Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Canfield Harness Horseman’s Association President Jim Criss, left, holds onto Caribbean Diamond and trainer Shane Heasley is with Shady Grey. Both horses are trained daily at the Canfield Fairgrounds, and both men are glad to know the harness racing will continue.

CANFIELD — The Canfield Harness Horsemen’s Association will continue the traditional Labor Day weekend race card at the Canfield Fairgrounds this year. The only difference is they will be racing like NASCAR, with no fans in the stands.

The announcement for the association came on Tuesday morning when the Canfield Fair Board Directors made the decision to cancel this year’s Canfield Fair and move to a Junior Fair only that will closed to the public.

“Horse racing will have their own event with only horses, drivers and owners,” fair director George Roman said. “There will be no one in the stands.”

The association and fairgrounds benefit from the races. The state of Ohio gives fairs funds each year. Canfield gets approximately $12,000 as long as the races take place. association President Jim Criss said. The funds come from the casinos in Ohio. That money can be used for anything the fair boards decide.

Funding also comes for the purses in the harness races. Entry fees help cover the winnings for the top five finishers.

The races are important as it takes funds to cover the needs of the Standardbred horses that are part of harness racing. No one knows that better than trainer Shane Heasley.

Heasley gets up at 6 a.m. daily and heads to the fairgrounds. He starts off the morning with feeding the half dozen race horses under his care.

After feeding, the horses are exercised on the race track by moving around it in one direction, or jogging the horse. Heasley said when the horse is turned to the race direction, the animal knows it and is ready to run.

The trainers also have to clean the stalls, bathe the horses, make sure they get all the required shots and ensure their health.

“We are a lot like a coach with athletes that don’t speak,” Heasley said. “They do talk to us in their own way.”

He said having the September races in Canfield is important. Canfield serves as a training ground year-round, but during the fair, it is time to shine for the local horses.

Besides no fans in the stands, the stables themselves will have a different look. If a trainer has five horses competing in the races, then five stalls will be held and a sixth one skipped to create social distancing. Each trainer will be responsible for the owners and drivers who are in his or her area.

“The trainer will have to take temperatures,” Criss said.

He said besides the owners and drivers, the association will still have to have starting gate personnel, a side judge, photo finish person and announcer.

Criss said harness racing is a big deal in Ohio and two of the nation’s top drivers are from northeast Ohio. He said Aaron Merriman and Ronnie Wrenn Jr. are from the Cleveland area and race in Canfield.

‘In fact, Aaron set the track record for Canfield, and no one has broken it yet,” Criss said.

Criss welcomes the race as does Heasley, who said racing in the state was on hold for three months due to COVID-19. Even with the suspension of racing in the spring, both men were at the fairgrounds every morning, rain or shine, to keep the horses at the top of their game.