An open letter to the harness racing industry: We need to put the fun back into racing

Harness racing has its issues. We all know that. But why we continue to act as though we need to squeeze every possible minute out of every possible racing day is beyond me.

We have somehow managed to remove almost every ounce of fun that is left in this business.

Our limited workforce — whether it is racetrack staff, trainers, drivers, grooms, caretakers, judges, veterinarians or everyone else who keeps this sport operating — is tired. People are overworked. Horses and horsemen are constantly moving from one place to another. Tracks compete against each other for horses, bettors, and attention instead of working together to create a stronger overall product.

But I don’t want this to simply be another letter complaining about everything that is wrong with harness racing. We have enough of those.

We need solutions.

I believe we need to start by recognizing that everyday racing and major-event racing are two completely different products, and we should stop treating them the same way.

Everyday racing should be built for gambling.

Our racetracks need to work together to create a coordinated racing product that is easy and exciting to wager on.

Imagine one exceptionally well-designed platform where harness racing is presented continuously throughout the day. Tracks coordinate their post times so that instead of three races going off simultaneously followed by 15 minutes of nothing, there is consistently another race approaching post.

Race. Bet. Race. Bet. Race. Bet.

It should have the pace and simplicity of being in a casino.

Someone sitting in a doctor’s waiting room should be able to open their phone, see that a race goes off in two minutes, handicap it quickly, place a wager, watch the race and move on with their day.

On ordinary racing days, we don’t necessarily need thousands of people sitting in grandstands.

We need gamblers. We need wagers. We need liquidity in our pools.

Make the product fast, convenient, understandable, and entertaining.

Our major racing days should be the complete opposite.

When we have our biggest events, the industry should protect them.

Those days should feel important.

Instead of every racetrack fighting for the same horses, bettors, and attention, we should give our major events room to breathe.

We should create weekends and events people actually want to attend — not simply another 15-race card that takes five or six hours to complete.

Think about what Formula 1 has accomplished. Think about the Super Bowl. The competition itself matters, but people want to attend because the event matters.

Harness racing needs that feeling again.

The Hambletonian, Little Brown Jug, Meadowlands Pace, North America Cup, Breeders Crown, and our other premier events should be experiences.

Great racing. Great food. Music. Entertainment. Owners bringing friends. Families attending. Sponsors entertaining customers. People dressing up. Social media content everywhere. A reason to stay after your horse races rather than immediately getting in the car and driving to the next racetrack.

Those are the days when we need fans.

Because those are the days that sell the dream.

And selling that dream may be more important to the future of harness racing than almost anything else we do.

We need people to want to own racehorses.

Ultimately, someone has to go to the yearling sales and raise their hand.

That is what drives this entire industry.

Breeders need buyers. Buyers need trainers. Trainers employ people. Horses fill races. Races generate wagering. Wagering supports purses. The entire ecosystem begins with someone believing that owning a racehorse might be worth doing.

And let’s be realistic about something.

Most owners aren’t getting rich doing this.

In fact, many of the people capable of investing significant money in racehorses already have money. They didn’t enter harness racing because they needed another investment account.

They came because they wanted something money normally can’t buy.

They wanted the chance to own something great.

They wanted to stand beside the track with their heart pounding while their horse turned for home.

They wanted to win a big race.

They wanted their family and friends there.

They wanted the picture.

They wanted the trophy.

They wanted the phone calls and congratulations.

They wanted the thrill.

That emotion is our greatest product, and somehow, we have stopped selling it.

Instead, we have created a system where everyone is exhausted, everyone is rushing somewhere else, racing overlaps racing, major events compete against ordinary cards, and even the people spending enormous amounts of money in this business sometimes wonder whether they’re actually having any fun.

That has to change.

We don’t necessarily need more racing. We need better racing.

Coordinate everyday racing nationally and build it specifically as a gambling product.

Create technology that makes harness racing incredibly easy to wager on.

Coordinate post times.

Shorten unnecessary downtime.

Stop cannibalizing each other’s wagering pools.

Then identify our premier events and protect them.

Make those days special.

Make people want to attend.

Make owners want to invite 10 friends.

Make someone watching think: “I want to own one of those horses someday.”

Because if we can create gamblers during the week and dreamers on the weekends, we might actually start growing this sport again.

Harness racing has an incredible product. We have tremendous athletes, unbelievable horses, passionate owners, hardworking people, and generations of history.

What we’re missing isn’t effort.

Everyone is already working themselves to death.

What we’re missing is coordination, presentation and fun.

It’s time to stop asking how much more racing we can squeeze out of this industry and start asking how much more value we can create from the racing we already have.

— Nancy Takter 

Murray Brown on the Hambletonian moving to Indiana

I’ve just read your lead story in HRU’s Friday edition. I, like you, was somewhat shocked and personally disappointed when I heard that the Hambletonian was leaving The Meadowlands for its new home in Indiana.

The Meadowlands, both before his tenure and since its tenancy under Jeff Gural could not have been in more capable and caring hands. The entire industry owes it great thanks for the fantastic job it has done.

I thought and certainly hoped that the race would remain where it has become the center of harness racing for over four-and-a-half decades.

When the race left DuQuoin to come east, my feelings were similar to what they are now. We were losing a great part of harness racing and its great traditions.

The Hayes family and DuQuoin had done a marvelous job in making it our sport’s greatest treasure.

But, to quote Bob Dylan “The times there were a changing.” While DuQuoin had peaked with attendees numbering in the area of about 10,000 or thereabouts, The Meadowlands held promises of crowds of 30,000 and offered the media rich New York/New Jersey environment to help grow our sport. Those expectations were met and the race thrived.

However as time went on, those crowds dwindled, to the point where today, the attendance was likely in the 10,000 range or even less. The media exposure had all but disappeared. Was it the fault of the stewards of the race? Most definitely not. They did the best they could while facing insurmountable odds and previously unknown competition.

The feeling from my place in the industry was that the race was slowly shrinking and getting, for lack of a better term: stale. Its future and that of harness racing in New Jersey was becoming more and more murky.

The feeling was that Mr. Gural wanted the race, but didn’t really have his previous enthusiasm for it. If he really wanted it, wouldn’t he have exercised his option to renew his tenancy?

Because Gural did not renew his option, the Hambletonian Society was forced to open the race to bidding.

I’ve been told from highly reputable sources that there were two highly superior bids from Indiana and WEG in addition to that of The Meadowlands.

From all that I’ve heard, Mr. Gural did not appear openly enthusiastic to continue as the race’s guardian. That may or may not be the case. Indiana on the other hand was hugely so, gathering support from all segments within and outside of the industry, including strong support from the Governor of the state.

Whatever the Society decided was bound to have been met with a degree of disappointment. Those 26 leaders of our industry, who are the Society’s directors, voted to do what they felt was best for the race and its future.

We owe it to them and the good folks in Indiana to give our support to which will undoubtedly become a most successful undertaking.

• Murray Brown