Edison at the Elitlopp

Edison Hatter’s meteoric rise in the harness racing industry hit new heights last weekend when he found himself in Sweden covering the Elitlopp, one of the biggest trotting races in the world.

The 2022 Dan Patch Breakthrough Award winner was sent overseas to cover the Elite Race through one of his many broadcasting gigs. “It’s a new deal between In the Money Media and ATG in Sweden which is the Swedish Racing Totalizer board,” he explained. “We’ve got a year-long partnership with them that started with the Eliptlopp. We will cover all their major races in Sweden culminating with the Swedish Breeders Crown in November.”

The trip overseas to Solvalla Racetrack was a new experience for the 23-year-old from Annapolis Junction, Maryland. “For me it was the first time not only in Sweden, but also Europe,” Hatter said. “It was the furthest I had ever been away from home in my life, the previous furthest being to Toronto, Canada. It was definitely a different adventure both at the track and away from it.”

Hatter didn’t go to Sweden unarmed though. He had some gained knowledge of their racing that he took with him. “I have been following Swedish racing on a day-to day basis for several years now,” Hatter mentioned. So, to be there working, and getting paid to do it, was all just like a dream come true for me.”

He noted one major difference in Swedish harness racing compared to North American. “The one statistic that I really tried to hammer home in our preview shows was that 17 per cent of all winners of their races come from what they ironically call the “death seat”, which for us is the first-over position.”

“Sarah Svandstedt explained it to me very well,” he continued. “she said it’s not a bad spot to be in their racing because you get to control the tempo of the race and decide how hard you press the leader. In the end, if you were able to dictate a reasonable tempo, and you are sitting outside the leader with the best horse, you’re good to go. There is no passing lane, so you don’t have to worry about the pocket horse. I think that the expectation that is a really good place to be during a race is a significant difference from North American racing.”

Hatter’s start in the business was a bit fluky, and a bit ingenuity. “I had been to one harness race in my life at that point but through a friend of a friend I found out that Rosecroft was looking for an announcer,” he said. “Somehow, my name got brought up and along the way there might have been a lie or two about experience that I had calling races. But somehow, they decided to give me a microphone, binoculars and a program and let me call a race card at Rosecroft.”

The neophyte announcer immediately got to work in preparation for debut from the booth at The ‘Croft. “That weekend I frantically practiced not only how to call a race, but also learning the correct terms to use,” he explained. “I guess I did well enough that they had me back. I stayed at Rosecroft from 2019 to late last year and along the way I picked up the full-time announcer job at Freehold Raceway, my on-air and morning line maker gig at The Meadowlands, the work that I do for In The Money Media, and everything else.”

Remarkably, in addition to all the aforementioned work that Hatter does in harness racing, he also has a full-time job at NASA, currently working on SARSAT which is search and rescue satellite tracking. He is basically a rocket scientist. Working remotely helps as Hatter is only in the NASA offices one day/week for in-person meetings. “As long as all of the work gets done, we are satisfied,” he said. “It has worked out well.”

Clearly Hatter’s star is on the rise. But what does he do in his leisure time, if he even has any? “Tonight, I’m sitting here watching the NBA playoffs,” he said. “It’s kind of relaxing for me. That, and watching other sports and other racing. It’s kinda boring, right?”

So where will the rising media star be in the harness racing industry in five years? “I never could have imagined having all of the gigs that I have now,” he said. “Who knows where I’ll be in five years. Maybe I’ll have a couple of more jobs or be fired from everything, one or the other. Working at NASA is a very prestigious job that I enjoy, and so is working at The Meadowlands. Nothing against any of the other platforms I work for, but those are the obviously prestigious ones. I definitely want to keep those jobs and anything else that I can keep fitting in, I am happy to keep doing.”

One thing Hatter isn’t when he performs on-air is boring, as seen by the high demand for his talents. You are sure to see plenty more from this young, enthusiastic, polished media star.

by Garnet Barnsdale, for Harnesslink