A new generation is taking over the reins at North Dakota racetracks

FARGO — The horse racing life-style has by no means been one for the faint of coronary heart. Racing horses entails a number of arduous, gritty work within the warmth and the chilly, some expertise and a bit of little bit of luck. It could attain highs of successful towards all odds and trigger utter heartbreak with out rationalization. However for horsemen who keep it up, whether or not as a interest or profession, they are going to let you know that it is “of their blood,” and its ran by means of generations of their household line.

Throughout the nation, the economics of proudly owning a racehorse can run excessive, however small tracks resembling North Dakota’s Chippewa Downs in Belcourt and the North Dakota Horse Park in Fargo can supply newcomers a spot to begin, whether or not it is for individuals who have grown up within the trade or those that have all the time had the dream of being part of the distinctive world.

On July 14, 2017, simply 9 days after his sixteenth birthday, Evan Herman rode his first race as a licensed jockey on the North Dakota Horse Park.
Years earlier than, a Discussion board photographer captured Herman wearing his finest blue denims and cowboy hat driving alongside from the stands, ready for his probability to hit the filth himself.

Herman grew up driving horses at this childhood farm close to Belcourt, N.D. His father, Robert Lee Herman Sr., and grandfather Robert (Butch) Herman are each trainers and run horses in North Dakota. His uncles Shaun Herman and Jeremy Herman have additionally earned their jockey playing cards.
“As I grew up and watched my uncles [ride], I all the time needed to be part of it and be my dad’s jockey,” Herman stated. “I’ve had a number of assist from everybody round me. Fortunately, I’ve a number of members of the family that have been all the time there to assist me and inform me what to proper and what I am doing improper.”

Though Herman rides each the sprinters in addition to distance runners, he admits he’s a fan of quarter horses, the breed he grew driving together with his household. His dad now trains each quarter horses and thoroughbreds.
Quarter Horse races are notoriously troublesome for jockeys to navigate, as the short sprints solely common 15 to 18 seconds.

“I feel there’s nothing like the frenzy of a Quarter Horse,” Herman stated.

As a jockey, on any breed of horse, it is Herman’s job to assist information the horse from selecting when to vary pace or leads right into a flip to guiding the horse away from hassle and congestion down the lane.

“[The horses] are our companions for our job, they assist us make a dwelling so we’ve got to assist them make a dwelling,” Herman stated. “We by no means need to see one get harm or stepped on. We need to preserve them secure simply as they preserve us secure.”
Whereas they work as a workforce to maintain one another secure, accidents can occur which might result in some worrying by household and buddies.

“My mother, she tries to inform me on a regular basis, it’s a must to preserve your self as secure as doable,” Herman stated. “My mother is my agent. If she finds out a horse is dangerous, she’ll say no. She would not like after I get harm, but it surely’s simply part of the sport. It is not if you happen to get harm, it is simply when.”

Herman is wanting ahead to the remaining two weekends of racing in Fargo, together with a trip within the upcoming quarter horse futurity, a race with a bigger purse for the youngest of working horses, these age 2.

After Fargo, he could return to trip at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., the place he “had a blast” ending out the season final 12 months as a rider. Round October, Herman will return house as soon as once more to assist his household with the younger horses in addition to some in Minnesota, earlier than beginning the racing seasons yet again when racing begins within the spring in Nebraska till Chippewa Downs returns in June.

“It is like a household right here, and you do not have the identical strain and stress right here,” Herman stated. “You may trip the way you need to trip. That is the most effective half about round right here.”

As a boy, Darren Nieswaag spent many summers working across the bottom of the tracks in Fessenden, N.D., and Aberdeen, S.D. Years later, on Saturday, June 17, Nieswaag and his spouse, Steph, have been as soon as once more on the bottom of a North Dakota monitor. Now, their day was spent getting ready their filly, Lil Miss Zak — a bay thoroughbred the couple bred and raised — for the $15,000 maturity on the North Dakota Horse Park, the place her race can be the key attraction. The betting public watched one in all their favorites outduel Krews Cross and carry the Nieswaag identify once more previous the end first.

Nieswaag, who earned his coach’s license in Fargo about 5 years in the past, is carrying on the legacy of his father, Dennis, and grandfather Bert Nieswaag of Pettibone, N.D.

Bert Nieswaag, who handed away in 2016 on the age of 100, was a widely known horseman throughout North Dakota not just for his prolonged information of racing and the strains of horses he continued to trace till his dying, but additionally for his enduring smile and kindness to all he gave his time to in an effort to broaden the curiosity of horse racing in North Dakota.
Many years later, Bert’s final proprietor’s license can nonetheless be discovered at native tracks, tucked safely into Darren’s pockets.

Though Darren stepped away from racing for a pair years, his father remained an lively proprietor of racehorses and ultimately they started elevating the infants from a mare his grandfather as soon as owned and ultimately took to working once more.

“We simply form of jumped again into racing together with her,” Darren stated.
Darren and Steph make their house in Mandan, N.D., and home their horses on the Nieswaag ranch southwest of Pettibone, N.D.

“It is all the time good to have a monitor in North Dakota, it is good to see the household watch your work coming to life,” Darren Nieswaag stated.

Though they may broaden their racing workforce, Nieswaag stated he’ll doubtless stick with two runners annually.
“Two is an effective quantity, it is manageable,” he stated.

Nieswaag hopes to run his two sisters as soon as extra earlier than the Fargo meet ends. Whereas Miss Zaky Pie will doubtless retire, Lil Miss Zak appears to have simply hit her stride in 2021 and should return to run extra at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg or one other monitor resembling Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.

For proprietor Bryton Dewald, racing might need skipped a era but it surely landed arduous within the 22-year-old.

“I all the time simply beloved horses, and we by no means had any rising up,” Dewald stated. “My grandpa raced and I’d all the time hear tales about that so after I was sufficiently old, I needed to have horses.”

Dewald’s maternal grandfather raced horses and his great-grandfather was a coach. Dewald stated his paternal grandfather additionally beloved to gamble.
“So perhaps that had one thing to do with it,” Dewald stated with a chuckle.

Dewald, who grew up in Jamestown, N.D., and later helped his father farm close to Fredonia, N.D., obtained his probability to personal his personal his first racehorse when he discovered Ramblin V Eight, a 2016 bay mare bred in North Dakota and bought as a yearling in Bismarck.

Dewald stated “V-8” caught his eye together with her sturdy construct that features a shapely hip quarter horses are identified for and as a granddaughter of high stud, Corona Cartel. He later purchased her for $2,500, a comparatively low value for a race prospect and the 2 started their racing careers collectively.

In her second begin, Ramblin V Eight received the 2018 Northern Plains Futurity at Chippewa Downs with purse of $22,500, one of many richest races for Quarter Horses in North Dakota. As of this week, Ramblin V Eight has received 11 of 23 races, putting second 4 instances and as soon as third and earned practically $60,000.

From there, Dewald started including horses to his secure, racing about 10 in 2021 in not simply North Dakota however in Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma and California.

“We simply ended up shopping for increasingly more and I do not understand it became what it was,” Dewald stated.
Whereas different native trainers and homeowners have picked up each quarter horses and thoroughbreds, Dewald is glad to stay with “America’s horse.” Irrespective of what number of instances his horses load into the gate, it is these tense, hopeful moments that preserve him on the monitor.
“It is the joy when the gates open, there’s nothing prefer it,” Dewald stated. “After which to see how your whole arduous work pays off.”

When not serving to his household farm land, most of which is close to Fredonia, Dewald spends his time on the races. This 12 months, he at the moment has 10 horses working at tracks in North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma and California.

It might not have began within the household but it surely has develop into a household affair. Dewald’s aunt, Kari Nagel who as soon as labored as a groom at Remington Park in Oklahoma, has helped with the horses. Dewald’s mother and father, Jill and Tarin Dewald, will be seen within the stands at practically all races that embody a Dewald horse.

“They’re all the time there for me to cheer me on,” Dewald stated. “They’ve all the time been supportive.”
Earlier this 12 months, Dewald was capable of make one other lifelong dream come true when he obtained a horse farm in Jones, Okla., a premiere location for breeding and coaching quarter horses.

But, North Dakota will stay his house base and a favourite place to run, the place his bottom buddies and workforce members have develop into one other household.

“It is all the time enjoyable to go right here and see everyone,” he stated. “You may be taught the ropes right here, at these tracks everyone helps you out a bit of extra. The larger tracks they count on you to know all the pieces.”

Dewald hopes to race Ramblin V Eight yet one more time in Fargo earlier than she is going to retire and develop into a mom.