One of the mainstays of the Neshoba County Fair, which has been hosted for more than a century on the fairgrounds on Hwy. 21, has been the annual harness and running horse races at the track.
Gilbert Donald, president of Neshoba County Fair Association, said the Fair’s track was licensed in 1924 by the U.S Trotting Association.
“For years it was the only licensed race track in Mississippi, but now there are some other licensed ones,” Donald said. “This year, we’ll have about 20 horses coming from Texas, Louisiana and mostly from Mississippi. We’ll start on Sunday and for the week, there will be quarter-mile, half mile and mile races.”
Harness racing is a worldwide sport where a special breed of horses, called Standardbreds, race around a track while pulling a driver in a two-wheeled cart, called a sulky. The horses can reach speeds of more than 30 mph.
Harness horses compete using two different gaits: the trot or the pace, rather than a gallop. When pacers move down the track, the legs on the same side of their body move in unison. They can also be identified by the straps around all four legs, called hobbles, which help them maintain their gait.
Donald said the racing committee and their staff help keep the nearly 100-year old track in prime shape throughout the year.
“Horses are colorblind so they can only see white, so we paint the boards around the track white so they can be able to see them,” he said. “And the fences around the track are strictly for the horses and for the people walking around the fairgrounds. And safety is a very important part of our fair, whether it’s horse racing or whether it’s the carnival rides.”
The track is one of the only horse race tracks in East Central Mississippi. The Mississippi Horse Park in Starkville also hosts around 40 races per year.
