A tale of two headlines

Two headlines recently caught my eyes.

The first one read:

Michigan’s Last “Horse” Racing Track Closes After 80 Year Run…

The second one:

SPORTS STREAMING DEAL WITH ESPN, FOX, WARNER BROTHERS, DISCOVERY….WHAT IT MEANS FOR VIEWERS…

To me, the first one should have read:

MICHIGAN’S LAST “HORSE” RACING TRACK CLOSES AFTER 80 YEAR RUN…

And the second one:

SPORTS STREAMING DEAL WITH ESPN, FOX, WARNER BROTHERS, DISCOVERY…WHAT IT MEANS FOR VIEWERS…

More on that later…but, first…

I lost a dear friend this week, Smitty, a harness racing compadre since 1960 or so.

He was a fellow Chicagoan who loved the races, just as much as I.

He never believed in “doctors” and seemed generally healthy over the years…until a couple of years ago when he said he had a little “itchy patch” in his arm and I suggested that he go to a dermatologist to check it out.

He said he would but didn’t for quite some time and, when I spoke to him about a year ago, said that he had some surgery done to get rid of “some bad cells” in his arm.

That led him to specialist after specialist after specialist after things got worse and Smitty lost his battle this week.

This really hit home and, in an instant, along with these headlines, spawned this Mane Attraction.

The similarities seemed striking.

When “The Pomp” closed in the wee hours of April 18, 2022—yes, the last race was after midnight—I just realized that the lights going out in Pompano Beach, Florida was a bad cell—a cancer cell— in our sport that could spread like Smitty’s cancerous cells did.

And, just a few days ago, yet another “bad cell” appeared in the epidermis of harness racing—the closure of the aforementioned Northville Downs in Michigan.

These “bad cells” are nothing new to our sport with the first really noticeable one being the fabled Roosevelt Raceway in 1988.

Just since 2000, Balmoral Park, Colonial Downs, Garden State Park, Jackson Raceway, Maywood Park, Rockingham Park, Saginaw Valley, Sports Creek Raceway and Sportsman’s Park have all been surgically removed from our sport.

We aren’t alone as many tracks featuring thoroughbred and quarter horses have been extracted, as well.

Just as “Smitty” went to specialist after specialist trying to save his life to no avail, we have some of the greatest “specialists” that are trying to save harness racing…

Dean Towers, Dave Briggs, Trey Colbeck, Bill Finley, Kim Rinker, Fred Hudson, Garnet Barnsdale, Hollywood, The Littles’—Debbie and Dave—Pandy, Steve Wolf, Brett Sturman,.. I’ll even include myself, though, to a lesser degree…we are among the few who care deeply about our grand and historic sport and its future.

There are many others, I am sure, but we’ll tap deeper in the future..

Week after week, month after month, year after year…these very talented individuals (yes, I’ll include myself, to a lesser degree) keep preaching the gospel about the trotters and pacers..

Their words are printed, uttered and, in some instances, viewed on the web.

We may be competitors in some sense but, make no mistake, we all are on the same team that care deeply about the standardbred sport and business and are fearful for its future.

Our words are bold and loud…but unheard…

…Unheard as other sports grab the headlines as they hold hands together to push the major sports into the headlines…leaving harness racing in the dust.

Every single one of the harness racing journalists named above have printed, posted and broadcast ideas to help our sport survive…and nobody with “Higher Power” (remember him?) has taken one step forward.

When a gentleman with the stature of Mr. John Campbell suggests that our sport adopt some of the ways that harness racing succeeds in Europe, our sport should listen.

Yes, our aging leadership should put on their bifocals and see and put hearing aids in and LISTEN!

I, personally, have written suggestions for the betterment of our sport.

The suggestions included a reduced takeout and, in some cases, Z-E-R-O takeout for those on track patrons with casinos attached, prop betting on harness races, future bets on everything including drivers and trainers, overs and under on wins (nightly and for the season) and our own television NETWORK like golf, baseball, bowling, golf, NFL, food, movies, Court, weather, etc..

A form of “Equine Social Security” was suggested, a “fill it or kill it” proposal to keep fields full helping sustain pari-mutuel prices and entice players, the installation of “front door cameras” throughout the racing oval to enhance judging for more accurate decisions, a vocational equine program starting in grade school and continuing through high school and college to entice participation at an early age, a new rule when “re-draws” are mandated, eliminating the possibility of a horse going from post one in the original draw to post nine!!.

We have yet to name a Commissioner like other sports who could speed up the necessity and IMPORTANCE of transparency in our sport.

All of the other “specialists” mentioned above have, as well.

DEAN TOWERS has well over 150 articles with suggestions on saving our sport…TREY COLBECK has put his name on the globe with his brilliant broadcasts…BILL FINLEY is on a terror about transparency in the sport…trying to save it and build credibility…KIM RINKER, a brilliant talent that has been serving our sport for decades…and still is…FREDDIE HUDSON, who has corralled the inner circle of racing on his weekly show bringing light to some of the issues that have been in the dark too long…GARNET BARNSDALE, who keeps a keen eye on things watching for any inkling of impropriety…HOLLYWOOD HEYDEN…Wanna know anything about our sport (or any sport)? Ask Hollywood…The LITTLES—DAVE AND DEBBIE—providing poignant information in print and on the air keeping our sport in the limelight whenever possible…BOB PANDOLFO, handicapper par excellence but, not only that, asks the pertinent questions when needed about safety issues, sulkies and the “juice” issues…STEVE WOLF, covering the sport and industry like a blanket—the good and the bad—as one of its staunchest “specialists”…BRETT STURMAN covers, literally, the world of harness racing starting at the tiny half-miler in upstate New York to happenings thousands of miles away…and we can’t forget TIM FINLEY, a crusader for transparency in our sport. These are just a few of the many!!

The only thing that has advanced in our sport in the past, say, 40 years—with the exception of the speed explosion that has produced SPEED—is simulcasting and easy access to wagering…either on a laptop or by phone, which, by the way, has been more than a partial reason that on-track handle has, virtually, disappeared.

The gaming business is a “dog-eat-dog” business.

Some say it’s “ruthless!” But, in the jungle of the gaming industry, the strong survive and the weak are, well, you know…

And while our sport if is still pacing at a 2:00 pace while others are at 1:48 and a piece, we are in a quagmire as that following aforementioned headline just appeared…

February 7, 2024 Headline: SPORTS STREAMING DEAL WITH ESPN, FOX AND WARNER BROS, DISCOVERY WHAT IT MEANS FOR VIEWERS…

This venture will be a sports streaming service which encases a large number of networks—possible 15 of them—and will be a huge stride for the entire media industry.

The kickoff of this new venture will be in the fall of this year, 2024.

So, what’s the problem with harness racing?

In terms of the wagering dollar, North American harness racing is said to have had a handle of about $2,236,000,000 last year—that’s a “bit” more than $2.2 billion, about $1.5 billion in the U.S.

Sounds like a lot, yes, but, compared to all sports wagering, it accounts for a minute percentage of the total …a drop in the bucket…

Heck, it’s expected that $24 BILLION will be bet on the Super Bowl with participation of 68,000,000 (yes, 68 million) folks here in the U.S.

It is estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 lost their vocation when The Pomp closed…

Probably the same number lost their way-of-life when Northville closed.

It’s not important to enough of our population here in the States of 321 million.

NOBODY CARES anymore, except the folk affected—the ones classified as “a drop in the bucket!”

Sink or swim! That’s the attitude in this new form of harness racing identity..

It’s not like the Tioga situation when our industry kind of rallied together.

The casino industry could care less…they got what they wanted from the voters and that was the bottom line.

And harness racing might be “left at the post,” in terms of coverage and wondering if anyone of our industry leaders have contacted—or been contacted—to participate in this new media venture.

There are changes in our world every day with artificial intelligence, tackling global warming, medical innovations and new inventions arriving at a breakneck pace.

We’re at the top of the stretch, folks, but stuck on the pylons with nowhere to go.

And all of us, no matter our advancing ages, are very worried about our future—at 80, it won’t matter to me in a short time—but it does matter to our great sport, which is sinking into obscurity…track by track.

by John Berry, for Harnesslink