Sporn pours salt on an old wound

by John Berry

Phil Sporn, one of the premier pedigree experts in our grand sport, came down to visit for a few hours last week.

Sporn and I were editors at Sports Information Data Base (SIDB) in New Jersey back 40-plus years ago when the internet had not yet exploded onto the scene.

We were in charge of recording the history of harness racing for that, now, incredible information highway known as the internet.

We were just a little bit early with SIDB — maybe five years or so — as the company, which covered all sports, ran out of cash, and folded.

We had some great sports experts on the staff like Bill Shannon, a legendary scorekeeper for Major League Baseball, known as an encyclopedic baseball historian.

Logan Hobson and Bob Canobbio were there, too, working with Jon Gibbs and they created FightStat, used for boxing broadcasts and renamed CompuBox after SIDB shut its doors.

It is still the boxing standard for recording punches today.

Sporn and I covered just about everything from the Narraganset Pacers of the 1600s to Conqueror’s speed record for 100 miles in 1853 to Scotsdam’s world record mile in 1962 to the feature events in our sport hours before we closed up shop.

He brought with him a “salt-shaker” to pour on the wounds from a story I wrote for Hub Rail Magazine around 50 years ago about why this sport will never see a 1:50 mile.

No, Sporn didn’t actually bring a salt shaker with him, he just picked the one up on the table to start pouring.

Yes, I have to admit that I did not think a 1:50 mile would be possible back then and provided some solid evidence to back up my thoughts.

My reasoning was based on the then evidence as every single mile from Steady Star’s world record 1:52 time trial on up and down the ladder seemed to need a breather somewhere during the mile — you know, :29 and a piece to around :30.

There were some “freaks of nature” back then like Dan Patch in the early 1900s and Billy Direct in the late 1930s — both 1:55 pacers, although Dan Patch’s mile was not credited to him as he used a windshield, which was banned shortly before.

And Greyhound’s mile in 1:55 1/4 back in 1938 was, yet, another one that would stand the test of time.

Anyhow, every single mile of consequence leading up to my article back then provided evidence that a 1:50 mile could never be achieved by a standardbred.

But the breed evolved and, neck by neck, head by head, nose by nose, the standardbred breed became anything but standard.

When Niatross finally achieved that pinnacle of speed — 1:49.1 — on Oct. 1, 1980, his splits were :27.3, :27, :27.1, and :27.2.

No breathers in that one.

Yes, we’ve transformed into a new breed.

No more 2:10 2-year-old list. No more 2:05 3-year-old list.

Our new breed — without a new, definitive name — was emerging before our eyes, just like every other invention made in our lifetime from the  automobile to four channel television to 500 channel cable TV to the rotary phone and, then, the smart phone to the internet.

And Coca-Cola and Pepsi were invented the lifetime before ours.

But this one event involved a horse of a different color.

Four quarters in succession put together that became what we all thought would prove to be a new milestone for the new breed about to emerge — even more superior than the standardbred.

Maybe, instead of “standardbred,” we could have named our emerging breed maybe “pacing bred” and “trotting bred.”

There were no cheap quarters in the Niatross time trial, that’s for sure.

Even as late as the Niatross era, a :27 and a piece quarter could go a long way, as far as earnings potential goes.

Heck, just a few seasons before Niatross, Illinois had a sharp free-for-aller by the name of Taurus Bomber.

I witnessed his great two-heat performance in Springfield, IL back in 1976 when he won in 1:54.4, back in 1:54.3 with each mile featuring a “breather” somewhere in the mile of :29.4 in the second stanza of first heat and :30 during the third quarter in the fastest heat with that first heat featuring a final quarter of :27.2.

There was one night at Washington Park where four of ’em were on the line during an official final quarter in :27.4, off three-quarters in 1:34.1.

You know how one thought spawns others?

Well, remembering further back when I was a just a little tyke, and combining that with Sporn’s salt shaker story about my 1:50 mile, it brought back wonderful memories of my grandfather, Pop, as we called him, when he would take me for an ice cream cone and shell out a quarter, including tax, to cover the cost.

Yes, a quarter could go a long, long way back in the late 1940s, and even beyond.

When Pop took me out for ice cream, some of the race secretaries at the emerging tracks were Jerry Baier, Ed Keller, Bill Connors, Al Saunders, Walter Gibbons, and Pres Jenuine, to name a few. Even Hank Thomson, who, admittedly, knew nothing about being a race secretary but was hired by Joe Neville in Delaware, OH because he could provide publicity for the Little Brown Jug through his newspaper, The Gazette.

And the publicity guys back then became legendary like Col. Dave Herman, Paul Keim, Jesse Stuff, Ed Walsh, Lou Barasch, again, to name a few, and a bit later from the aforementioned era, Bill Brown, Jr., Biff Lowry, Bob Cox, Allen Jerome Finkelson, Woody Lawless, Joe Goldstein, Charlie Stokes, again, to name a few.

Now, I realize that I am aging — thankfully — as I knew many of them in my early years in the sport.

The Grand Circuit back then went from the East Coast to the West Coast — Westbury, NY, to Santa Anita, CA — with stops along the way at the Missouri State Fair, Springfield, IL, DuQuoin, IL, Indianapolis, IN, Toledo, OH, Delaware, OH, Lexington, KY, Reading, PA, Saratoga, NY, and, of course Goshen, NY.

Back then, Rodney was the fastest horse in the older group for trotters — time trialing in 1:57.2 while Volume was the fastest 3-year-old trotter with a time-trial mark of 2:02.1.

The quickest 2-year-old was Lusty Song at 2:02.1.

As for the pacers, the 3-year-old colt Good Time put up a number of 1:58.4 in a time trial while the fastest 2-year-olds were the fillies Tassel Hanover and Beryl Hanover, both time trialing in 2:02.

And Proximity won 19 dashes while winning over $50,000 for the second straight year.

Yes, :29 quarters were very rare in those days and Greyhound’s 1:55 1/4 standard in 1938 was still one in the books approaching 1950.

It was, virtually, the same story for the pacers with Billy Direct’s 1:55 mile at Lexington still on the books, as well, from 1938.

And, one other note, the fastest quarter ever trotted was :27 by the vaunted gelding Uhlan, accomplishing that feat in 1913.

Fast-forward to the days of 2026.

I took one of my grandsons for ice cream at the mall the other day and stopped for that same treat that delighted me in 1949 and paid over $8 for a two-scoop cone.

I realized then that a quarter really doesn’t buy too much these days.

We are just getting into the heart of the harness racing season and I notice that even the :27 quarter doesn’t buy much, either.

A few examples popped up on Friday (June 26) at Harrah’s Hoosier Park when Aye Aye Capt Russ paced his mile in 1:51.1 — just a typical overnight event — and paced the fastest final quarter of all in that event in :26 flat, and finished eighth, passing only one other horse in there.

Door Dash was another example, racking up a final panel in :26.2 finishing seventh and passed by another one in the Indiana Sires Stakes event in an event won by Swiss Lights, who also paced a final quarter in :26.3 in a wire-to-wire win in 1:48.4.

Combustion was in Hoosier’s $22,000 open pace and raced a final furlong (thoroughbred time) in :25.4 and was lucky to pick up the nickel there, pacing his mile in 1:50.3.

Saturday evening in Indiana, in a mares’ event, Bombay Parkway paced her final quarter in :26.1 and got nothing.

Up North of the Border at Woodbine Mohawk Park, it seems the “Canadian quarter” doesn’t go too far, either.

In a conditioned event for 5-year-olds and younger, Axial won in 1:48.4 — :26.4, the fastest closer, Pac Man Hanover, paced a final quarter in :26.2 and could do no better than fourth and Fire Control blitzed his finale in :26.3 and earned, nothing.

In an event for the fillies and mares, Cold Creek Fuego came home in :25.4 and earned z-e-r-o as the winner won in 1:48.1.

The fillies and mares open pace saw the fastest closer in the race, pace home in :26 and couldn’t pass a single home in the lane when it counted — her last three quarters in 1:21.3 — earning nothing.

In a conditioned pace Dublin Dasher kicked home in :25.3 — that’s a mile rate of 1:42.2 — and earned his owner and trainer not one dime.

These are just regular overnight races with the steaks season still on the Bar-B-Que grill getting warmer and warmer and the stakes season for our sport sizzling up week-by-week.

If we had waited to write this column two months from now, you’d see a whole Mane Attraction column of :26 quarters and :25 quarters, and, perhaps, some 24 and a piece final panels.

It all ties together.

A quarter doesn’t buy too much anymore at the ice cream parlor.

And a quarter — no matter how fast — doesn’t go too far for many of the new breed of standardbred that I call the “pacing bred” and the “trotting bred.”

And a 1:50 mile in some overnight events and in just about all stakes events ain’t even worth a plugged nickel.

May The Horse Be With You!