Trey’s Two Cents Worth: Horse racing is far from dead

Hundreds of harness racing fans flocked to Woodbine Mohawk Park over the weekend to get a front-row seat for the 40th Pepsi North America Cup running. Other than a minor accident in the eighth race that caused driver, Travis Cullen to need paramedic attention, the night went off without a hitch.

The doors opened at 4:00 p.m. and the party did not stop until after the 13th and final race on the card. Food, drinks and a good time was on the menu for all in attendance.  The betting windows saw over $5.2 million in handle, with over $650,000 coming in for the big race. This total is the highest total for the North America Cup since 2015. The patrons witnessed all sorts of excitement, including track and Canadian records being broken for various divisions. Refined (Uncle Peter) shocked many by out-dueling the heavy favourite, Bella Bellini, in the Ambro Flight.

REFINED REPLAY

Doug McNair drove Grace Hill (Always B Miki) to a big win in the Roses Are Red Final after being involved in an accident the race prior.

GRACE HILL REPLAY

The night’s biggest win was It’s My Show (Sweet Lou) winning the North America Cup with Scott Zeron in the bike.

IT’S MY SHOW REPLAY

Not to mention many fans went home with a novelty Pepsi North America Cup hat and a $10 betting voucher. The whole night’s experience was certainly more valuable than the $10 price on the ticket to enter.

In a previous edition of “Trey’s Two Cents Worth,” I mentioned that it is hard to pinpoint precisely the state of harness racing. You could expand that argument to all types of horse racing in general. We have seen popular tracks slowly disappear and the most iconic track, Churchill Downs, racing elsewhere because of growing concerns about horse safety. However, after witnessing the North America Cup weekend spectacle, it is hard to imagine the sport disappearing anytime soon.

Not only has Woodbine Mohawk Park been dazzling lately, but so have many other smaller tracks around Canada. Fraser Downs had one of the best handle numbers during the previous spring meet in recent years.

Fans at Century Downs witnessed back-to-back weekends of history when Shark Week first broke the track and Western Canada’s all-time record. The following weekend, he paced western Canadian history’s first sub 1:50 mile.

Dresden Raceway’s announcer, Nathan Bain, tweeted that the Father’s Day handle was an impressive $55,674.

Truro Raceway has considerably improved betting pools and broadcasting and introduced a new buy-in stake race. Truro Raceway also has increased handle during the early weeks of the racing season.

Even our sister sport of thoroughbred racing has positive moments in the spotlight.

“#RacingIsDead” fellow Harnesslink contributor Garnet Barnsdale sarcastically tweeted photos of the large crowd at Woodbine Racetrack on Father’s Day Sunday.

It’s such a beautiful sight to see packed stands and concourses around the track regardless of the breed of horses.

On Father’s Day, I took a little break from the horses after spending three straight days watching racing at Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park. I grabbed tickets for the Canadian Football League game between the Hamilton Ti-cats and the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field in downtown Toronto, Ontario.

After I consumed a few alcoholic beverages, I made some friends around and chatted with many of the spectators in my vicinity. It was apparent I was from Winnipeg, Manitoba, as I was wearing my local football team’s jersey with pride even though they weren’t playing in the game I was attending.

Sometime during the second half of the game, I heard a question from behind me that I did not expect to hear. A random voice said, “you may not know this, but is the Winnipeg racetrack for thoroughbreds or standardbred?”

Shockingly, the young man who asked me the question did not realize that he was talking to Harnesslink’s leading (and only) Western Canadian contributor and the self-proclaimed “Mr. Manitoba” of harness racing.

I, of course, answered his question and followed it up with an “I know, of course, because I work in standardbred.”

The young man’s jaw almost hit the floor as if he had become reacquainted with a long-lost friend. Never in my many years have I randomly run into anyone involved in harness or thoroughbred racing outside of a racetrack.

For a large portion of the fourth quarter, we talked about how we are involved with horse racing and how much we love it. This interaction may seem insignificant, but I believe in omens. The first time I randomly ran into a horse racing enthusiast outside a racetrack was the day after I attended my first North America Cup is hardly a minor coincidence.

Another fan overheard the conversation and replied, “You guys work in horse racing? That’s freaking cool!”

When two young guys who happen to be at the same football game and have a massive love of horse racing bump into each other casually gives me the sense, the sport is back on the rise. It’s starting to become something worth talking about again.

For a while, horse racing had a stigma around it that made it hard to talk about. Often the topic brought up less than enthusiastic responses because the sport was outdated, or the topic would turn to the well-being of the four-legged athletes. Both are valid points and deserve further discussion, but too often were the biggest obstacles to securing new and younger fans.

Even more positive chatter surrounding horse racing has accumulated with the release of the first episode of TSN’s “Ontario Racing Unfiltered” series. It is only 15 minutes long, but every second is pure gold. Being able to get a behind-the-scenes look at the paddock is something many people would never have a chance to do.

Viewers hear from drivers like Doug McNair and James Macdonald about what it takes to be a driver in this sport. It is true to its name, unfiltered, and gives everyone a peek into what it is like to be a harness racing driver or trainer.

To watch the first episode of “Ontario Racing Unfiltered” click here. 

There are many things to still work on in harness racing to continue our growth, but the beginning of the 2023 summer has shown we are on the right track (pun fully intended).

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink