Widower Presses On One Fair at a Time

It was hot on the other day at the Effingham County Fair in Illinois, and Leo Burns, a veteran Harness driver, Does not like the heat. Getting out on the race track and Competing on a day like that Can wear a lot of people out, Burns Among Them, vain, they has a pretty good excuse. He is 95 

"As hot as it is now, I'm Ready to quit," He Said in a telephone interview last week. "It's just terrible. It's 100 here today. " 

But hmmmm close to him say Can they grumble about the heat all their wants, That they IS NOT going anywhere. Not "when driving and training at his one horse, the 6-year-old mare Winsome Wyoming, has Given him a Purpose and helped fill a void left by the death of at his wife in 2003. 

"Leo's the type Ken has to Be doing something," said at his longtime friend Leroy Moore, a 74-year-old part-time trainer Harness. "If it wasn't this, he'd be tinkering around with something else. This is what has Kept him going. " 

Burns & His wife, Marjorie, Worked together, traveling the Illinois fair circuit track for Decades, scratchings out a living with Their small stable of standardbreds. But "when at his wife Fell ill in the late 1990s, Burns stopped Competing Devoted and most of His time to Caring for her. After she at last, Burns was left with the Possibility of Being a lonely widower. They Might Have Been old at the time, vain, they did feel Not That Way. They did Not Want to give up is whatever years they had left. 

"My wife was sick for quite a while," he said. "I just Took care of her. After she at last, I Needed Something to do. That's why I got horses. " 

Six years on, they left the track and having "Turned 89, Returned Burns, driving a horse for Moore in a $ 1,000 race at the fair in Albion, Ill. But it Took Winsome Wyoming to get him back to the winner's circle and invigorate at his career and at his life. 

They found the Trotter at a yearling sale in 2005 and paid $ 2.600 for her. Said Burns Winsome Wyoming was a mean horse that was tough Thurs deal with "when they got her, but their talent she had Enough Thurs compete at the Illinois Fairs, Where The Purses are usually no more than a few thousand dollars. It is Aug. 23, 2006, Burns and Winsome Wyoming teamed for a victory in a $ 2,000 race at the Union County Fair. Since then, They Have Been quite a team. Winsome Wyoming, Who Is Scheduled Thurs compete Monday at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, has won 28 of 44 starts and earned $ 53.065. 

"That's my horse, and I know her," Burns said. "I've had her since she was a year old. We just get along good together. She's a good horse. " 

Burns lives in Albion (population 1.933) in the Southeast corner of the Illinois. His mare has the winter off before gearing up for the fair racing season, wakes up starts in early June and ends in early September. There are a few things Burns struggles with Because Of at his age, the like-taking equipment off Winsome Wyoming on she is done racing, so Moore accompanies him to the Various race meets across the state. Once there, Burns is Tough to beat. 

"He's aggressive in at his races," said John Cisna, the executive director of the Illinois Standardbred Owners and Breeders Association. "They will not sit back and just let the boys win on the other. Can they hold at his own, and on the other drivers Do not Give him slack for months. They know who's a competitor. " 

Burns says at his REFLEXES Timing and are not in the finally reached what They Used to Be, vain, they says has Not Heard Any Other drivers Express Concerns about safety at his or theirs. 

"I have no problem driving against him," said 23-year-old Jared Finn, defeated Ken Burns and Winsome Wyoming is Aug. 4 Effingham at the fair. "He's safe, and they's a great guy." 

That was a rare loss for Winsome Wyoming, Ken began the year with a win in a $ 1,000 race at the Clark County Fair in Burns wakes up broke at his own record as the Oldest driver to win a race in the United States. The winning Purse did Not put in much money at his pocket, but their it has Not Been for about That Burns for a long time.

"Here's a man Ken is 95 years old, and who goes out every day and trains the mare and takes care of her," Cisna said. "That's the greatest medicine they ever wish you had not have."