Protecting the integrity of harness racing

As many of you know, I am on dialysis for what is described as “end stage kidney failure,” which was diagnosed many years ago…by accident!

I take this challenge with a grain of salt and am very happy to just be alive and able to write for Harnesslink and continue my crusade for our grand sport of harness racing.

As soon as I arrive at the dialysis center, they do a temperature check, hand out masks and then comes the weigh-in, which decides the treatment one will receive that particular session. Regular blood checks are done to make sure that all patients are achieving maximum results and up-to-date vaccinations are utilized, as well.

It’s a spotless place with techs and nurses and other personnel making sure the “festivities” are safe and sanitized with glove replacement and gown replacement ongoing with the dialyzing machines sanitized after every patient and so sensitive that alarms sound with any noticeable change in one’s blood pressure, needle displacement or any sign of distress.

Jerome Dixon, a six-year veteran of dialysis, said it best when he lamented, “When your dealing with even a drop or two of blood, misuse might cause a virus or blood-borne infection and put a life in jeopardy.

“And what happens to the business when something like this happens? Reputation takes a hit and, in today’s world, with competition the way it is, not many things are more important than reputation.”

That said, not a single stone is left unturned with the State overseeing the entire operation with visits to make sure that the environment is safe for patients and staff…just like a casino today.

When racing was first introduced in Pompano Beach, Florida in the mid-1920’s, Governor John Welborn Martin threatened to send in the militia and bulldoze the track because pari-mutuel racing wasn’t legalized at the time.

Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Van Lennep changed all of that in the early 1960’s by jumping through legislative hoops to get Pompano Park open in 1964 with the State overseeing the operation in the public interest…just like a casino today.

And remember the illegal numbers racket? That goes back at least 150 years with places like Chicago, Boston, New York, Cleveland and Detroit thriving in the alleyways during those illicit operations.

Lotteries were only made legal when States saw how much money THEY could profit out of it with their oversight. So, the “numbers racket,” all-of-a-sudden, became legal.

Business is business and most have an organizational chart, so-to-speak, on who watches who watches who watches who and so-on down the line.

Casinos probably have a larger chart as they have to make sure that their patrons are safe and comfortable…and their employees are safe, as well, and represent their casino interests and reputation to the highest standards.

They also have another item to protect—the money!

They have cashiers…and personnel watching the cashiers…and count room people for reconciling the cash and valid ticket vouchers that go “in” each machine…and surveillance watching the money counters and, probably, someone watching them. There’s no end to the checks and balances in a casino!

When ticket redeeming machines need cash refills, there are specific personnel for that…with others escorting for security purposes and, of course, surveillance personnel watching as a further blanket of protection and security.

There are hundreds and, quite possibly, a thousand or two patrons chasing a jackpot at any hour and, high above somewhere in the unseen shadows, are surveillance personnel watching out for those trying to beat the system.

Yes, the best and latest technology is used to protect everyone’s interests from the guest to the next $20 bill put in a machine or placed at the roulette wheel, craps table, baccarat table or at the simulcasting venue for pari-mutuel betting or sports betting.

And, on top of it all, the State has personnel on site to make sure that everything is “copasetic” in following the huge, paged statutes that allowed it in the first place.

Borrowing from the old idiom, one casino attendant said, “You can’t afford to let one bad apple spoil the whole bushel!”

And, if a bad apple is found, he or she is eradicated from the property…pronto!

Racing has needed this type of attention, particularly since the creation of the “racino” and the industry just might be slowly following in brethren’s philosophy, footsteps and hoof prints…hopefully, anyhow…

This comes at a time when racing and its surviving punters must have the absolute guarantee that things are on the up-and-up.

With the recent convictions and sentences handed down, at least some racetracks (racinos) now have surveillance cameras in the paddock…and even in the stable area.

Every pari-mutuel racing facility should have the latest technology available in keeping racing safe, honest and beyond reproach in reputation.

Sure, it’s expensive! And the lurking question is the budgeting for this state-of-the-art technology.

Perhaps, the States that get taxes from gaming companies can budget for this…after all, when taxes are well into the double digits for many casinos and tracks, the expenditure can only solidify the integrity of the gaming form in question—in this case, pari-mutuel racing which allowed these racinos in the first place.

But it’s more than worth it to level the playing field for ALL, including the remaining owners that pay the bills and the bettors that help keep our whimpering sport alive.

There, of course, are still more hurdles over which to jump.

Yes, they are high hurdles, but necessary for longevity.

While some racetracks with on-site stable areas have video technology installed, that just may put those participants behind the eight-ball since training and ship-in facilities aren’t held to those same standards.

Might it be in the future that they, too, will be required to install the latest in that form of video technology to be licensed?

There’s no doubt that a centrally located Surveillance Center could be built with personnel making sure that things are on the up-and-up there, too.

That would lead only to the ride from the training center to the pari-mutuel facility in question, with either pre-race or post-race testing coming into play.

So, it comes down to this…a Z-E-R-O tolerance on banned substances with a three- or five-person Harness Racing Commission with experienced horsemen or women beyond reproach put in place to hear all appeals.

In harness racing, all the emphasis is on TIME these days as the two-year-olds get close to kicking off their careers on track…but TIME is running out for the rest of us!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink