When opportunity knocks, why don’t we listen?

by John Berry

When the great Super Chapter tied the track record for 4-year-old trotting horses at Dayton Raceway last Saturday night (Oct. 3) in 1:50.2, it spawned yet another Mane Attraction column pointing out some changes needed in our grand sport.

In speaking with a few of our BDHC (Broken Down Horseplayers Club) members, two sides of an argument surfaced — the first being “Who cares?” and the second being, “Again? We’ve fallen that much more behind in this world of technology?”

One BDHC member lamented, “I thought the exacta was ‘cold’ and was happy to cash a $20 exacta ticket.

“I could care less about the time of a race.

“It has no meaning to me.”

Yet one of our other BDHC purists had a different view.

He said, “How do you know it wasn’t a track record?

“After all, 1:50.2 can mean anywhere from 1:50.200 to 1:50.399, and you’d think the owner, trainer, and breeder might want to be a record holder, instead of a co-record holder.

“A track record is a headline, and we need as many headlines as we can get.”

He has a point, and a valid one, indeed.

In the old days, harness racing was timed in quarter-seconds and, then, we became modernized and, in the early 1950s, we embraced timing races in fifths-of-a-second.

That was 75 years ago!

As we all know, this year’s Hambletonian was decided by two one-thousandths-of-a-second.

This modern technology further proves — and is just one example — of how far we are behind the times.

When I was with Pompano Park, this real technology was available — and has been — at least for the last 25 years. I used it for headlines. The industry has failed to use it.

A brief example was back in 2005 when Talk About Me, driven by Mickey McNichol, went 1:56.2.

A couple of weeks later, Railee Possible, handled by Wally Hennessey, also trotted in 1:56.2.

I checked with Eddie “the timer” at PPk and Talk About Me actually trotted in 1:55.420 and Railee Possible’s mile was clocked in 1:55.478.

One might conclude that it’s no big deal.

To me, it was a headline.

There are dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of headlines just waiting to be unearthed, and we need every one of them. They are gold mines in my opinion.

And, as time’s fly and more records are equaled, the timing of races could not be more important to breeders, owners, potential owners, and buyers.

The horses are so fast these days and the records are being broken by fifths-of-a-second.

While Bulldog Hanover stands alone at the top of the list at 1:45.4, there are three tied at 1:46 — Allywag Hanover, Always B Miki, and Lather Up.

Doesn’t anyone have an interest on which horse is really second on the list?

Each fifth-of-a-second finds a more crowded list which could be easily defined by getting their time in 1000ths-off-a-second.

That may seem trite to many of you, but we have to start somewhere, and some time.

Heck, even thoroughbred announcers at some tracks give quarter times in hundredths-of-a-second.

It’s not rocket science.

Heck, I am 83 and still care about our grand sport and fully realize that significant change will not come during my lifetime.

Had change begun 25 years ago, it might have been different.

If we wait 25 years longer, this sport might be on the last of its four legs.

Look, I am not the only one who cares deeply. There are others that care, too.

A few names come to mind: Gordon Banks, Dana Parham, Virgil Morgan, Eric Cherry, and Dein Spriggs.

There are others, of course, but we need the minds of business people who are involved in our sport, as opposed to an attorney who is involved in our sport who keeps a close eye on a five nanogram count that might have nothing to do with a horse’s performance but was arbitrarily written on the rulebooks.

Even horsemen and women involved could lend a hand with their ideas, if they aren’t structured on individual pet peeves that may not be beneficial to the broader scope of luring new owners and fans into the great sport of harness racing.

How many fines are issued on a weekly basis for whipping violations?

This stiff penalties gives our sport a muddled name.

We’ve offered a viable suggestion to handle just the situation with whipping violations.

We have had the same saddle pads for, well, forever, and that whipping problem could be completely eradicated by lengthening saddle pads extended to the horse’s rump with the extension padded with foam to eliminate the possibility of welts or striping which may be seen in today’s environment.

We need a re-design of our programs with interesting stories and comps that make a $2 or $3 program worth it.

Discount coupons to neighboring businesses from restaurants to $500 discounts on a new car, a 30 per cent discount to your casino restaurant or $5 for $10 in free slot play.

Consider it a value pack to our horseplayers.

New information in the program could include printing times every eighth-of-a-mile in last performance lines: :13.2, :27.3, :41.1, :55.2, 1:10. 1:23.3, 1:37.2, 1:50.4. Maybe nightly features including stories, historical events, and winner’s circle drawings.

We do nothing to bring in new fans these days.

We need a lure — like a lure of at least a $500,000 nightly-named event with a lottery like increase when not hit — to bring bettors back to harness racing.

It doesn’t have to be equine related — just show bettors the money.

How about a “Great Eight” where the bettor selects seven winners and a trifecta in the eighth leg?

It could be a 50-cent based bet with a low take-out (to be determined) with minimal payouts for consecutive winners and a consolation prize for the first seven winners but not the final leg trifecta.

Can one imagine the interest when this grows to unfathomable heights?

For the ones that are already throwing cold water on this idea, well, that’s exactly why our industry is losing market shares, we do not try anything new.

We also need a board of directors that are not interested in power as this sport needs a commissioner that knows how to market a sport — like in Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, and any other major sport.

Major League Baseball has its strike zone where a batter or catcher can challenge, and a pitch clock to speed things up.

They are continually modernizing.

You’ll find new innovations in every sport.

The 24-second shot clock in the NBA.

Pro football has the new kickoff rule.

It adds interest to the games.

We need modernized, universal rules encompassing all jurisdictions, not different ones for each state.

Other topics that might be worthy of discussion: less races, more entries (mutuels have no value), too many exotic bets in a race water down the pools, re-draws eliminating horses going from post 1 to post 9, prop betting, the “fill it or kill it” proposal, eliminate the drag between races, it upsets the fans, and 24-hour world-wide coverage of harness racing around the globe, 

Our sport can no longer cater to power hungry personnel that, simply, will not give up their power, even to save our, hopefully, viable industry.

Too bad.

May The Horse Be With You!