Author: Aidan Turnage-Barney

To most people, the letters Q, F, P and A are simply four letters out of the 26-letter alphabet. To a harness horseman seeking a career driving pacers and trotters, these letters are paramount in that pursuit.     Meet 19-year-old Jesse Barnard, an up & coming harness driver who competes at Shenandoah Downs — […]

Frank Chick’s dazzling 2-year-old filly Caviart Daisy continued an impressive freshman campaign Sunday with a dominating nine length win in a $8,000 Virginia Breeders’ elimination pace at Shenandoah Downs.  The daughter of Sweet Lou, fresh off a wire-to-wire performance one week ago in the first round of eliminations, was a nose behind front stepping Caviart […]

*Originally posted on bloodhorse.com on 10/13/2025, written by Sean Collins* native of Lexington who relocated to Middleburg, Va. more than a decade ago, Madison Meyers dreamed of returning home and running a horse she trained at Keeneland. That dream became reality Oct. 10 when Desvio , a 4-year-old Yoshida  gelding, broke from the gate in the 1 1/2-mile Sycamore Stakes […]

Cross Traffic was North America’s leading freshman sire of 2018, led by champion juvenile Jaywalk *Originally posted to Paulickreport.com on October 13, 2025* ‘Sullivan Farms is thrilled to announce that Cross Traffic, sire of Eclipse champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk, will stand the 2026 breeding season at the historic Mt. Airy Farm in Millwood, Va. Cross Traffic […]

Four divisions of Virginia Breeder’s Fund first round pacing eliminations for freshmen took place Sunday at Shenandoah Downs and Janet Davis’s Caviart Trenton authored the fastest mile of the quartet, tripping the timer in 1:57.0 in a colt pace. Tim Deaton led the winning effort which came in coast-to-coast fashion — the Captain Crunch gelding’s […]

It’s hard not to root for a guy that skipped his high school graduation in order to go to the racetrack. Meet 80-year-old harness owner, trainer and driver Gerry Longo, who is currently competing at Shenandoah Downs in Woodstock, Virginia and is fresh off a driving win Sunday — his ninth since turning 80 back […]

Dan Chansky’s Lou’s Starr, fresh off an appearance in the $500,000 Little Brown Jug final September 18, scored an impressive wire-to-wire win Sunday — in track record time for 3-year-old pacers — in the $9,000 winners over pacing feature at Shenandoah Downs.  The Scott Warnick trainee was driven by Fern Paquet Jr., who scored his […]

Shenandoah Downs will host its biggest promotional weekend of the fall season this coming Saturday September 27 — with a special $5,000 Sports Fans “Own a Horse for a Day” event — and Sunday September 28 — with the annual Wiener Dog Derby.     The Virginia Harness Horse Association’s (VHHA) popular “Own a Horse for […]

Bob McKim’s Kalispel and Clifton Green’s KNL Neely Girl captured respective colt and filly trotting divisions in the first ever Virginia Sire Stakes races ever held at Shenandoah Downs this weekend.  McKim’s trotter wired the eight-horse field in 2:02 2/5 and crossed six lengths the best in 2:02 2/5, After cutting initial panels of :30 2/5, […]

*Written by Ryan Fitzmaurice for the Northern Virginia Daily, published on September 3rd, 2025.* Harness racing in Virginia has weathered more than a century at the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds. On Friday, that tradition turns a new page when state and local leaders cut the ribbon on a $2 million, 172-stall barn, a project the Virginia […]