Ackermans head to Carolina

After winter training at Del Mar Thoroughbred track in California the past 50 years, Hall of Fame horseman Doug Ackerman will be spending the upcoming cold-weather months at Pinehurst Harness Track in Pinehurst, N.C.

Ackerman, along with Joe Mullins, had the only two harness stables based at Del Mar, and had to do a lot of track maintenance by themselves. Ackerman and his son, D.R., were forced to make the move from the Golden State to the Tar Heel State after the West Coast track announced it would be changing to a Polytrack surface in early 2007. Ackerman said that Mullins will now train at his newly-bought farm in Springfield, Ill.

Although the work isn’t scheduled to begin until January, Doug Ackerman told harnessracing.com by cell phone Thursday afternoon—as he and his wife Ada Jean were in a car about 140 miles from the training center—there was no sense shipping across the country for just a few weeks of training time before having to leave.

“This is a completely new feeling,” said Ackerman. “It’s probably not as cold in California as it will be out here, I’ll just put on another sweater I guess. They say it’s nice here in March and April, I’ll tell you next spring.”

Ackerman said he and D.R. will have 12 horses in their barn at Pinehurst, split evenly among 2 and 3 year olds. D.R. will join him shortly, but Ackerman’s daughter-in-law, Geli, will remain in California while her oldest son finishes his senior year in high school.

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