, in fact, racing at the country fairs came long before racing at the mega-big money-tracks in New York, New Jersey, and Kentucky. A brief history of harness racing from the Little Brown Jug two years ago described it as having evolved from humble, and often rural, beginnings.
“And it’s significant to the financial picture for a lot of fairs,” said OHHA clerk Lisa Schwartz, who earlier spent her morning clerking at the Marysville Fair in Union County. Between the state and the Ohio Harness Horseman Association they offer enough financial support to local fairs to where they can offer two or three nights of expense-free entertainment for the patrons. And it takes about $14,000 to pay the bills for a night of racing.
“Some of the local fairs, like Darke and Miami County have always invested in their racing, they draw good crowds, and last year showed a small profit [on racing].”
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Starting gate driver Mike Woebkenberg adds that harness racing, by itself, added $3 billion dollars to local economies across the country in 2024. “So it’s a bigger thing than a lot of people realize,” he says.
Nisonger, who grew up in Greenville, but now lives and trains in Lebanon, Ohio, credits fair racing, and the ‘Great’ Darke County Fair for much of his personal training in racing.
“Grew up in Greenville,” says Jeff Nisonger. “I would hang out with Gene Riegle near the end of his career and just talk racing. There were a lot of good trainers in Darke County and I was lucky to grow up and learn from them.”
“Grew up there,” he smiles. “I moved to Lebanon after I finished high school, but I used to hang out with Gene Riegle during the end of his career and he’d back his vehicle up to my barn at the fairgrounds and just watch. I’d get in and we’d talk racing. So I probably got a little different experience from some of the other guys who just worked for him. Being in Darke County there’s a ton of trainers, and good trainers, and I was lucky to grow up and learn from a lot of different guys.”
And from the experience of racing at the county fairs.
“Yeah,” he added, turning the conversation to his winning two-year-old filly. “Fairs are where you start some of your horses to see what you’ve got. Are they horses you want to keep and invest time with, or ones that you want to move on from? Every win’s good, and it’s something you can’t describe. Especially with a filly like this one because I bought her, picked her out, trained her down, and that means more to me than just jumpin’ on someone else’s horse and winning. She was good tonight, and I expected that. She’s been good so far this year (4 wins in 5 starts), but I just haven’t taken the next step with taking her to the bigger raceways.”
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Ninety miles up I-75 another veteran of the fairs from Findlay makes the drive around the circuit of fairs every season because, in his words, “They’ve been good to us over the years.”
Ed Greeno, another of the more familiar names on the ‘midway circuit’ smiles at the mention of how many years, how many miles, how many races, and how many different horses he’s trailed up and down, and across Ohio.
A throwback to more humble beginnings…veteran driver/trainer Ed Greeno, Jr. relaxes before racing Tuesday at the Shelby County Fair.
“County fairs allows you to race what stock you have for where they can fit best. The fairs are a good starting place for a lot of horses.”
He’s done it so long he can’t answer the inevitable question of how many races, and how many wins.
“I don’t have any idea, and I don’t even pay attention,” he laughs.
“It’s not something that’s really important to me. It’s how I make my living, and I’ve been fortunate to do this for about forty five years. My father did it, my grandfather did it, and we like it for the animals and a lot of good people involved with this sport. The opportunities in racing here in Ohio right now are very good, so we just continue to do it.”
As to just how good a living there is in racing, Greeno simply answers, “I make a living that allows me to do what I want to do, work as I want to work, and now I’ve cut back some to about 200 races a year…a lot less now than when I was thirty (laughing). But this is a good era for racing right now because of the amount of money available.”
And no sooner than we’d shook hands and parted ways Greeno won the third race at Sidney Tuesday driving another two-year-old filly, Town Gal (a trotter), claiming the first place money of a $13,00o total purse.
Greeno claims that he has two trailers that each have a million miles on them, a testimony to his commitment to racing and a lot of good people along the way.
“We stay mainly in Ohio now,” he laughs, “but it hasn’t always been that way. We used to race where we had to go, anyplace…New York, New Jersey, Canada…but now we’ve slowed down. We’re here tonight with some three-year-old trotting fillies and a two-year-old trotting filly and that’s because they’re just beginning to figure things out.”
A good starting place for a lot of horses, these county fairs.
A lot of good people along the way.
And in Mike Woebkenberg’s words…$3 billion dollars to a lot of local economies across the country, from harness racing.
All from such humble beginnings.
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