THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994 TAG: 9406230128
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940623 LENGTH: SUFFOLK
Keeping pace with his pacer is not easy, a happy situation for Alpha Cobb.
He and his Alberta Grand do some of their harness racing at tracks up and down the Eastern Seaboard, from Delaware to Florida.
But they do much of it at two Suffolk tracks: his own Cobb's Raceway on Jackson Road, and Buckhorn Raceway on Chapel Drive.
{REST} Both oval-shaped, half-mile tracks serve as a local headquarters for horse and pony racing and training.
Breeders and racers, hoping for a race at large betting tracks elsewhere in the region, bring their animals to the Peanut City first to learn the tricks of the racing trade.
Buckhorn has been in operation about 25 years. Cobb's track is about 15 years old.
Together, the two host seven race weekends each summer, offering five or six heats each day.
And for those who want to watch, admission is free.
``Racing is strictly a hobby,'' said Cobb, the retired owner of Cobb's Truck Stop on Carolina Road, now called the Red Apple.
``It's not a money-making proposition,'' said Glenn Spivey, who manages Buckhorn's. ``It's more of a money-spending thing.''
Both track operators entered harness racing gradually.
Cobb worked with other types of horses for many years, but ``found this more relaxing.''
An easier pace, as it were.
Spivey, a retired cabinetmaker, has been in the harness racing business seven years.
He owns a track in Willow Springs, N.C., and leases Buckhorn.
``I had horses all my life,'' Spivey said. ``You can talk to them, and they don't talk back. They grow on you, and you get attached to them.
``Mine are just pets. The more you mess with them, the more they get that way.''
A couple of his horses follow him around like faithful dogs, then stand patiently as Spivey grooms them and gets them ready for a run around the track.
In harness racing, horses pull drivers in sulkies - light, two-wheeled carts. There are two kinds of harness horses: pacers and trotters.
Pacers are more popular locally, and the ones running around the Suffolk tracks.
A pacer moves its right front and right hind legs forward at the same time, then its left legs.
A trotter moves its right front and left hind legs forward together, then the other two legs.
The pace is a little faster than the trot.
Either way, Cobb and Spivey spend a good deal of time keeping their horses in shape.
``I ride them around the track about four miles a day,'' Spivey said. ``It gets them used to the cart.''
Before the horses can get on the track, it takes about 30 minutes to harness them and attach the ``hobbles'' that help them pace or trot.
Some horses are ``free leggers,'' animals that can race without hobbles.
The races are popular in other states, notably Delaware and Florida.
``Harness racing is bigger there,'' said Spivey, bemoaning a lack of interest locally. ``It used to be a family thing. Wives and kids used to race.
``We used to have about 100 horses racing,'' he said. ``Now, we have about 25. About 95 per cent of them are from out of state.''
They come from North Carolina and Maryland, he said. A few are from Chesapeake.
Fewer people come to watch, too, despite the fact that admission is free.
``We usually have from 35 to 50 people if the weather's pretty,'' Spivey said. ``We used to have 150 to 200.''
Cobb said races at his track usually draw an audience of about 100.
Spivey's biggest moneymaker is breeding.
``But that's hit or miss,'' he said. ``You never know what you're going to get.''
He also does well as a trainer. The job requires patience and, of course, know-how.
``I've had some horses that kick, bite, buck,'' Spivey said. ``It takes about two months to stop them from doing all that. ``Then you work on the racing.''
It usually takes another two months to get a horse ready to work as a pacer, he said.
``I bought one animal as a trail horse,'' Spivey said, recalling his initial interest in the sport. ``Later, I was told it was a harness race horse.
``A friend hooked her up - ran her a few times. She carried me around the track.''
He has been happily going 'round and 'round ever since.
{KEYWORDS} HARNESS RACING
by CNB