Jul. 23—GOSHEN — Clint Coy was reaching for win number 100 in Tuesday afternoon’s harness racing event at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair.
Getting win number 101 was just the cherry on top.
“That was my goal when I set out for the year,” Coy said. “Last year I had a career-high 33 wins, and I had to match it again this year to get 100. I was like, ‘Well, I got it last year; I hope to get it this year,’ and I did.”
Coy, a 23-year-old who lives in Portland, Indiana, and began driving when he was 16, won three of the 13 races Tuesday afternoon at the grandstands. He was one of three drivers who won thrice, but Coy’s purse was the largest, winning $13,200.
“Wins are a lot easier to keep track of. I don’t do it for the money. I do it because I enjoy it — I love it,” Coy said. “I’m not 6-foot-6. I can’t be a basketball player. I’m just 5-[foot]-8, 160 pounds, and this is the way to keep my competitive juices flowing I guess.”
Coy’s first win came in the third race during the first division of the 2-year-old filly pace. Horse “Vel Over Yonder,” cruised to a victory in the first rout on the dirt track, winning by a couple lengths with a time of 2:01.20. It was the fourth-consecutive and fourth lifetime win for the horse in five starts.
Then, in the second division of the 3-year-old filly pace, Coy again adorned the sulky as his horse “Vel I’m a Winner” overtook the lead and won by a nose, beating out Jared Seekman and “Luscious Lucky” in a two-lap nail-biter.
“My mom and my grandmother and their parents … I’m fourth generation, but they all did it as hobbies. I’m the only one that does it for a job,” said Coy, who locked in his 100th career win with his second victory Tuesday. “I work for Doug and Julie Rideout and they’ve given me some good opportunities and kind of taught me the ropes on how to drive and how to train and take care of horses.”
Coy’s final victory came in the Maple City Trot portion of the event, winning the 3-year-old colt trot first division by a late comeback in one of the craziest races of the day.
Driver Chad Clark and his colt “MJR Letty’s Luke” was in the lead for three-fourths of the race, until a misstep caused the colt to fall behind on the second to last turn. Doug Rideout and “Pilot Heir” advanced into the pole position, but in hot pursuit was Coy’s “Weston Swan.” Taking over the backstretch, Coy’s colt came out on top in the 12th race of the afternoon.
The first winner Tuesday was Lewayne Miller, of Anderson. The 37-year-old driver helps raise and train all their horses and the driver earned win number 43, 44 and 45 of the season at the grandstands Tuesday, totaling a purse of $11,400.
“In the first race I came first in I think we raced really gritty,” Miller said about his 2-year-old colt “Don’t Tell Rosa,” which passed on the final turn to begin the day’s action with a suspenseful finish. “I was really happy with him. The main goal with them is the first three were babies and we just wanted to educate them more and then take them on the big track and see how they perform on the bigger stage.”
Miller, who grew up in Shipshewana, now boasts over 1,560 wins in his career following his hat-trick Tuesday. This was his fourth year at the fair, but he started racing in 2010.
His second and third winning horses — “Princess in Pink,” and “Hardly a Queen,” — each won races in comfortable fashion.
“They impressed me. They all raced very good,” Miller said. “I was happy with all of them, and the track was excellent today.”
Skies were mostly clear as a gentle breeze blew through the area. A sizeable group of spectators migrated to enjoy the show.
Other notable winners included three-time winner Don Cincebox (“Checking Out,” “Classic Amy,” “PFC KC Wintin”), Michael Detweiler (“A Blue Million”), Jay Cross (“Nike’s Shining Star”), Jordan Ross (“Pondo Aesthetic”) and Rideout’s “Bluebird Time.”
Track records were set by Cross’ “Nike’s Shining Star,” and Detweiler’s “A Blue Million.”
“Nike’s Shining Star” broke a record set in 2017 by “Nan’s Queen,” setting a new time of 2:00.2 minutes in the 3-year-old filly trot.
“A Blue Million” made the largest impact between the two. Detweiler’s colt set not only a new track record in the 3-year-old colt trot, beating “J-S Swanman” old time of 2:00.1 set in 2019, but the colt’s time of 1:59.0 set a new All-Age record as well, beating out “Remind Me Later” and his time set in 2016.
