Mississippi horsemen progress from dirt-roads to Red Mile

LEXINGTON, KY — Mississippi doesn’t have any pari-mutuel harness racing, but the state has become one of the largest sources of harness horsemen in Kentucky. Look no further than the Corbin at The Red Mile Meet that concluded Tuesday. Mississippi product Randy Crisler won his first driving title over The Red Mile’s famed clay with a 16-13 lead over Tyler Shehan.

With a stable of only eight horses, Crisler also ranked among the winningest trainers with seven victories. (Anette Lorentzon and Randy Jerrell led all trainers at eight wins apiece during the 12-date session staged as a prelude to the harness track to be built in Corbin by Kentucky Downs’ ownership and Keeneland.) Jamaal Denson and Geremy Bobbitt are the other driver-trainers from Mississippi who competed at the meet, while trainers from the Magnolia State included Jim Brinson, Kevin Cane, Jafari Frazier, John Hughes, Rico Johnson, Freddie Patton Sr., Jamaica Patton and Roshun Trigg.

Watch the video on Back-Racing here.

When Louisville Downs closed in 1991 upon the Standardbred track’s sale to Churchill Downs, Kentucky harness horsemen were forced to scatter, many to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. The Mississippi horsemen helped fill the void at Kentucky’s remaining meets. But how did they develop a love for the sport with no exposure to formal racing growing up? It’s called back-riding or back-pacing— culturally the Standardbred equivalent of Louisiana’s bush tracks famous for producing jockeys.

It’s a way of life in the region around Jackson, Miss., and beyond, even into Alabama, where on weekends families congregate to cook, barbecue, socialize and especially to see who has the fastest horse. The horses wear hobbles to keep them on the pacing gait but are ridden under saddle, instead of being driven from behind in a race bike.

“It’s our background,” Crisler said. “Our fathers, our grandfathers, our uncles. It’s all family-related. It started out as back-pacing. They have the hobbles on and the hangers, but they throw the saddle on the back. That’s how we started. Then we got into the bikes.

“It wasn’t about the money. It was about who had the fastest horse in Mississippi. We’d all get together on Saturday or Sundays. We’d cook, we’d eat, whatever – and we’d race.” Crisler said that, growing up, as soon as he got off the school bus, “Dad was like, ‘Drop your books. Let’s go train horses.’ It just stuck with me.”

He advanced from back-riding to the fairs in Mississippi and Tennessee.

“Then I was, ‘OK, maybe I can go to another level as far as pari-mutuel,’” said Crisler, who progressed to Kentucky at the now-defunct Bluegrass Downs, then on to Chicago and Ohio before settling into Hoosier Park while also racing in Kentucky. “And I did it.”

Asked the difference between riding a pacer and driving one, Denson said, “The steering is about the same, but out there (at a regular track) is more like strategizing. When we ride on their back, it’s like who can get to the front first and if you can get a horse to stay there.”

He said a lot of the Mississippi horsemen take their stables back home for the winter, training over the half-mile tracks. Horses that didn’t cut it at the track are used for back-riding. As are some that did cut it. “We take them, harness them up and go on the dirt roads or half-mile tracks around Mississippi and race them,” Denson said. “Everybody gets together on a Saturday and we find us a dirt road or a track, if it’s not raining. We race all day long. It’s really fun. We actually have a big event in Mississippi called King of the Boondocks. Louisiana people come, Texas. They bring their horses in and we see who has the fastest horse around.”

It’s match racing, with the two names drawn out of a hat squaring off.

“We do what is called a pot race,” Bobbitt said. “Everybody will put up $50 or $100 — and the winner take all. You have to go so many rounds. But at the end, last man standing wins.”

Still, often the racing is more for pride than any prize. Or, as Denson said, “Who’s got the baddest horse in Mississippi.”