Racing club harnesses its effort; Amateurs look forward to racing, raising funds.

PositionNEWS

Byline: Ellie Oleson

COLUMN: TELEGRAM & GAZETTE SANTA

The 34 members of the New England Amateur Harness Drivers Club race their sulkies for the thrill of competition, the love of horses and for charity.

Each year, the club members donate all the royalties they earn at the track, totaling approximately $5,000 per year, to various charities, including Autism Speaks, New Vocations Retired Racehorse Adoption, Plainville Lions Club, the American Cancer Society and the Telegram & Gazette Santa Fund.

William F. "Billy" Abdelnour, 62, a retired Worcester public school teacher and club president, said that most club members also have jobs off the track, but their passion is driving horses.

Mr. Abdelnour, who was a teacher at the Vernon Hill, Clark Street and Worcester East Middle schools before being named assistant principal at Lake View School, first earned his harness driver's license at age 57. Last year, he earned his Class A license after successfully passing all four levels of required tests. Now, he can drive a sulky on any track in the country, but he is most eager to drive on two local tracks.

He said, "There will be big changes in harness racing in 2009," when he plans to race at both the Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville

and at Rockingham Race Track in Salem, N.H.

Ed Callahan, president and general manager of RockinghamVenture Inc., owner of Rockingham Park and Rockingham Race Track, said, "We're setting up our racing dates with Plainridge so there won't be any conflicts. We're pleased everyone's working together."

He said that Plainridge will host races in the spring and fall, and Rockingham will hold races from June 6 to Aug. 30.

"The difficulty comes with the availability of horses. When we're running against each other, it makes it difficult for us and for the horsemen," Mr. Callahan said.

He said he was pleased that the amateur drivers would be racing on his track in 2009.

Mr. Abdelnour said that, years ago, there was a "harness-racing circuit" that included the quarter-mile track at Rockingham Park and the former 5/8-mile Foxboro Raceway track that was razed to build Gillette Stadium.

"That meant four turns in a mile race at Rockingham and three turns at Foxboro. One was better for horses that turned well; the other was better for horses that didn't, so it was good that the circuit included both tracks," Mr. Abdelnour said.

In recent years, the Rockingham and 5/8-mile Plainridge tracks have been in competition with each other...

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