Meet Gabe

Gabe Wand with his horse Powerful Madison
will compete in today's Harness Racing event 

Gabe Wand of Platteville, WI first got interested in harness racing when he was young.
"My dad has done it for 40+ years, I was born and raised right into it" he says.
He drove in his first race in a matinee at age 13, this week at the Henry County Fair will mark 20 years since that has happened. Like any racer, his favorite part about racing is winning, but he also likes training young horses and teaching them how to be a race horse. Training a horse for harness racing isn't easy, every horse is different and has a different, but intense, training program that could range from sprints to long distance training.
"It's a conditioning program, you train them like athletes" says Gabe.

Besides harness racing, Gabe is also the President of Wisconsin Harness Race Association and on the Board of Directors for the United States Trotting Association. His duties mostly include overseeing the organization but some of his other duties include contracting individual county fairs, provide guidance on how to run an effective race program, and to help create a marketing program to get people excited for and attend the harness racing events.

But today Gabe is just another racer. It is his first time at the Henry County Fair, along with his horse, Powerful Madison, who will race in the 9th of 11 races in her first race since last October. Gabe says she may be feeling a little "short," meaning she is in shape, but not as in shape as the other horses she is competing against, but she is ready for competition.
The harness racing will take place at noon today in the grandstand with Twitter providing live updates throughout the races.