The US Harness Writers Association (USHWA) Youth Membership Committee closed 2021/22 nominations on July 5. Today (July 20), we would like to welcome two young men for whom harness racing is a true calling : The newest USHWA Youth members are Dylan Daugherty and Justin Turnbull. Their first-year membership dues are kindly sponsored by Tim Konkle, editor of Midwest Harness Report magazine.
Dylan Daugherty is 11 years old. His mother Debbie and the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Association’s (PHHA) Seth Dowling supported his nomination as an USHWA Youth member. “My favourite Standardbred horses racing are Rising MVP, because it s my grandfather s horse, Foiled Again, and Father Son, a two-year-old trotting colt who my grandmother and I own together,” Dylan shared by e-mail.
Sometimes people trot out stereotypes about harness racing. They say it s a sport only enjoyed by older people, and maybe kids should just stay home. Justin Turnbull is a young racing fan who flips the script on those notions. My parents started taking me to the track when I was two years old, says 13-year-old Justin, who lives in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He was raised alongside a familiar name on the Maritime racing scene: My great uncle Fraser had a mare named Carols Junebug who had a baby named Junebugs Baby, whose field is practically in my backyard, so I grew up as he did.