It was almost too much for 13-year-old Chris Nye to bear.

The fact he didn’t qualify for the U.S. Trotting Association’s Harness Horse Youth Foundation camp at Bangor Raceway because he was overqualified was bad enough. Being around peers who had no previous experience with harness racing – or even horses – as a volunteer and then seeing them earn a trip to The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., for a gala harness racing weekend was enough to drive him crazy.

“I was just pacing around,” said Nye. “I couldn’t believe they got to go to the Meadowlands. They were behind the starter’s gate after three days and I wasn’t even allowed there even though I’d been around horses almost all my life.”

Still, the teen from Levant who was champing at the bit to get a chance to drive a sulky, simply grinned and bore it. With seven years’ experience in training and caring for horses, he was more than willing to help out as a volunteer in the program’s first-ever run at Bangor Raceway.

So he cleaned out the stalls, harnessed the horses, refilled water, restocked hay, and brushed and cleaned the horses. And eventually, his patience and persistence paid off.

“On the last day, I was helping them pack up and right when we were done, they were like ‘if you want to go to the Meadowlands, we’ll pay your way,'” Nye said. “It didn’t take me long to decide. I had to go ask my mom, but I knew I was going to go.”

Nye went with mother Bobbi and his grandmother to the Hambletonian elimination races on the last weekend of July. His dad, Shawn, is a trainer and he had to stay home and care for the family’s four horses.

“Getting to go there was awesome,” Nye said. “I’d never been to a mile track before. I’m used to a half-mile track. It was really big.”

“It’s like going from Speedway 95 to the Daytona 500,” said Bobbi Nye, Chris’ mother.

That was just one of the highlights of the three day-day trip.

“I didn’t work with trainers much, but I was with the group,” Nye said. “I got to meet some of the drivers, including Catello Manzi. I think he’s awesome.”

This promises to be a particularly memorable summer for Nye as he is tentatively scheduled to participate in his first race as a driver at the Cornish Fair on his birthday, Sept. 10.

“They have a fun day with non-betting races where anyone who knows what they’re doing can race,” said Bobbi Nye. “We’re hoping he’ll be able to race.”

Chris, who puts in six hours a day at the stables on non-school days and 12 hours a week when school is in session, is the fourth generation of Nyes involved in harness racing, but he prefers to ply his trade for people outside the family.

“I don’t usually help out with my dad. I usually work for other people instead because they pay me,” he said with a laugh.

Weather-beaten Windsor

The rainy weather was not kind to Windsor Fair last week, but it didn’t cause racing officials to cancel any of the action at the track.

Race director Bill McFarland says he came within “inches” of calling off Sunday’s (Aug. 28) and Wednesday’s races, but after an inspection of the wet track surface, he decided to go ahead with both race schedules.

“Our handle was $108,565 Sunday [Aug. 28] with 12 races, so we were pleased with that, but then bad weather came,” McFarland said.

Although the first day’s handle was up over 2004’s day-one take, the rain has made its presence felt in the total handle numbers as total betting was down $55,148 after the first five days compared to the same time period from last year.

McFarland was hopeful that the 40 races Windsor ran Labor Day weekend would help the track rebound strongly. His hopes were realized as strong showings Friday and Sunday overcame a Saturday drop. Friday’s handle was $67,122, up $13,456; Saturday’s was $89,195 (down $16,108); and Sunday’s was $144,744 (up $13,916).

Monday’s handle was a whopping $205,031, but it still wasn’t enough to turn things completely around as it was only up $1,808.

Labor Day is traditionally the track’s biggest day, with a record $300,000-plus handle recorded a few years ago.

All told, the overall nine-day handle was down $42,076 from last year.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net