Gratz harness racing a family affair

Sep. 19—GRATZ — Ninety-two-year-old Donald L. Wiest beamed with pride as his grandson, Justin Wiest, won the first harness race Sunday on opening day of the 148th Gratz Fair.

"We got that one," declared the elder Wiest, standing on the edge of the half-mile track on the Gratz Fairgrounds, which are in Dauphin County and about 10 miles west of Valley View.

With Justin's win, the Wiest harness racing circle, as it were, remains unbroken for 80 years.

It began in 1942, when 12-year-old Donald got a job watering horses on the fairgrounds at a salary of a dollar a week.

And it continues with all three generations — Donald; his son, David and grandson, Justin — still actively involved in harness racing at the fair.

David and Justin, father and son, raise and train horses and race professionally. Pappy, as Donald is known, raises and trains horses and keeps the fairgrounds track in shape.

Tradition was in the air as announcer Jim McGettigan called the horses to post at 1 p.m. for "the freshman class of 2022" for 2-year-old horses. Activity in the stables came to a standstill, and men placed their hats over their hearts for the singing of the national anthem.

Gratz is one of only two county fairs in eastern Pennsylvania that still has harness racing. The other is Bloomsburg, which will feature harness racing at 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

"All the tracks in the east closed," Donald Wiest said. "We're one of the only ones left."

About 15 other county fairs feature harness racing, but they're mainly in the western and northern parts of the state.

Looking back

Sitting in front of the family's stable, Pappy Wiest looked back on a harness racing career that lasted 73 years. He actively competed as a driver — harness racers are drivers, not jockeys — until he was 89.

At the time he was the oldest harness racing driver in Pennsylvania, and third oldest in the U.S.

Wiest said he drove in his first race at Roosevelt Raceway in Long Island, when he was 16 years old, in 1946. It was one of the first night time races after World War II.

Behind Miss Huntington, a 3-year-old pacer, young Wiest finished last.

He'd make up for it as a professional, when he won three world championships at Pocono Downs.

One of his World Champion horses, Tui, a 4-year-old mare, won $384,000 over her career, Wiest recalled.

Yet, his heart lies in the county fair circuit, where he started eight decades ago. He lived a few blocks from the Gratz fairgrounds, which he remembers as a playground of his youth.

That $1 a week he earned for watering horses, Wiest said, came in handy during his family's lean times. His father was a coal miner, whose wages were stretched thin in a household of seven children.

"It was right after the Great Depression," he said, "and money was tight."

Sitting on a sulky — harness racing cart — 38-year-old Justin listened carefully as his grandfather lamented the disappearance of harness racing at county fairs in Allentown, Reading and Lehighton, where he often raced.

Much like his grandfather, Justin began cleaning stalls in the stables at Gratz.

What to others might seem like an unwanted chore was invigorating to Justin, who just wanted to be around horses.

"When it gets in your blood," he said of harness racing, "it's hard to get away from it."

A training ground

The State Horse Racing Commission oversees harness racing in Pennsylvania.

Under the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Development and Gaming Act, which legalized gambling in the state, a portion of revenues underwrites harness racing at county fairs.

At Gratz, the purses in 13 races ranged from $2,800 to $5,300, half of which goes to the winner.

That's dramatically different from the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes, which runs on tracks like The Downs At Mohegan Sun Pocono and the Meadows Racetrack in Washington County, where stakes run from $20,000 and up.

In effect, the county fair circuit is a training ground for young horses and young drivers.

David Wiest, for example, gave a 2-year-old filly named Adult Swim a workout at Gratz. She'd been having problems at other tracks, but came in second in the third race of the afternoon.

Hugh O'Neil IV, 28, of Scotland, is breaking into the American harness racing scene as a driver for Joe Karrat's stables in Bucks County. He raced at Gratz on Sunday.

Karat, 69, who races in the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes, prefers the more relaxed atmosphere of county fair racing.

"There's less fuss, less pressure and it's like one big family," he said. "Everybody kind of looks out for everybody else."

Fair schedule

Admission to the Gratz Fair, which runs through Saturday, is $8 and $4 for seniors over 60 and active military. Admission covers rides and some entertainment.

Harness racing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday.

Demolition Derbies are Tuesday and Saturday, with a truck and tractor pull on Thursday. Both are at 7 p.m.

A tribute to Patsy Cline is scheduled for Wednesday, and a tribute to Tom Petty is set for Friday. Both events are at 7:30 p.m. on the main stage.

For information, contact the fair office at 717-365-3441 or visit gratzfair.net

Contact the writer: rdevlin@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6007