Odds On Sara Sara won its seventh race this year and Fear The Ex ran second. All five 3-year-old fillies which started the 1-mile pace were even with one another as it began.

I helped make sure of it.

Mike Woebkenberg, the owner of Superior Sulky in Farmersville, offered me a unique opportunity Thursday during the harness racing event at the 2024 Greene County Fair.

Offer may be a bit of a strong word choice. It felt like I didn’t have a choice, but it’s one I agreed to instantly.

As I strolled my way toward the barns to pick out a photographic angle of the track for our coverage of the races, I heard from a nearby microphone for the “guy from the Xenia newspaper” to come to the nearby truck parked next to the outside railing on the track.

Inside was Mike facing out the backseat with his wife, Becky, behind him driving. As I approached and said hello, he immediately told me to get in.

“Get ready because you’re going to see everything from this angle,” he said.

It was a tight fit in the back but worth getting to experience should you get the chance.

I promptly was filled with anticipation after having watched a race begin from the fence line 12 times on Wednesday but never really taking a moment to see what was happening in front of the horses as they came to the starting line.

Mike does it all the time. As we waited for our job to begin he let me in on how he helps start roughly 4,500 races each year, including at bigger events such as the Little Brown Jug during the Delaware County Fair. He’s been in the horse industry for nearly all of his life.

It’s his truck with his starting gate attached to it. His company builds them.

If you’re going to learn and experience what it’s like to start a race, Mike is exactly who you want next to you.

As the jockeys finished warming up the horses on the track, Becky put the truck into drive to speed around from just past the final turn to the end of the backstretch. Mike prepared me for how close the horses will get to the vehicle while also announcing instructions to the jockeys for when they’re going to take off.

After it was go time and when the gates began to unfold, it’s incredible to watch as the horses seemingly all get in a proper line and catch up to the truck. It doesn’t feel like we’re going any faster, but the horses certainly were as they began to get so uncomfortably close to the gates without running into them. A simple three-second countdown by Mike lets the jockeys know the race is on as the gates release them and we speed up and move over so the inside part of the track becomes available.

If you want to see it for yourself, check out my video. https://x.com/steven_wright_/status/1819460889424416863?s=46&t=b4N7ELfnef4oj26WJY7WEg

The horses raced by us with Odds On Sara Sara on the outside of Fear The Ex heading around the first turn.

Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.