Gini,

Where are you???

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Clydesdales to romp at fair



By Charles F. Bostwick
Staff Writer


LANCASTER -- Among the biggest entries in today's Antelope Valley Fair parade are eight 2,000-pound Clydesdale draft horses, pulling a 19th-century Studebaker wagon.
Budweiser's gentle giants are making an appearance at the Antelope Valley Fair, marching in daily parades around the grounds and in between letting people look at them in their stalls.

"They're real docile. Their size intimidates a lot of people but they're great to work around," said driver and handler Dan McNally.

The team -- plus a ninth horse as a spare -- is based at San Diego's SeaWorld -- one of six teams the brewer maintains around the United States. They travel the West in three custom tractor-trailers with their handlers and a Dalmatian dog.

Each horse's brass and leather harness weighs 130 pounds. Together, the set of eight is valued at $70,000.

The horses get daily grooming and a weekly bath, which they were getting Thursday at the fairgrounds, hitched two at a time outside their trailer as handlers went over them with hoses and brushes.

"We put in a good five hours to get the horses and equipment ready before we hitch up and that's with five people working," McNally said, pausing from polishing a harness.

Hitching up the team to the wagon takes another hour. The handlers repeat the process every day.

At the fairgrounds, the Clydesdales will pull their wagon around the grounds daily at 4:30 p.m. -- except for Thursday -- and at 2 p.m. on weekends and Labor Day.

Today's parade along Lancaster Boulevard will begin at 9 a.m. at 10th Street West and will run east to Sierra Highway. More than 80 entries are registered, including equestrians, antique and custom vehicles, floats and youth groups.

The fairgrounds will open at noon today for the second day of the 11-day fair at 2551 W. Ave. H. Headlining at 7:30 tonight will be country music entertainers Jo Dee Messina and Phil Vassar