Wrong breeding, Hollywood

In the March 29 edition of Harness Racing Update, in the Hollywood’s Hits column (full story here), Bob refers to Slapstick as a BG’s Bunny. Slapstick is by Meadow Skipper out of Hilarious Noreen.

—Bill Bigler / Pompano Beach, FL

Bonus claiming allowance proposal for when racing returns

Many people in the harness racing industry have suffered large financial racing losses as our horses lay idle because of the Covid-19 virus. That being said, I think it would be highly unfair for someone to be able to claim a horse without considering the costs incurred to carrying a horse for 30 to 45 days. An idea I had is for 30 days after a racetrack opens up a 20 per cent (or some other number) bonus claiming allowance be added to the normal race tag. Example: a $20,000 claimer would race in that class but could be claimed for $24,000. The normal claiming allowances for 3-year-olds, etc. would be considered too, of course After 30 days, that allowance would be lowered to 10 per cent and after another 30 days reduced to 0.

I have passed this thought on to a number of trainers, owners and other horsepeople I know and have had an overwhelming positive response. I am asking track secretaries to please consider this proposal in some form whenever we get back to racing.

—Dr. Adam Friedland / New York, NY