Arcanum’s Kayne Kauffman posed with Vintage Ace, the horse he was driving on May 8 when the unthinkable happened at Scioto Downs. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
After a scary wreck on May 8 at Scioto Downs, Arcanum standardbred driver Kayne Kauffman is back on his feet, in the race again, and winning. A few aches and pains, but no hard feelings.
Troy, OH — Vintage Ace stood tall in his stall, his head protruding, most likely in search of an apple, a sugar cube, some oats or maybe just some timothy hay.
Or perhaps the feisty guy just craved some attention, a stroke on his nose or a scratch between his ears.
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But the way he watched a steady stream of standardbreds led past him, his eyes seemed to say, “I’m ready. Let’s go racing. Hitch me up to a sulky.”
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That won’t happen for a while, “Maybe at Dayton,” said veteran trainer Mike Polhamus. “He still has a bit of a shoulder issue.”
That’s because Vintage Ace was one of seven horses involved in the horrendous multi-sulky accident on the backstretch May 8 at Eldorado Scioto Downs during the night’s 15th race.
Several drivers were seriously injured, but fortunately no horses suffered major career-ending traumas.
As Vintage Ace continued to scan the barn near the top of the stretch at the Miami County Fairgrounds track Tuesday, driver Kayne Kauffman approached.
No apple, no sugar cube, no oats, no hay. And no hitching up. Just a friendly pat on the nose.
Vintage Ace and Kayne Kauffman have a scary history. Kauffman, a 47-year-old native of Arcanum, was in the bike when disaster struck at Scioto.
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Kauffman paused for a photo and both seemed happy with each other despite that frightening night.
While Vintage Ace scrambled to his feet and was led to the paddock, basically unscathed, Kauffman was in an ambulance on his way to a Columbus hospital.
“I was out nine weeks,” said the affable winner of more than 4,500 races during his ongoing career.
His memory of the mayhem remains uncharacteristically foggy in Kauffman’s memory.
Kayne Kauffman drives pacing filly Tenille Towns to a wire-to-wire win Tuesday night at the Miami County Fairgrounds in Troy.
“I’ll tell you what, everything happened so quick,” he said. “Usually you can hear a lot of things happening in front of you when we do have wrecks.
“That one was so quick, there wasn’t much response time,” he added,
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He fractured a heel in three places, “And it looked like a ‘W,’ on the back of the heel,” he said, which is apropos for a guy used to recording W’s on the track.
He said he gave the heel ample time to heal and barged back into the bike as quickly as he could, a seat much more comfortable for him than any La-Z-Boy.
“It healed up good, it still hurts now and then, but I think I’m going to have some pain for awhile,” he added. “Overall, I’m OK. I didn’t have to do any rehab. My doctor said I am active enough that he thinks I’ll be OK.”
He returned to race July 20 at Scioto and also raced that week at the Warren County fair.
Any trepidations in the first race back?
“No, not at all,” he said with a hearty laugh. “Not at all. I feel like if that’s in the back of your mind you better not go back at all.”
Kauffman is a regular on the Scioto/Dayton/Miami Valley circuit and took a couple of days off from Scioto to come to Troy.
A day off? Never. Kauffman came to the Miami County fair to race in the Ohio Colt Association event.
“I had a couple here that I trained and Mike (trainer Polhamus) and I have had a pretty good relationship driving and training and he has a bunch out of his the barn tonight so I decided to come to see if we can do some good,” said Kauffman.
A connection with Mike Polhamus…”I love the guy because he has patience. He knows what he’s doing with horses. Ask him anything after the race and he can tell you what happened.” – Mike Polhamus (above, middle)
Good? After his quick visit with Vintage Ace, Kauffman hooked up a 3-year-old filly he trains, Tenille Towns, and guided her to the track.
Once the wings on the starter’s truck swung shut, Kauffman urged Tenille Towns in front and stayed in front, start to finish. It was the first of three trips to the winner’s circle that night.
Kauffman was at Miami County on Opening Day Monday and won two races.
About racing on the county fair circuit, Kauffman said, “Yeah, I enjoy it. It’s a change of pace from the pari-mutuel tracks. It’s a little more laid back.”
That doesn’t mean it is easy going for a veteran driver of the pari-mutuel tracks.
“It is competitive, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “It doesn’t have the same pressure at the fairs. You just have the hometown feel. It is just a nice change of pace.”
Kauffman and trainer Mike Polhamus hooked up a few years ago when Polhamus quit driving.
“Kayne is a really good guy and a good driver,” said Polhamaus. “We’ve won a lot of stakes races together.”
No fears after coming back….“Not at all. I feel like if that’s in the back of your mind you better not go back at all.”
There was a big one back in 2022 at the $110,914 Ohio Breeders Championship for freshman colt trotters at the Delaware County Fair.
Rumble Strips, trained by Polhamus and driven by Kauffman, not only won, but established a world record for 2-year-old male trotters on a half-mile track at 1:53.2
Once the wings closed, Rumble Strips was long gone.
“We bought Rumble Strips for $40,000 and the horse won $400,000,” said Polhamus.
Of Kauffman, Polhaus says, “I love the guy because he has patience. He knows what he’s doing with horses. You can ask him anything about a horse after a race and he knows.
“Some guys race your horse and afterwards you ask what was wrong or how did the horse react and he shrugs his shoulders and say, ‘I don’t know,’” said Polhamus. “I’m thinking, ‘You sat behind the horse and don’t know what happened?’ Not with Kayne. He can tell you everything.”
It all began for Kauffman because of his grandfather, Herman Baker, who raced horses in the 1950s and 1960s and 1970s.
“He was getting out of racing when I was getting older toward the end of his career after having horses in Greenville at the Darke County fairgrounds,” said Kauffman.
Kauffman helped out around the barn, spent as much time with Grandpa Baker as he could.
“My first matinee in a race was I was 14-years-old and then I drove my first fair at Greenville when I was 16,” he said. “The same night I made my first night driving, my grandpa made his last drive.”
And how did grandson do in that race? He won. . .sort of.
“I won, but placed third,” Kaufffman said with a laugh. “I got into Tom Hope, he’s a Greenville native, I interfered with him and was placed third.”
And that was the quirky start to a productive and illustrious career.
“I love animals and ya gotta love racing,” he said. “The horses, they’re No. 1. They’re like kids. You have to learn how to get along with tham.”
Remember the old Frank Sinatra song, ‘Love and marriage, they go together like a horse and carriage?’ For Kauffman, the love goes together like a horse and sulky.
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