Runaway Race Horse Dodges Traffic

A harness racing horse broke loose at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton yesterday:

The panicked horse — with its empty sulky bouncing behind it — kept charging forward.

It seemed as if the horse might return to its stall in Barn 16, but he bolted past the barn door and roared right passed the parked Dodge Caravan of Chuck Williams, who has six horses at the track.

The sulky bounced across the van’s front hood, leaving scrapes and waking up Chuck’s miniature dachshund Stitch, who was dozing inside. From there Galaxy headed down the fairground’s big, grassy hill, zigzagging between trees and charging out the front gate onto Main Street.

Shaggy was yelling, “Whoa!, Whoa!” Sarah was in pursuit, fueled by adrenaline and the thought, “Oh &#@!, Tom is gonna kill me!”

As for Hunter, he said: “I haven’t run that fast since I was in the Army. I wanted to get there before he got hit by a car, but I dreaded what I’d find when I got there.”

Tom Horner Sr., the most seasoned member of the fairgrounds backside, couldn’t believe what he was witnessing: “I’ve seen a lot of stuff happen, but that’s the first horse I’ve seen go out onto Main Street in 60 years here.”

Galaxy bolted through the front gate, past the sign that wishes everyone “Merry Christmas,” then cut across Main toward Frank Street.

Just then Christian Taylor, a manager for a neurosurgeons’ group with Premier HealthNet, was driving past going south. I was coming up Main going north.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I just see this huge horse with the buggy on the back come flying out the main entrance,” Taylor said. “I thought it was going to hit the telephone pole across the street, but it veered past it, and the buggy caught the pole and completely jolted the horse to a stop.”

Taylor got out of his car to calm the horse, as did I and another driver. At the same time, Hunter sprinted up, followed by Sarah. A few seconds later, Hockaday roared up in his car.

Although the sulky had some cracks in it, the horse had nothing but a couple of scrapes and was led back to the barn.

There's never a dull moment in Western Ohio.  Ok, yes, there are dull moments.  Anyway, my sister was entertained when we passed a house on the way to my aunt's house on Christmas Eve, and there was a goat standing in the middle of the road.  He is the resident guard goat at that house.  He doesn't compare to a runaway standardbred on Main Street in Dayton, though.