by Brett Sturman 

(Editor’s note: HRU did not assign the topic of either this column or Brush and Crush. Those columnists are, normally, free to write whatever strikes their fancy. The fact that both Dean Towers and Brett Sturman chose to, independently, write about amateur racing this week was a coincidence, but it does speak to how strongly they both feel about the subject. So, we felt it made the most sense to run them in the same issue. Your feedback is welcome. Email us at editor@harnessracingupdate.com).

Back in my day when studying political science at West Chester University, we learned of an old cold war foreign policy concept named “mutually assured destruction,” or MAD for short. The idea being that using a nuclear weapon would result in eventual destruction for all sides, and because of that, no one would use such a weapon to start with.

In harness racing, it’s the doctrine of mutually assured destruction that generally keeps races in balance by preventing unnecessary suicidal duels between horses. But, as a couple of races from just over the past week has shown, that alone doesn’t always serve as a deterrent.

Unironically if you put a ‘C’ after MAD you get MADC, the Meadowlands Amateur Driving Club. Though the MADC races are a source of controversy due the unpredictable style in which the races are run, I’ve generally been a proponent of them. But one MADC race from last Friday (March 28) at The Meadowlands went beyond what can normally be anticipated.

In the first race of the night, 70-1 horse Uncle Coz (driven by William Clark) was placed on the lead from post 3, and 3-2 race favorite Duck Into The Nite (Geovany Hernandez) landed from post 4 into an early 2-hole. Right past the opening quarter mark, Duck Into The Nite took to the outside to move to the lead past the big longshot, but was immediately met with resistance. By the time he thought better of it and sought to go back into the pocket, that spot was closed by the horse sitting third. Lower-level animals Uncle Coz and Duck Into The Nite dueled through a :27.3 second quarter and it didn’t take long after for the rest of the field to catch and pass them following a slowed :30.2 third quarter. The two horses naturally dropped back to finish last and second-to-last, all while antics continued through the stretch.

Despite looking every bit the part of 70-1 on paper, it is worth noting that Uncle Coz still finished ahead of Duck Into The Nite, which would suggest that the race favorite wasn’t necessarily a strong one, and still may not have won even if he had a cleaner trip. But one thing to be said with absolute certainty is that if Uncle Coz had released the favorite to the lead, the same way it would have happened with Meadowlands professional drivers, both horses would have been guaranteed a higher chance at a better finishing position. The race ended up being won by an off-the-pace Warrawee Xceed, who paid $133.40.

Two days later at Northfield on Sunday (March 30), a race took shape that was even more inexplicable. In the race number 13 conditioned event for non-winners of $1,500 in the last four starts, it was 116-1 long shot Pitt Panda (Ryan Ver Hage) that pressed the pace early from the 2-hole despite having ample room to drop into the pocket behind the 12-1 rail horse Union Station (Jacob Baird). After settling into the pocket briefly where a :26.3 opening quarter was set, you can see the reins shaken on Pitt Panda to come out of the pocket and attack the leader for no good reason and those two dueled through a :55.4 half, all this while the 1-9 favorite watched from the third and eventually won by 10 lengths.

Predictably, Union Station finished seventh by 17 lengths and the race agitator, Pitt Panda, finished eighth by 36 lengths. What was the point in the way the horse was driven?

The common denominator in these races are non-catch drivers — they’re all both the trainer and driver — who lack professional seasoning as drivers. Even if the intent isn’t to purposefully sabotage a race, there should be strong penalties for such drives.

At different times over the years this column has written about judges assigning fines and suspensions for unsatisfactory drives due to lack of effort where a driver doesn’t try, and this is maybe worse because it’s sacrificing not only one horse, but any others forced into the duel while changing the complexion of the race. In either case — a lack of effort or a reckless effort — it results in drivers not putting forth their best effort to win.

In assessing penalties, the challenge does become who is to say how a horse should have been driven and what determines it.

I’d be more forgiving of The Meadowlands race because there isn’t a rule that says you automatically need to give up the lead just because of having longshot status, and, for all I know, maybe the driver felt his horse had a better chance to win than the 70-1 odds had indicated. But the Northfield race on the other hand really does appear to be inexcusable, where a 117-1 was encouraged to leave the pocket and give the horse on the front no other option on the half-mile track other than to duel to submission. That type of drive should never happen again.

There needs to be safety considerations, too. Drivers that lack experience racing their animals in ways completely counter to how a professional would drive the same race increases risk.

None of this is to say that drivers can’t play hardball with one another and park horses where it makes sense, that’s what makes racing competitive. Drivers are always jawing at each other for position and most times it’s completely fine. But it must be done with the question in mind, that is by doing so going to give my horse the best chance to win? If the answer is no, then they’re back to conceding a mutually assured defeat for themselves and for racing.