Track records were flying during harness racing at the Wood County Fairgrounds on Sunday and Tuesday, and both records were set by Wood County-trained horses in Signature Series races.

On Sunday, Steve Bateson’s 5-year-old, 16-hands gelding Surfinthecanyon won by 17 lengths in a time of 1:57.2, beating the old track pacing record of 1:57.3 for a mile established by Night Pro in 2019.

On Tuesday, Stoney Ridgetop tripped the wire in two minutes flat, setting a new trotting record in the Dave Chamberlin Signature Series Trot. The 5-year-old gelded son of Wishing Stone was driven and is trained by John Konesky III.

While the records were only a few years old, the track, grandstands, and first races there date back to its construction in 1954. Konesky says he is proud that his and Bateson’s horses “brought (the record) back home” to Wood County.

For the record, Stoney Ridgetop’s name has nothing to do with Stony Ridge, Ohio. Stony Ridgetop is by Ruffleshaveridges and Tom Ridge, so therein can be found the reason for his name.

Konesky, who hails from Pemberville and has been in the business for over 60 years, knows a good thing when he sees it, and he found Stoney Ridgetop in Pennsylvania.

“I bought him out of a yearling sale and he was already named,” Konesky said. “The reason I was attracted to him is because I always wanted a horse from that sire, but most of them were a little bit on the small side, and I kind of thought, ‘If I could find one that was a decent size, a bigger horse, that I would try to buy him.’

“And, I saw this horse, and we did our homework beforehand on his heritage and stuff like that, and when I saw him for sale, he kind of stood out for me, and I brought him home,” Konesky continued.

Last year at the same race, StoneyRidgetop finished second. But last year Konesky said he thought Stoney Ridgetop was still growing, and now he confirms that the gelding has reched 17 hands, plus he has won five straight.

“Last year he wasn’t quite as sharp as he is now, plus the horse that beat us was a really good horse and he drew inside,’ Konesky said.

“If I drew inside of him, I think the results might be different because the two horses were very, very similar in racing styles, ability, and stuff. A lot of it is just the luck of the draw. It’s just the way harness racing is.”

‘Surfing’ to a track record

Bateson, a Rudolph resident, went the opposite direction, west, to find Surfinthecanyon.

“He was a home-bred horse raised in Defiance County. I know the gentleman who owns the mare and I knew the man who owns the stallion, and when we got the opportunity to buy the horse in the spring of 2023, we just had a lot of fun with him,” Bateson said.

“The fact that my youngest son takes care of him and gets along with him, he’s kind of becoming a household pet for our family. He is a bay, which is the most common color, and has a little bit of white. He doesn’t have any real distinguishing features, but he is a really nice looking horse and put together really well.”

Bateson’s son Case, a professional driver who lives near Pittsburgh, drove the horse to its record-setting time. Plus, it was Surfinthecanyon’s sixth straight win.

“It was a special day at the Wood County Fair with my son coming back, and my other son Levi has been the groom on the horse, and we had quite a bit of family who were there to watch,” Bateson said. “For him to win his sixth in a row was pretty remarkable, but to be able to break the track record was something we didn’t even anticipate.

“When my son came back to the winner’s circle he had no idea. He said, ‘Dad, I really didn’t ask him to go on much,’ but he won the race pretty handily by 17 lengths is what they charted it.”

Bateson says this is one of those moments when he knows he has something special.

“This sport isn’t that terribly easy,” Bateson said. “If you win two or three in a row it is pretty remarkable but to be able to win six in a row is pretty incredible. I’m pretty confident I will never have another horse that will ever win six in a row, so I’m enjoying it right now.

“He’s a really remarkable horse to be around, very easy going, and I think that is why drivers like to drive him,” Bateson continued. “You could ask (driver) Marc St. Louis this — this horse you can come from off the pace or you can lead out on the gate with him like we did Sunday when my son drove him, but some horses are very one-dimensional.

“Surfinthecanyon is not one dimensional. He can come from back or he can go to the front and is very handy to drive. A lot of drivers like that flexibility that gives them the ability to alter their plan in the race. That makes him special.”

The Sentinel-Tribune did ask driver Marc St. Louis, Jr. about Surfinthecanyon, and he had no qualms about what Bateson said. St. Louis has driven the horse three times during his six-win streak.

“I think it’s because he’s so handy, he’s so versatile, you can do anything with him,” St. Louis said. “You can lead really fast and he can come off the pace, so he is very hard to beat on a smaller track. He’s probably one of the funnest horses I’ve ever driven.”

Chasing a series championship

It may have helped that, after running Surfinthecanyon 30 times last year, Bateson gave him some rest.

“He’s a 5-year-old that we gave some time off to last winter to freshen him up,” Bateson said. “The Wood County Fair was only his ninth start this season, but he’s won seven of those nine starts, including six in a row.”

Now, SurfintheCanyon is in the hunt for a Signature Series pace championship, already earning five series wins.

“The Signature Series is for pacers and for trotters,” Bateson said. “It’s primarily Ohio-bred aged horses.

“You’re trying to accumulate points to make the final at Delaware (Ohio), and it actually races on the Little Brown Jug day, which is the last day of the Delaware Fair. They have a nice purse, so all these fairs that have Signature Series guys are competing to hopefully have the privilege to race in that final.

“The Wood County Fair had both a Signature trot race and a Signature pace race, and just coincidentally, John broke the record on the trot and I broke the record on the pace, which I think you’ve got to give some accolades to the track crew at the Wood County Fair.

“The track was in pretty good shape. A lot of tracks have no activity on them from a racing standpoint other than the few days that they race, so the track was in remarkably good shape to be able to break two overall track records in two days of racing.”