by Trey Nosrac

Now it begins — the void.

The final yearling racehorse prospect has plodded down the ramp of the sales ring at the Harrisburg sale. The northern weather is growing cold. For many of us who race stakes horses, this means long winter months where our only contact with our annual horse dreams will be expensive bills. We face a long slog of nothingness until late spring.

The calendar of professional baseball mirrors the harness racing stakes season. After the World Series in late October, there is a lull for baseball fans, but Major League Baseball has less of a void than harness racing.

After the Christmas holidays, baseball fans may not have ballgames. Still, baseball fans have several outlets to keep the fires lit: the trading and acquisition of players, draft lists, the progress of top prospects, rosters keep getting shuffled, pitchers and catchers reporting, then spring training games. Virtually every day of the baseball off-season, especially in our social media world, a baseball mind can keep occupied.

Filling our harness racing off-season can only be a positive. What can we do for a harness race fan in months like January and February to fill the void?

One of the pioneers in filling the void is Anthony MacDonald and TheStable.ca. MacDonald does a yeoman’s job of filling the void and keeping his investors in the loop with videos, audio, and even meet and greets. A few of my friends who have participated in his fractional ownership plan give him a thumbs up for his tireless efforts to fill the “off-season.” I have logged on to his videos and agree. No doubt there are other fractional stables with good communication. We need more of this off-season action. Here is a small suggestion for MacDonald, his fellow fractional operators, and any group sharing ownership of a young racehorse – delegate the job of filling the void.

Let’s suppose that the purchasers own a yearling named First Engagement. Let’s also suppose eight buyers are involved in the adventure with First Engagement. One of those eight owners could take the reins in bringing the members deeper into this particular 2-year-old in training.

This person will lead and create a sub-community that interacts consistently. The community leader should be a sparkplug who keeps the other seven in motion. Of course, participation is not mandatory, but the First Engagement community will offer content to interested members who crave more involvement, especially during the off-season.

What would the members of the First Engagement group do? Everything and anything, there are no rules. Every group, like every horse, is different. Maybe take a deep dive into the First Engagement pedigree and invite a pedigree expert to opine about the horses’ lineage. Follow First Engagement’s siblings that are racing. Make new friends via Facetime. Arrange Skype meetups or meet in person when possible. A member near the training center can shoot videos and interviews. Just converse, keep in contact, and make the ownership experience richer.

The key to the success or value of this deep dive into a single horse depends on the people involved. Is the community leader clever and industrious? Are the other members enthusiastic? There are no guarantees, but what are the downsides?

Small communities, even communities centered around a young racehorse, can create islands that offer a respite from the insane speed of modern life. A group of people centering around something as unusual as horse ownership can open doors of communication. Just as book clubs are not entirely about books, a horse club or horse group of this nature is about more than a racehorse in training. High-interest groups are about people connecting.

High-interest groups like these could help fill the chasm of time between the sales ring and the day First Engagement is in the box.