Can harness racing learn from the Kentucky Derby?

Can harness racing learn something from the Kentucky Derby?

The Churchill Downs Group, which has helped decimate racing in the Chicago area and South Florida, just hosted their plum annual event—The Kentucky Derby—held the first Saturday in May.

Attendance was reported to be 150,335 with wagering on Derby Day over $288 million with a record $188.7 million bet on the Kentucky Derby itself.

Derby Week handle also set a record with $412 million wagered.

On track, handle was $73.6 million for the day and $47 million for the Derby race.

No, Churchill Downs isn’t going to destroy its plum…and harness racing can learn so much from the success of racing’s premier event.

Even the tragedy of seven horses whose hooves will never see a racetrack again hardly dented the festivities.

Heck, I remember an incident one night at the track years ago when a member of the BDHC (Broken Down Horseplayers Club) received news that his father had suffered a health emergency and was taken to a hospital and he said, ‘I’m alive in the Late Double and will get there after this race!” Yes, that’s sad…but it’s reality!

With simulcasting helping the cause, the Derby was witnessed worldwide and, from the hats to the horses, it captures us all—even those who get to the races only one time a year—Derby Day.

Yes, there were some headlines about the tragedies suffered during the week but, in the minds of the members of the BDHC, sadly, it matters not when the next post time is looming minutes ahead.

Headlines are headlines and, as circus owner P.T. Barnum said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right!”

No matter what happens…the world goes on.

But the one thing that stands out to me like a sore thumb is that the winner, Mage, is owned by a consortium of 382 people, who now can brag forever that they owned a piece of the 2023 winner of the Kentucky Derby, racing’s most famous race.

So, what’s the significance?

Wherever they were—at Churchill Downs or any simulcast venue or at home watching and betting on their cell phone—they are contributing to the sport.

It’s not just a single owner or two or three or a group of 10 here, it’s 382…that’s possibly 382 betting instead of one or two…it’s 382 possibly downing a mint julep…it’s 382 contributing to the record handle on Derby Day.

It’s 382 adding revenue to bar and restaurant revenue if they are at Churchill or any simulcasting venue…or even buying the ingredients for a mint julep at their grocery to make one at home to celebrate Derby Day…or even talking harness racing.

If something like that can be replicated again and again in harness racing for grand events such as The Hambletonian, Little Brown Jug, Breeders Crown events or every stake race in North America…the results could have long lasting positive effects.

The secret is in the numbers and, if we could multiply that 382 by, say, even, 50, over time, we’ve got 19,000 new owners…and we’re back in business.

Not only do we have 19,000 new owners, but their monthly bills are also negligible, with the possibility of owning a champion.

I have a longtime friend in Chicago, R. Phil Stern, who was a harness horse owner years ago and has recently bought into a share of a couple of thoroughbreds and, let me tell ya, he gets mighty excited in calling me telling me HIS horse is racing!

He, like I, is getting up in years but he sounds “Younger Than Springtime” when he calls me with the latest on his horses!

This benefits every aspect of our sport from ownership to wagering to track attendance to beverage and hot dog and hamburger sales to the top-of-the-line restaurants at our racing and simulcasting venues. (Hey casino operators, they may even play a few slots!)

And what do you think will happen when this really gets going and a couple of hundred people in a group get caught up in a yearling auction sale putting up a grand a piece to get a share in a good lookin’ $200,000 well-bred future champion.

It’s sheer excitement!

It’s happening today…right in front of our eyes and it’s been history for over 80 years when “The Wizard of the Reins,” Thomas W. Murphy, one of the most famous harness horsemen of yesteryear, trained the winner of the 1931 Kentucky Derby.

And two prominent harness horse aficionados, Jimmy Bernstein and Joy McReynolds, are part-owners of this year’s Derby winner and are basking in the limelight glowing with pride.

There were a couple of other items from which we can learn, as well.

Derby day had one of the most luscious wagering buffets ever offered…and one that encompassed not only Derby Day but the day before and some long-term options that began weeks and weeks ago, keeping this event in the headlines for a lengthy time—not just hours.

Of course, they had the traditional wagering options like WPS and ALL the exotics like  Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Super Hi-5, several Pick 3’s, Pick-4, Pick-5’s (one all dirt), Pick-6 (Oaks/Derby paid $334,154.40), several “future exacta pools,” (the 22-37 paid $7,863.22 and the 28-37 paid $22,080.22) a future “Sire” pool, a future “Sire exacta” pool (16-18 paid $7,156.50) and different daily double wagers.

Finally, the Kentucky legislature reduced the breakage from 10 cents to a penny last season and that has put Kentucky in a position to put a few more pennies the pockets of the BDHPs.

On Derby Day with the difference ranging from one single penny to 18 cents, the average seems to be close to 10 cents, which put about $3,000,000 additional in the churning hands of bettors.

It might not seem too much if a punter bets $20 to win on a 5 to 1 shot get gets $121.80 instead of $120.00, but, on the other hand, if a “bridge jumper” bets $2,000 to show on a 1 to 9 tote-board shot (which is now possible in Kentucky) and gets $2.18 to show, instead of $2.10, that bettor has increased his profit by 90%—a big deal!

And if the horse is a “long” 5 to 1, I know those who get $12.98 instead of $12.00 would feel great getting $129.80, instead of $120.00. That buys a hot dog and coke or, if you add 20 cents, a “free” $10 bet!

We are sitting on our thumbs as technology roars ahead at a pace faster than a Bulldog Hanover mile.

Lightning Bets are speeding up betting at baseball games…whudda thunk it?

Betting Line (fillies and colts) are showing up on our racing programs and in winner’s circles but, on, television screens we only see betting lines on baseball, basketball, football, hockey and, even, bowling and the only ones that show up for us are morning lines and odds that change every 45 seconds with not a single prop bet…and 21 minutes between the action!

There’s a whole new menu on the wagering buffet menu and, so far, we aren’t on that menu.

For those of you who are not on board with this, it’s all about the headlines and keeping the sport of harness racing in those headlines…and every other sport that embraces it takes away space from harness racing.

There are those that argue that the betting won’t benefit us.

That may or may not be true but, again, it’s all about keeping our sport in the limelight…whether that be in the sunlight or the moonlight!!!

C’mon…JOIN THE PARTY…You’re less than TWO MINUTES from the winner’s circle!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink