OnGait.com celebrating 20th anniversary

Coral Springs, FL – It’s hard to imagine that it was 20 years ago that Eric Cherry and Maurice Chodash started a brand-new concept in selling harness racing Standardbreds called OnGait.com.

OnGait.com was the first online selling and auction website dedicated to the Standardbred industry, providing both harness racing sellers and buyers an online venue to sell and purchase racehorses.

It has since grown to include selling racing equipment, stallion breeding’s, shares and also providing a venue to charity organizations throughout the industry a place to raise money for their groups.

OnGait.com is currently coming off a record-breaking year according to Zoominfo, with more than $15 million in sales of racehorses and breeding stock.

The website was developed by Maurice Chodash, who has been in the standardbred business for more than 40 years as an owner and breeder. He runs the day-to-day operations at OnGait.com.

Co-owner Eric Cherry began racing and breeding harness horses in the late 70’s. Among the top performers he has campaigned are World Champions Southwind Tempo and Mister Goal, Breeders Crown winners Call Me Queen Be and Pick Me Up, millionairess Tug River Princess and Drop The Ball. He was also the former owner of the South Florida Trotting Center in Lake Worth, Florida and developer of the National Raceline.

How did it all begin? We talked with co-founder Eric Cherry of Boca Raton, FL.

“In August of 2001,” Cherry explained. “Maurice came up with the concept for the website and the name for it. He registered the name and then came to me and asked if I wanted to be partners with him. At the time we were running National Raceline and I told him it was a great idea.

“We started with just listings of horses for sale,” Cherry explained. “And once the technology got better in six or seven years is when we started doing the live auctions online.

“Once we got into it, we knew this was a new idea,” Cherry said. “And once people got into it, we knew it would take off.”

When you google OnGait.com you see a lot of charity events that take place on the website.

“When a charity comes to us at OnGait,” Cherry explained. “We will help them set up their online auction, depending on the items they are wanting to sell. We work closely with charity groups to make it a very efficient and viable fund raiser for them. Ever since we started doing charity auctions for them the groups have told us that the revenue they get is so much more than what they received doing it the old way.

“We have thousands of people who have signed up and view OnGait,” Cherry said. “That most groups do not have access to. And we really enjoy helping charities in our industry. It’s easy for them and much more profitable.

“Just last year,” Cherry noted. “We did the London (Ontario) sale online due to Covid-19 and the average consignor earned more than the prior year and they have come back to do it again and they said they already have 50 more horses consigned than last year.”

OnGait had their greatest online auction ever in 2019 with the sale of the Hambletonian winner, Atlanta. Due to the partnership of the award winner trotting filly breaking up, they came to OnGait.com to auction off Atlanta in 2018.

“The owners were in agreement to place her on OnGait,” Cherry explained. “And the bidding was much better than anyone expected. There were multiple groups bidding on Atlanta, more than 26,000 views of the website during the auction and she sold for a record $1.55 million.”

Now fully established as the leading online auction house in the industry, what does the future hold for OnGait.com?

“I think the future is really bright for us,” Cherry said. “Most of the obstacles that people had about us originally are now a thing of the past. People now realize that it is very inexpensive to buy or sell horses with Ongait then going through a live auction at a designated sale. Both Maurice and I spend a good part of everyday answering calls from both prospective sellers and buyers.

“OnGait is no different than any other business,” Cherry added. “You give your customers excellent service at a reasonable price and they will come back repeatedly. Maurice and I love the harness racing business and our customers know we are working hard at their best interests.”

Over the past years a number of other online auction websites have come about, but in the end, it has been OnGait that continues to grow and prosper.

“Of course, once people saw how successful OnGait became,” Cherry said. “They have tried to emulate it and most of them end up crashing and burning. We were the first to market, have added every bit of technology we can find and work day and night to make the website the best we can and it shows. We call what we do a full-time obsession.

“We are always looking to update new technology on the website,” Cherry said. We are never static, Maurice and I are always looking for new features for the website to make it better for our customers.

“You will get a text when you are outbid on a horse,” Cherry explained. “On Ebay, when an auction ends at noon, the auction is over. You can’t get that last bid in. I never understood that. That was something that a programmer came up with. Who ever heard of an auction where they say times up, the auction is over and no one gets a last bid?

“We then set up just like a live horse auction where the auction does not end until the last bid is made,” Cherry interjected. “We used to add five minutes for any last bids because some people had poor dial-up connections and would miss their last chance to bid. Now with faster internet connections we allow two minutes after the last big is made before the close off the auction. And that is plenty of time for someone to make a final bid. If they do, then two more minutes are added for a counter bid. We have had some auctions go 15 to 20 minutes past as last-minute bids continue to come in.

“Now, we are adding a new feature,” Cherry explained. “That staggers when sellers want their auction to end. This way we do not have two horses closing out at the same time on top of each other. We also added a split screen feature so that a buyer who happens to have interest in two different horses selling at the same time can watch both auctions and make bids at the same time.”

OnGait.com most certainly dominates the online auctions in North America, but how about Europe, Australia and New Zealand, where harness racing is very strong.

“We have a lot of customers from Europe and some from down under,” Cherry said. “We have the platform and are looking to get set-up in both locations and setting up regional area additions to OnGait. We are seeking expert partners in those locations to set up shop, but they have to be as dedicated as we are to make it work. But we will not start anything that is not totally professional and done properly.”

How about the live horse sales? How have they fared having to go against OnGait?

“If you look at the pure numbers of the established horse sales,” Cherry said. “They have dwindled dramatically. At one point they have to look and see if it pays for them to continue the way they are going.

“The showcase yearling sales,” Cherry said. “Lexington, Harrisburg, etc. will always be popular because it is an experience, not just a sale, plus at Lexington they have the great race cards that week. It’s an event, most everyone in the industry wants to be there and that will keep those sales continuing to do well.

“The mixed horse sales will be under continued pressure because of OnGait,” Cherry explained. “With OnGait you can sell your horse on Wednesday and have your money on Friday. And you can sell your horse when it is best for them and not just when the live sale is taking place.

“You also can save a lot of money selling with OnGait then the live auction sales,” Cherry added. “Our costs are a lot less and when you are dealing with thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, it adds up big time in savings.”

While Eric Cherry is the spokesman for OnGait he makes sure that everyone understands that it was his longtime partner Maurice Chodash, who came up with the concept, name and design for OnGait.com and oversees the website daily.

Over the past 20 years the website has continued to grow and prosper, proving not just horse people with an avenue to easily buy and sell horses, equipment, stallions and breeding shares, but also helps out all charity groups that contact them.

Both Maurice and Eric were honored this past year by the Florida Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association with a President’s Award for their outstanding service to the industry.

Eric Cherry did not know yet when the champagne celebration for OnGait’s 20^th anniversary would be taking place.

By Steve Wolf