by Brett Sturman

It was announced in a press release this week that harness races that meet a set of standards and purse requirements will be characterized accordingly on graded stakes levels. This will bring North American harness racing up to par with both the international harness racing community as well as the thoroughbred industry which already utilizes a graded stakes system here in North America.

Designed to validate quality for breeding and create standardization in pedigrees, I think the idea is a nice one, but it doesn’t naturally lend itself to North American harness racing.

What’s most important in determining breeding value in North American harness racing is the clock, pure and simple. If a horse wins a race as a 3-year-old in a time of 1:46.2, regardless of who it’s against and regardless of grading, that’s going to define how that horse is promoted as a stallion. Conversely, if the same horse wins a race with a purse of a $350,000 but it came on a half-mile track in a time of 1:50.4, it’s not going to carry anything close to the appeal of the former.

Everyone already knows the races to win to have the most commercial appeal and not coincidentally, almost all of them are raced on the larger sized tracks. I understand that when a G1, G2 or G3 designation appears throughout pedigrees in a sales catalog that it could make a horse stand out more, but I’m not sure that’s much different than the current sales pages today where due to lenient qualifications, most horses in the pages already appear in bold face capitals.

What I find as better serving to the industry is the lesser emphasized part of the announcement, which was the grading system being used as “a marketing tool for racetracks to use to promote their races…”, as quoted from USTA director and vice president of Penn Entertainment, Chris McErlean. The quote is particularly notable coming from McErlean, whose Penn Gaming co-owns the soon to be shut down, historic Freehold Raceway.

In the wake of the Freehold news, every new measure proposed in the sport should be viewed from the question of: Will this help to ensure the racetrack survival? In this case, it doesn’t seem there is a real issue in the horse sales business or having ways to accurately assess horses for sale. The racetracks on the other hand are a different story. Within a day of the news of Freehold closing, it was announced that Chicago harness racing was given just 40 dates of racing at Hawthorne for all of 2025.

If the graded stakes system is truly meant to be used as a marketing tool in the slightest way, then I would propose that there needs to be a wagering component tied to the graded status. It’s completely counterproductive and does nothing for the promotion of a track where horses race for big money purses with non-existent crowds present to watch, and race handles that come nowhere close to matching the race purses offered. For a harness race to carry graded significance especially with a grade 1, then people actually have to care about it. There needs to be attendance and/or handle measures that also determine the prestige of the event.

For The Meadowlands and Woodbine Mohawk Park, there is already more than sufficient handle that contributes to the success of all their races, which would now be considered graded stakes. That’s what makes nights like this past Saturday’s Mohawk Million and Metro Pace card at Mohawk special. Many of the races that night would easily warrant graded stakes designation not only because of the quality of the fields, but also because there is a real public interest in those races, and it was reflected in the amount wagered.

As for most other tracks, how is it benefitting them to have a grade 1 race go for $500,000 with $50,000 wagered on it? What is that doing to ensure the future survival of that track?

Take the Dexter Cup at Freehold; traditionally the unofficial first stakes race each year on the road to the Hambletonian. Would it have made any difference for the viability of that track if the Dexter Cup carried a graded stake designation? Of course not. But what if the track always had a sustained effort to maximize handle for at least their biggest days. That could have made it an event worth watching, worthy of carrying a special stakes designation.

This isn’t meant to paint a broad brush over every track other than The Meadowlands and Woodbine Mohawk Park. There are other tracks that while smaller, do put on an enthusiastic show for their big races. The easiest example is the annual Gold Cup and Saucer at Red Shores Racetrack in Charlottetown, PEI, just won recently by Jordan Stratton and Covered Bridge. For the crowds and electric environment that race brings out at Red Shores, I’d give that race graded status over a race of comparable horse quality at another track that feigns caring once a year.

The point is for the graded stakes schedule to be used as a track’s marketing tool, it’s no use if it’s just for one day out of the year. Tracks with the privilege of playing host to the sport’s stakes events should have to try to generate enough public interest to make them successful. If a horse wins a grade 1 event and gets his mark in the sales catalog, what does that do for the track that didn’t produce any handle or attendance from the event and ends up becoming the next eventual track to shut down due to lack of interest?

On the other hand, if tracks are mandated to generate enough interest in the big races to carry a graded status, that could lead to promotion of not only those races but their entire product year-round. Maybe it’s a dream, but it could be carried through to lead to increased attendance, handle, and ownership – things that could save those tracks from becoming the next line to suffer the fate of Freehold.