Three women drivers claim five victories

Millie Lange

ALTAMONT — Ladies rule! At least they did Wednesday at the 64th Annual Effingham County Fair harness races.

Darla Martin, Cassidy Melloy and Catherine Rutherford picked up five driving victories out of the eight races on the Wednesday card. The fact that Martin nabbed three of those wins puts her in second-place behind leader Marcus Miller in the drivers' standings. And what's even more exciting is the fact she's only two points behind after Miller went into yesterday's races 13 points ahead of her.

And let's throw out another little fact, there's never been a woman win the driver's championship since the inception of the award back in 1972. Going into today's final harness racing card, Miller and Martin will duke it out for the top prize.

Martin had an outstanding day picking up the second victory of the meet in the Topline 3-Year-Old & Up Trot behind Crossword. That win came after an opening victory by Marcus Miller behind Shortstacked.

Martin had a tough challenge going against crowd favorite Leo Burns, a 93-year-old driver from Albion who was making the trip with Winsome Wyoming. Crossword took the lead and led by two lengths at the half and pushed that to five at the three-quarter mile marker. Burns took Winsome Wyoming, who had to come from position nine, outside at the final turn, but couldn't make up the ground as Crossword picked up victory No. 12 in 29 career starts with a time of 2:06 1/5.

Crossword is trained by Samuel Glossup, who also had a fine day at the fair with three horses taking victories. James Mason of Athens, Ala. is the owner of Crossword, the first horse he has ever owned.

Martin's second win came in the Topline 3-Year-Old & Up Pace, second division. She stayed back in the field in this one as Memphis T Lewis and Gladys Light squared off through most of the race with both holding leads. Storm's Image, again trained by Glossup, came down the homestretch to pull out the win in 2:02 4/5.

Torio claimed the victory in the Non-winners $3,500 Lifetime Pace, second division for Martin. Martin, who lives and trains in Greenville, dropped into second place trailing R C Bad Boy. Four horses were in the hunt for the win on the turn in the homestretch, but Martin came on to win in a flurry in 2:09 2/5. Glossup also owns and trains Torio.

Martin picked up her 23rd victory of the summer behind Torio and claimed the winningest driver of Topline Stakes Day award at the Effingham County Fair.

Melloy, a multi-sport athlete at Edwards County High School, picked up the victory in the Topline 2-Year-Old Trot behind LW Jaynie Flyer. Owned by Melloy and trained by Pat Melloy Jr., LW Jaynie Flyer took the lead before the half and ended up with a four-length victory in 2:13.

Melloy comes by racing naturally as her grandmother used to drive before ending her career with an injury.

The final win for the ladies came in the last race of the day, the Non-winners of $3,500 Lifetime Pace, third division. Catherine Rutherford took American Interlude and challenged at the half and moved ahead at the three-quarter mark. American Interlude, owned and trained by Judith May of Charleston, finished out with a victory in 2:04 4/5.

That made it official as the first time in the 64-year history of harness racing at the Effingham County Fair that three different female drivers ended up in victory lane.

Although the men were outnumbered in victories, three did nab wins on the day.

In the opening race, the Topline 2-Year-Old Pace, Miller took Shortstacked to the victory, but it was a hard-fought win. Three lengths separated all the horses in the final turn. Shortstacked, trained by Ervin Miller, came on for its fifth win in five starts in 2:08 3/5.

Miller, who drives a hot pink sulky, is a student at Eastern Illinois University. The pink bike represents awareness for breast cancer as the young man donates 50 percent of selected winnings for breast cancer research. He has raised $5,000 for that charity during the summer.

Michael Knicley drove Tinkers Damn to the win in the Topline 3-Year-Old & Up Pace, first division. Tinkers Dam, owned by Randall Denham of Windsor, went to the rail and led by a length and a half at the half mile mark. Tinkers Damn pushed that lead to three at the three-quarter mile marker and drove away with the win easily in 2:02.

If you don't recognize the name of Knicley, who is from Newton, then you might remember his grandfather, John Finn.

Chad Bell was behind winner Fantasy Doll in the first division of the Non-winners of $3,500 Lifetime Pace. Fantasy Doll, who is also trained by Bell, went to the lead on the backstretch and maintained control to win in 1:33 4/5.

Harness racing comes to an end today with a 1 p.m. posttime. The driver's award is up for grabs, along with nine races on tap.

Millie Lange can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or millie.lange@effinghamdailynews.com.

64th Annual Effingham County Fair

Wednesday's Races

Race One

Topline 2-Year-Old Pace

Total Purse: $2,500

Blanket: Wessel's Grocery T-town

1. Shortstacked (Marcus Miller), 2. Most Remarkable (Randall Finn), 3. Wendy T (Mike Brink), 4. Quaker Ridge (Matthew Cox)

Time — :34 1/5, 1:07 2/5, 1:39 4/5, 2:08 3/5.

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Race Two

Topline 3-Year-Old & Up Trot

Total Purse: $2,500

Blanket: Altamont-Effingham Ambulance Service

1. Crossword (Darla Martin), 2. Winsome Wyoming (Leo Burns), 3. Cardinal Outburst (J.D. Finn), 4. Little Joe Score (Ray Gash), 5. Celebrity Yank (Kyle Husted), 6. T Doom (Matthew Cox), 7. Thanksalot (Randall Finn), 8. Fox Valley Monibag (Mike Brink), 9. True Beck (Frank Bell Jr.)

Time — :32 3/5, 1:03 2/5, 1:35, 2:06 1/5.

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Race Three

Topline 3-Year-Old & Up Pace

Total Purse: $1,500

First Division

1. Tinkers Damn (Michael Knicley), 2. Jenkate (Merle Finn), 3. Jed Laag (Randall Finn), 4. CD's Dream Maker (Michael Johnson), 5. Thunderstone (Darla Martin)

Time — :30 1/5, 1:01, 1:32 1/5, 2:02

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Race Four

Second Division

Blanket: Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust

1. Storm's Image (Darla Martin), 2. Memphis T Lewis (Merle Finn), 3. Gladys Light (Randall Finn), 4. Darlene (Terry Skinner)

Scratched — Dynamic Dream

Time — :31 2/5, 1:02 4/5, 1:33 1/5, 2:02 4/5.

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Race Five

Topline 2-Year-Old Trot

Total Purse: $2,500

Blanket: Culpepper Feed Co.

1. LW Jaynie Flyer (Cassidy Melloy), 2. Super Tea Rose (Merle Finn), 3. Certain Music (Darla Martin), 4. Wyndridge Dancer (Michael Whitaker), 5. MJ's Double Crunch (Craig Banks)

Scratched — Striking Tycoon

Time — :33 3/5, 1:06 4/5, 1:40 4/5, 2:13.

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Race Six

Non-winners of $3,500 Lifetime Pace

Total Purse: $1,040

First Division

Blanket: Altamont Lodge No. 533 A.F. & A.M.

1. Fantasy Doll (Chad Bell), 2. Wenward Motion (Michael Johnson), 3. Cole's Risque Lady (Merle Finn), 4. Fox Valley Steffi (Cassidy Melloy), 5. SP Muskoka No Two (Tony Kimbrough), 6. Sickwithit (Michael Whitaker), 7. Tammy's Hot Spot (Parris McKinney)

Time — :30 2/5, 1:02 1/5, 1:33 4/5, 2:04 2/5.

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Race Seven

Second Division

Blanket: Brad Meinhart Country Financial

1. Torio (Darla Martin), 2. R C Bad Boy (Tony Kimbrough), 3. Sledgehammer (Larry Plank), 4. R B Wrapped (Merle Finn Jr.), 5. AZ Sundancer (J.D. Finn), 6. Vin City Poe P (Rodger Allhands)

Time — :34, 1;07 2/5, 1:40, 2:09 2/5.

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Race Eight

Third Division

Blanket: Effingham County Clerk Kerry Hirtzel

1. American Interlude (Catherine Rutherford), 2. Country Creek (Brent Plotner), 3. Acesdiamond (Tony Kimbrough), 4. Movin Like Thewind (Craig Banks), 5. Ilovthisbar (Mike Johnson), 6. No Real Artist (Marcus Miller), 7. Royal Place (Michael Whitaker)

Time — :30 3/5, 1:02, 1:33 4/5, 2:04 4/5.

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