Bluhm enjoying the ride in Southwestern Ohio

Racing Secretary Jason Bluhm has a problem, but as he says, “it’s a good one to have.”

The 42-year-old lifelong harness racing enthusiast has taken over the helm at both of Ohio’s southwestern harness tracks, with terrific results.  This past December, Dayton Raceway’s handle scored a single night record of $1.286 million on Dec. 28, and most recently, on a warm January Sunday afternoon, a record handle of $1,087,501 was set at Miami Valley Raceway.

Bluhm, quiet and unassuming, is quick to dispel his efforts for the two racetracks he oversees, stating that, “I think it’s a continuation of the Ohio product getting more eyes. The upswing in better handles started when the Ohio tracks started coming back from COVID. More eyes started focusing on the racing in Ohio and that surge just carried over.

“Especially with the winter racing,” Bluhm continued. “We have some of the highest purses in the country, with full fields, and a great driver colony.  There’s some luck involved in those one million-dollar nights, too, as several times we’ve been the only game in town. The handle just in general has been healthy so far this year, we’re up about 3.8 million at Miami Valley in 2024 and we were up 10% up at Dayton this past fall.

Jason, who was born and raised in Plain City, Ohio, did not grow up in a harness racing family.

“A high school friend’s dad had horses and that kind of sparked the interest in me,” Bluhm offered. “In 2002 I bought my first horse and Jim Shelton trained him for me and then I got a few more.”

Shelton is now the trackman at both of Bluhm’s racetracks.

“He and I have been friends for many years, and Jim does the track work here for me,” Bluhm said. “Although I had initially wanted to go to university after high school, horse racing ended those plans. I realized, because owning horses is so expensive, that I needed to get a job to support them, and in 2005 I got a job with the USTA working in the information and research department working for David Carr.”

While working at the USTA, he ran into then USTA employee Jason Settlemoir and the two got together for a random lunch, which proved to be prophetic for Bluhm’s future.

“Because of that lunch, when Jason went to work for Jeff Gural, he remembered our conversation,” Bluhm recalled. “And he called me up and offered me a position at Tioga and Vernon as a result.”

 Bluhm began working at the northeastern raceways of Vernon and Tioga in 2006, running multiple departments at both venues. His duties included racing secretary, program director, charter, stall superintendent, track superintendent and host of other responsibilities.

‘That was a great experience to work those spots, and with any kind of work I do, I like to know how everything works from the ground up, so working at Vernon and Tioga gave me a great foundation,” Bluhm stressed. “I always wonder where I’d be today if Jason (Settlemoir) and I hadn’t sat down to have lunch that day.”

In 2019, Bluhm answered the call to return to Ohio and become the director of racing at Dayton.

“I did the track work the first couple of years at Dayton and was also director of racing, and when Gregg Keidel retired at the end of last year it opened up an opportunity for me to take over his position at Miami Valley.”

Bluhm said he is thankful to have the stint at both Ohio tracks, and does not like too much down time. He now resides near where he grew up, with his wife Sarah and his children; Frederick, 15; Hannah, 13; and Corinne, 12. While the one and a half hour drive to work each day can get tiresome, Bluhm says it is definitely worth it. Currently, Miami Valley races five days a week, 14 races per day.

“I really enjoy the live meet,” he said. “I get a little bored in the off season. We’re fortunate that we are racing when nobody else is, and all the horsemen need a place to go. The biggest problem I face on a day to day basis is trying to get everyone raced. Every day I must decide on whether I’m going to go with two divisions or sit a race out. Having a lot of horses and being the only game in town is great, but there are so many horses needing to get raced and I feel bad when horsemen can’t get their horses raced.

“Having too many horses; that’s a good problem to have,” he chuckled.

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink