Nobody would be better at fixing the sport than the fans
by John Berry
In a recent Mane Attraction, it was pointed out by some devout BDHC (Broken Down Horse Player) members that the most neglected participant in our sport is the fan.
That being the strong sentiment among many of them, this Mane Attraction corralled some of our most devout fans with their history, in many cases, over a half century with their thoughts and suggestions very relevant for the future of our sport.
Of course, we have the medication issues to solve, along with the “money is the root of all evil” syndrome always apparent, but, just maybe, the thoughts of some of our staunch supporters on the grandstand side of the track, will hit home with the very people that may be able to help save our future.
Smitty, a retired educator, has enjoyed the industry for well over a half century and has “relished the therapeutic value” it has afforded to him, along with many of our BDHC members.
Smitty leads us off lamenting, “First and foremost, the fan has been left at the starting gate since casinos have nuzzled their way into harness racing.
“While millions have been invested into their ‘palaces,’ little has been put forth for fan comfort and meaningful marketing programs.”
(Mane Attraction has seen major campaigns at some places, i.e., in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and, when Florida was alive, Pompano Park, however, by and large, Smitty has a valid argument, compounded with the casino folk playing “footsies” with legislatures to get de-coupling passed in recent times.)
Smitty continued, “I have pointed out that, in the [g]olden days of our sport, there were strong [wagering] pools in an era when the simplicity of the sport featured only a daily double, win, place, and show betting and, stretching into the [19]70s, an occasional quinella or twin quinella, perfecta, and trifecta.
“All pools were strong and, as the proliferation of exotics spread, pools got noticeably weaker.”
Willoughby, a nightly punter at all Chicago tracks, then added, “That is accurate but, as other forms of gambling infiltrated harness racing, the [betting] handles began to erode even more and that’s when land values became the big deal and the owners of the tracks found that the worth of the land and the money to be made far out-weighed their love and commitment for harness racing.
“Can’t really blame them. When The Meadowlands opened, that took a huge chunk out of the Roosevelt-Yonkers play.
“Yes, Yonkers survived because of being on crutches [simulcasting, casino, and political help] but, even though their purses are still decent, betting handle wouldn’t support purses being anywhere near what they are today, and who knows how long that will last.
“I’m sure they are on pins and needles every day.”
M. P. said, “I think the biggest problem is the wagering methodology, itself.
“Harness racing is racing in antiquated times — I mean today, 2026 — not in 1:52 terms. I think the whole industry has to be rebuilt from wagering to the racing, itself. They have to make it more interesting for the fan.
“First, there’s the ‘bite’ [takeout] of whatever, 18-20 per cent on win, place, show and 25-35 per cent on all those exotics. Casinos have a 6-8 per cent rake and you’re betting against the house while we still bet against the guy or gal sitting right next to you.
“Even the lottery with the 40-50 per cent rake has a huge effect because you take a shot for a couple of bucks for a million or 10,000 or 500. Who wouldn’t take a shot at that for a few bucks?
“Sports betting is huge and you’re betting against the house and you know what you’re going to win [or lose] and the offerings are, pretty much, endless, and they are inventing new things to draw you in all the time. Football is huge, then basketball and March Madness is huge, and Baseball. From touchdown scorers to rushing yards and receiving stats, even coin toss results, there’s something for everyone.”
Dixon added, “I love the baseball season coming up and there are all kinds of stuff for us from pitcher strikeouts, home runs, first inning runs, longer props on batting stats for a whole season, and 10,000 other things, you name it.
“Hockey, soccer, golf, motor sports, from the common to the not-so-common novelty like the time for the national anthem and s – – t like that.
“To tell you the truth about pari-mutuels, they are B-O-R-I-N-G. A race every 27 minutes doesn’t cut it when there’s something going on just about every second.
“How about different distances in the races to spice it up — half mile, five-eighths, seven-eighths, a mile-and-an-eighth and a mile-and-a quarter. Shorten ’em up, lengthen ’em out, have series to make them more interesting.”
Stan The Pinochle Man, now a longtime retired accountant, said, “The world changes and harness racing has not.
“When I first got into business, we did our journals by hand, and look what’s happened over the years. They have computer programming that does stuff in the blink-of-an-eye.
“Putting it in harness racing terms, what took 2:09.3 to do a manual task when I started now takes three strides off the gate at the start — literally a couple of seconds.
“Racing better find a way to keep up with the times.”
Luke The Pan Man says it should all be in the hands of the folk that put the races together.
“First, no short fields,” Luke said. “It kills racing for us fans, absolutely kills us. Nobody likes $2.40 winners, probably not even those holding tickets on them.
“We all know that they [race secretaries] have a very tough job keeping their trainers happy and they are under a lot of pressure but, really, they only consider the horsemen when putting together the races, not us.
“Less races and bigger purses would probably help, and less races would result in much bigger purses.
“It’s simple arithmetic that, if you have $100,000 for purses for a 15-race card that’s going to get over at midnight, the average is, well, I don’t really know, that’s over my head. (It would be $6,666 per race.”)
“If you have only 10 races, well, that’s easy, $10,000 per. A big increase [50 per cent higher]. And you’re done, maybe, two hours earlier.
“Most of us are old now and we don’t hang around like we used to, that’s for sure.”
Tommy Blue Eyes sees a bigger problem, and said, “Pari-mutuel racing can no longer survive.
“It was great when it started more than 100 years ago, but look what has happened to this world in the last 100 years, everything has been re-invented! And I mean everything.
“From computers and the internet to smartphones and, now artificial intelligence, vaccines, organ transplants, medical imaging, airplanes, cars running by computers, air-conditioning, literally thousands more, and harness racing still has pari-mutuel betting, over 100 years old at tracks.”
Billy The Drummer thinks he has the answer to the future.
“I think we need — and they’ve been talking about it — fixed odds betting,” Billy said. “If we could lock in a price, it would change the game. You could still make your bets through however you do it now with the option of adding to your bet before the bell rings [off time].
“The track would book the bet — no 18 per cent or 25 per cent take-out — so you’d be betting against the track and not any other person. To help pay the purses, you could have an 8 per cent or 10 per cent rate on the winning bets [remember, it’s 18 per cent on win, place, show and 25 per cent on many exotics] and I don’t think anyone would mind about that.”
Comparing this to the typical track take-out of 18 per cent, if there is 10 per cent of the money bet on an entry in a 10-horse field, the probable win price would approximate $16.40 at tote-board odds of 7-1. A 10 per cent rake on that same bet guaranteed at 10-1 after a win would be $18. That figure could also be built into the quoted odds when the wager is made.
The difference would be substantial on exotic wagers “booked” by the track with the amount shown (with the 10 per cent takeout) worked in to the quoted price, just like prop parlays or multi-bets with, for example, a winning trifecta, superfecta or pentafecta with a quoted price of $2,000, including the 10 per cent rake, would pay only $1,650 on a pari-mutuel ticket.
When asked what type of prop bets would be on a bettor’s “wish list,” a combination of replies included: driver-to-driver match-ups, the winning margin in a race, the winning time, predicting the winner will set a track record, the color of a driver’s colors or, even, the color of a horse’s coat (brown, bay, blk, white, gray), over-under on how many races a driver will win on a racing program, a week, month or entire season, time trials between races offering time predictions (a favorite of Marsh The Barber and Billy The Drummer) and which horse will finish last in any particular race.
As Harold The Lefty said, “The possibilities are endless.”
May The Horse Be With You!
