The Oldham Era / Thursday, April 19, 2012A8 / S P O R T S

33 MPG33 MPG

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33 MPG33 MPG

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Friday April 20th, 6-9pm

Crestwood United Methodist Church

REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS APRIL 16th

Donations support Youth summer mission trips.

Age: 13.

City: Crestwood.

School: South Oldham Middle School.

Parents: Christina and Ed Howard.

AUSTIN

HOWARD

TOPNOTCHP E R F O R M E R

SPORTSoccer, football and baseball.

FAVORITE COLORBlue.

FAVORITE FOODHot dogs.

FAVORITE MUSICIAN2Pac.

FAVORITE ATHLETEMatt Cassel.

THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE MEOutgoing, athletic and smart.

THREE WISHES“To be taller, to have superpowers and to be the smartest person in the world.”

ADVICE FOR A YOUNGER STUDENT-ATHLETE“Give 110 percent in every-thing, even if you do some-thing wrong. Just go 100 mph and don’t be lazy.”

ANALYSISA rangy centerfi elder, How-ard has made a mark as a baserunner.This season, Howard has im-proved his swing technique, which has allowed him to make the most of his speed.“If I bunt the ball or hit the ball, I can get to fi rst fast,” he said. “My coach is always telling me that they’re gonna be watching out for me while I’m running to fi rst.”

has been training at Forever Green with owner Keedle Ritter for the past two years.

She will be competing at the national finals after winning the zone 5 finals March 18 in Wilmington, Ohio.

Ritter said she’s been impressed with how Hoeppner has adapted to each horse she’s ridden in practice and competition.

“She adapts quickly and she just has a real knack for the different horses,” Ritter said.

Hoeppner is one of

45 members of Forever Green’s equestrian team consisting of girls in grades 6-12. There are no boys on the team, though the team is open to boys and girls.

“Even though you don’t know the horses, you have to know what you’re gonna do and be ready for anything to happen,” said Hadley Gibbs, a sixth-grader at North Oldham Middle School.

Members of the team are helping Hoeppner prepare for the finals by donating money to buy a new helmet and riding boots.

Some of the team mem-bers will also drive with

Hoeppner to Syracuse.Ritter said Hoeppner

needs to show the same discipline and poise she

had during the zone finals.

Email us about this story at: sports@oldhamera.com.

each year and qualified for Akron three times. He said he learned how to build a car and made a lot of friends.

Eaton’s father, Chris Eaton, helped Andrew and his older brother, Nicholas Eaton, build their cars and race each year they were old enough to participate. Andrew is now a junior at Western Kentucky University.

“The biggest thing is my kids learn sportsmanship,” said Chris, also a race organizer. “They learn how to do a lot for themselves, like how to build a car.”

John Martin, the greater Louisville race chairman, said the cost to build a car is $500 and according to race rules, only one child can use each car.

Martin said the race is having trouble finding any type of sponsorship.

He said individuals or businesses can pledge any amount towards a car or sponsoring the race.

With a lack of sponsorship, last year’s race was cancelled with only 18 registered racers. But Martin said lack of sponsorship is the biggest reason for the low turnout.

In Bowling Green, the race has a corporate sponsor and

is run by the Kiwanis Club. The Bowling Green race in its 15th year and has 250-300 participants who race during the two-day event.

Bowling Green race chairman Ron Cummings said the success is because of the 119-member Kiwanis Club and sponsorship like BB&T.

La Grange Mayor Bill Lammlein said he would like to see the local race have success. The city is donating porta-ble toilets for the event, but he said the city cannot support individual racers.

Lammlein said he also had been told the cost per car was $2,000 and has been aware of the event’s existence only because of an email from Martin in March.

“I’ve been involved in this city since I’ve been here for 35 years and this is the first I’ve heard of it, so evidently, it’s not being marketed properly,” Lammlein said.

Lammlein said he believes businesses in Oldham County would support the event if they were properly approached, but Martin isn’t sure.

“I just can’t believe people and businesses don’t get behind it and embrace it,” Martin said. “It’s gonna die off in some places.”

Email us about this story at: sports@oldhamera.com.

StruggleContinued from A7

NationalsContinued from A7

Among Crawford’s duties on race day is to pass out 10 dozen strings of green and gold Mardi Gras beads, the colors of Dullahan’s racing silks.

With an entourage that includes two assistants and a racing partner, Crawford meets with each of the other racing partners scat-tered around the banquet rooms and passes out beads.

Crawford tells me he helped organize seven presi-

dential campaigns at Iowa caucuses in past years. He said I remind him of report-ers embedded in the cam-paigns.

Back in the suite 45 minutes later, Crawford’s wife Linda, clad in a yellow dress and green jacket, tells me about traveling across the country for horse races.

“It’s the camaraderie of doing bucket list stuff and horse racing has brought it to all of us,” she said.

After Crawford assures me he’s still not nervous, I head to the paddock before the race to see the horses.

Dullahan bucks a bit

while in the walking circle, but looks mostly calm.

Minutes later, I’m whisked through the tun-nel, under the grandstand to the track with the horses, trainers, owners and media.

I grab a spot in a desig-nated media area against the track’s railing with my camera.

Dullahan charges down the stretch and passes Hansen to win by 1 ¼ lengths.

After posing for photos with the throng of more than 100 members of the Donegal racing party, I tried to catch up with

Crawford.Hoarded by media, he

puts his arm around me as I walk next to him to the press conference.

Afterward, Cauthen and Crawford show me to a small meeting room where champagne is passed around.

Then, they invite my fiancée and me to a post-race victory party in down-town Lexington that night.

The late-day sun couldn’t have shone any brighter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the writer.

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