Could “smaller” be the key to future success in harness racing?
by John Berry
Funny how fate plays such a role in our lives.
It was fate that was the prompter for this Mane Attraction.
While celebrating Wally Hennessey’s retirement over wings and a pitcher of soda, conversation arose about the future of our sport and concerns about that very issue.
Of course, Red Shores Racetrack and Casino came up in conversation and Hennessey suggested that I might tune in and witness the nightly festivities on their website.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Hennessey lamented, “Nothing special, and everything special.”
“Now what could that mean?” I wondered.
Well, all I had to do was tune in for a few minutes and I got my answer.
Besides an incredible shout-out to yours truly, by track announcer extraordinaire Vance Cameron, the track put on quite a show from start to finish.
Announcer Cameron, who has been the voice of Prince Edward Island harness racing for almost a half century, was just a fraction of a first-class presentation.
But the incredible thing was, despite snow on the ground and temperatures well below freezing on this cold December night, the track put on an impeccable show, just as they do every single racing program.
From paddock cameras to every notable stat in their racing program to sharp handicapping minds on staff with terrific insight in interviews on the races, that don’t even have to be $50,000 or $100,000 events.
The winner’s circle — even on inclement nights — has lots of visitors.
In other words, harness racing is a “happening” every night.
Yes, every racing night has a taste of the Gold Cup and Saucer spirit.
As Hennessey said, “JB, It’s a ‘Mane Attraction’ every single racing night.”
Charlottetown, of course, is the host town of the iconic event known as the Gold Cup and Saucer, a major draw that entices visitors from, literally, as close to next door and as far away as many thousands of miles.
It’s been going on in Charlottetown since the early 1960s and features the Gold Cup and Saucer parade, which, without question, is the largest street parade east of Montreal and draws a throng of over 60,000 crazy-about-harness-racing folk from ages 2 to 92 during Old Home Week.
The track, itself, has a rich history going back to its opening on Oct. 2,1888, complete with an infield judges stand — that’s still there to this very day — which has been declared a National Historic Landmark.
Even before that, there were competitions on St. Peters Rd. to determine which horse was faster.
But progress, with the foaling of the Charlottetown Civic Center, and more progress, necessitated by tragedies such as fires in the early 1990s and a 2003 hurricane, brought further modernization, including a racino with the Charlottetown Driving Park eventually renamed Red Shores Racetrack and Casino.
So, what’s their secret and why is harness racing so popular just a few short blocks from Hennessey’s birthplace at 39 Eustis Street?
Charlottetown has a population of, roughly, 40,000-45,000 with the surrounding metro area ballooning that to, maybe, 80,000.
We do have a couple of comparative spots here — Lexington, KY, population 330,000, and Anderson, IN, population 55,000.
New York City has 8.4 million, Chicago is on the list at a 2.7 million, Philly has 1.5 million, and L.A., which lost harness racing back in the early 1980s, logs in with 3.8 million with the metro area now over 18 million.
The answer is right before our eyes in these numbers.
Honestly, do you think that harness racing, with all of the competition from the lottery, casinos with craps, roulette, blackjack, baccarat, sports betting, bingo, keno, and of course, slots, is as important to that clientele?
Add to that the ease with which we were able to keep our fans away from the track with simulcasting rooms and their phones.
Oh, it’s important to those imbedded in our sport as a horseman or horsewoman, and, maybe to the waning number of fans left, but sadly, that’s about it, whether we will admit it or not.
Tracks with attached casinos put an exclamation point on their thoughts about racing with the de-coupling fiasco and some tracks have taken the grand history of our sport and thrown that in the trash, too, like renaming the Nat Ray and the Mistletoe Shalee, etc.
It sure doesn’t help when we don’t care enough about our history to preserve it.
This Mane Attraction is attempting to make a point here.
Red Shores Racetrack and Casino is a vital artery in Charlottetown, and they treat it like it’s a vital artery.
It’s a heartbeat for their city and municipality. It’s a heartbeat for the horsemen and horsewomen, and everyone else involved from caretakers to veterinarians, to Red Shores employees, whether they ply their trade in the casino or the racing.
Charlottetown restaurants, service stations, mom and pop stores, agriculture, seafood, tourism, with information technology, aerospace and bioscience now on the radar all benefit each other.
All are behind the success of Red Shores Racetrack and Casino.
Charlottetown is different because they realize the importance of harness racing at every turn around the half-mile oval on the track.
Maybe the large cities are not even capable of putting forth the importance of harness racing, and just maybe, harness racing should focus on new tracks in smaller, less populated areas where the sport can enjoy recognition as the important industry that we know it to be.
Harness racing can survive in a new, more modern environment, maybe in smaller locales with a populations of, say, 100,000 up to 250,000 (where harness racing might mean something in a smaller town) with new, wider racetracks — no less than seven-eighths-of-a-mile — that can accommodate 12 horse fields.
Give the punters bigger payoffs start to finish with mega-events — just like the lottery — like an event that can have rollovers that can balloon to several hundred million dollars.
One idea would be a Great Mega-8 in which a player would be required — just like the lottery — to pick the winners of seven races with the eighth selection being an exacta or trifecta.
Impossible? The odds on winning the big lottery are 292,000,000-1, and it attracts droves of people, millions.
The Great-Mega-8 prizes could be offered for those who select four, five, six, and seven winners without the exacta or trifecta, and then, the big one.
Yes, now, we’re a drop in the bucket in places where the purses are equal to, or greater than, the handle.
We have all heard the saying, “Big fish in a small pond.”
It describes something important, influential, and successful, something that might not be so probable in a larger setting.
Red Shores Racetrack and Casino is the perfect example of being the big fish in the small pond.
It’s no wonder that Hennessey was born just a short walk away, and he’s done so well that he even shelled out for the wings and pitcher of soda.
May The Horse Be With You!
