Wavzeka, Magee, Anfinson repeat at Minnesota fair awards

Columbus, MN – Harness racing pacer Wavzeka, driver Rick Magee and trainer Justin Anfinson top the list of Minnesota county fair award winners for the second straight year.

Wavzeka captures the headlines again this year with another perfect campaign on the Minnesota county fair circuit in 2023, her sophomore season. She garnered 250 points with a perfect scorecard of 5 wins from 5 starts to be the clear ‘county fairs pacer of the year’ again, and is now a perfect 10-for-10 lifetime on the Minnesota fair circuit.

Minnesota’s annual county fair lineup includes the Cannon Valley Fairgrounds in Cannon Falls, which typically offers an early season meet in May as well as a traditional 4th of July program during the Fair and a fall meet to close out the Minnesota season in late September and early October, while The Nicollet County Fairgrounds in Saint Peter traditionally hosts harness racing in early August and the Traverse County Fairgrounds in Wheaton hosts a meet in late September (Wheaton was rained-out in 2023).

Wavzeka really appears to relish the track at Cannon Falls, and her 5-1/2 length tally there on July 4 while stopping the timer in 1:58.1 with driver Todd Warren in tow was one of the most impressive performances of the 2023 county fair season. She won a total of 7 races in 2023 while earning $48,494 and pushing her career bankroll to $109,198.

Her fastest win at Aces was a 1:56.2 tally on August 3 and she later lowered her career mark to 1:55.2 during a successful late fall campaign at Hawthorne Racecourse.

Wavzeka is a daughter of Art’s Chip and is out of the Jereme’s Jet mare Delco Dusty. She is owned by her breeder Jay De Long and is trained by Justin Anfinson.

The 2023 County Fair Trotter of the Year award will be shared by two winners, each of whom collected 200 points. The co-winners are Al-Mar Puredelight (Southwind Flash) and Teeter Trotter (Banker Volo).

Al-Mar Puredelight went a perfect 4-for-4 at the fairs, with 3 wins at Cannon Falls and one win at Saint Peter during her freshman campaign. She took a freshman mark of 2:09.3 at Cannon Falls on September 30 with Nick Roland in the bike. She has earned $27,122 from 13 starts in her budding career.

Al-Mar Puredelight was bred by Al-Mar Farms and is owned by the partnership of Jay De Long, Eric De Long and Terry Knothe. She is also trained by Justin Anfinson.

Teeter Trotter also registered a perfect 4-for-4 county fair campaign with 3 wins at Cannon Falls and one win at Saint Peter, taking his sophomore mark of 2:05.3 on August 9 at Saint Peter with Brad Irvine in the bike for trainer Dan Roland. His career mark currently shows 2:01 at Running Aces during his freshman campaign in 2022. He has earned $30,897 from 23 career starts to date.

Teeter Trotter is owned by Lucas and Jeralene Roland, and was bred by Jeri and Dan Roland.

The 2023 ‘County Fair Driver-of-the-Year’ award goes to Rick Magee, who continued his winning streak in this category with another dominating county fair campaign.

Magee racked up 1,449 points to win by a margin of more than 400 points.

Rounding out the top-three drivers were Dean Magee (1,013 points) and Brady Jenson (886 points).

The 2023 ‘County Fair Trainer-of-the-Year’ award goes to Justin Anfinson who also continues his win streak in this category.

Justin posted a very impressive 2,107 points during the county fair season and had an astonishing winning margin of more than 1,200 points.

Rounding out the top-three trainers were Brandon Jenson (877 points) and Dan Roland (796 points).

The 2023 Minnesota County Fair Awards will be presented at the MHRI Annual meeting and Awards Banquet on Saturday, (February 17) at Running Aces Casino, Hotel and Racetrack in Columbus.

Stay tuned in the coming days as the Minnesota Harness Racing 2023 freshman, sophomore, and aged divisional awards will be formally announced with press releases this coming week and these awards will also be presented at the (Feb 17) banquet.

Following tradition, the overall ‘Minnesota 2023 Harness Horse of the Year’ award will have open nominations and a live vote during the annual meeting and banquet.

by Darin Gagne, for Minnesota Harness Racing