Fair circuit losing its luster, support

ALBION, Ill. — Patrick Melloy races standardbreds every week of every year, but finds himself spending less and less time in his native state.

"The county fair circuit isn't what it used to be," the 40-year-old Edwards County man said last week from the fairgrounds here where he turned practice laps with several of his stable's trotters. "Five years ago, I won more than $7,000 at a race right here on this track. Now you're doing good to get a $2,000 payout."

Illinois doesn't fund the county tracks as much as it used to, Melloy says.

"Some fairs have cut dates. Edwards County is down to only two nights. It didn't help our sport any when Fairmount Park (outside Collinsville) switched over to thoroughbreds. Out East, the tracks that are making comebacks are the ones that have the slot machines."

Melloy's parents trained trotters and his mother, Verna, was a regular on the fair circuit. He remembers watching the standardbreds at the now-defunct Riverside Downs in Henderson, Ky.

"I've been racing hard for 10 years. I go to the Red Mile in Kentucky and I spend as much as eight months a year at the track in Northfield, Ohio. It's tough being away from my family for so long. I still maintain a home here, but I'm not in it very much."

Patrick Melloy tried working at a factory and handling livestock on the side, but he wasn't happy.

"The hog business got real bad and it was taking more and more capital to stay in farming. I bought a horse in St. Louis and it did well and that got me back into the harness-racing."

Tracks in Wayne and White counties have a long tradition of sulky races. Still, Melloy fears the sport at the local level is in trouble.

"They're cutting back to save money on judges and starting gates. You hate to see it go in that direction."

His older daughter, Cassidy, is in her second racing season. His youngest, Jessica, also shows promise.

"She won the pony competition the other night at the Edwards Fair."

Patrick Melloy recalls his pacers, Bandit and Charlene, that won $7,000 purses back when the county fair races were in their heyday.

"The state needs to show more interest in what we're doing out here. Attendance is down, but it doesn't have to be. We still have a great sport."