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Three
days later at the Darke County Fair, Buchy and the
General Manager of the Ohio Harness Horseman's
Association, Jerry
Knappenberger took the time to talk to this reporter about the future
of harness horse
racing in Ohio and what the industry means to The
Buckeye state. CNO File Photo by George Starks
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Recently,
State Representative, Jim Buchy, made a statement, saying, "Harness
racing is a billion dollar a year industry in the state of Ohio."
Harness Racing:
More than just a sport
It’s big business
By George Starks
GREENVILLE - With the rise of casinos, it is expected that harness
horse racing will make a huge comeback in Ohio.
Once a billion dollar industry, the amount of money generated from the
sport has fallen off in the past few years, but according to two people
that are heavily involved in the sport, that comeback is right around
the corner.
"Harness horse racing generates over 700 million dollars a year for our
state," said OHHA general manager Jerry Knappenger in an exclusive
interview. "It was once a billion dollars but because of the economy,
it's fallen off a little over the past few years, but we will go back
to the number."
According to Knappenger, Ohio was once a big leader in the Standard
bred field.
"At one time, Ohio led the nation in the protection of Standard bred
horses," Knappenberger pointed out. "We can no longer say that but we
will be back at the top now that we have help in the state. We employ
more than 25,000 people in this state in the jobs we provide and that's
more than Honda and Proctor and Gamble combined."
When it comes to the industrial part of the business, it also affects
the agricultural business in Ohio.
"Ohio horses are a huge factor in Ohio when it comes to agriculture,"
Knappenger said. "These horses eat Ohio hay, Ohio grain, Ohio corn and
sleep on Ohio straw. So there is a direct link to Ohio horse racing and
Ohio agriculture. So if you tie everything in together, it adds up to
millions of dollars in revenue for Ohio."
Another aspect that has hurt the Standard breds is a lack of
broodmares. State Representative Jim Buchy says that is making a
comeback also.
"Ohio led the nation back in 2004 by breeding over 2,500," Knappenger
pointed out. "In 2011, we were as low as 680 broodmares. Now my
breeders are telling me we will breed between 1,300-1,400 and that was
back in February. If this happens, as I expect it to, Ohio will be back
to where it once was with the breeding of broodmares."
At that point, Buchy added to the agricultural aspect.
"County fairs are the real genesis of horse racing," Buchy said. "Back
in the 1800's, farmers had horses and they raced at those fairs. There
were no tractors then, it was all about the horses doing the work. So
horse racing is really the genesis and the heart of Ohio agriculture."
Having been around the horse racing business for 57 years, Buchy was a
fan of the sport at an early age.
Now with the emergence of the casinos, Buchy has already seen how it's
helped.
"Between the casinos and the new racino which has the video lottery
terminals like the one at Scioto Downs, they are increasing the amount
of money that goes to the state that goes to the purses," Buchy
exclaimed. "It will ultimately increase the fair funds which will
profit the county fair racing. What makes me excited is that we're
going to have, in the next several years, Scioto Downs, a new harness
track in Dayton, Lebanon will move over to Monroe and we have
Shelbyville and Anderson to the west in Indiana. We are going to have
five harness tracks within two hours of Darke County. So what you will
see is this area become a big hub of growth in the Standard bred
industry."
With states like Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania already having
extended gaming, Oho was being left behind in the industry.
With the extended gaming in Ohio, that will soon change according to
Knappenberger.
“Our industry was allowed to gravitate to those states and they were
breeding more mares," said Knappenberger. "We went from the top of the
list to fifth or sixth on the list. Now, we will start climbing the
ladder."
With 65 county fairs having harness racing in Ohio, Buchy sees Ohio
making a huge comeback.
"We have more county fairs with harness racing than any state in the
country," Buchy pointed out. "We should surpass those other states
soon."
Buchy closed out the interview by saying; “It's already getting better
now."
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