Fearing for the future of our sport

As most of you know, I am the eternal optimist and look for any shred of good in all aspects of life.

Yes, I am 80…but happy to be alive with my optimistic self-telling everyone I am 27 CELSIUS—not 80 FAHRENHEIT!

Yes, I have “end stage” kidney disease and on dialysis but happy to be alive…and in better shape than many others in my same boat…some as many as 40 or more years younger than I.

I care about the survival of our grand sport of harness racing.

Some have asked my “why?” Why do I care about the survival of harness racing?

Is my caring like throwing a grain of sand against the wind…only to have it spike me back in the face?

I am beginning to think that, “yes,” it may all be for naught, but I’ll continue to blow the sand away until my very last breath.

We can blame ourselves for our slow attrition.

Over the last year-and-a-half, Harnesslink has had articles with suggestions on how to keep this sport alive.

Harness racing has afforded the casino industry unparalleled growth, with the stipulation that harness racing survive and thrive at the expense of loss of pari-mutuel betting revenue.

We suggested z-e-r-o takeout for patrons coming to view the races live…shortening the time between races…appointing a Commissioner…the “fill it or kill” proposal preventing short fields that “kill” payouts…prop betting on harness racing…a television network devoted solely to harness racing….even saddle pad suggestions…

Not one single thing has been remotely put on the table for discussion…not one!

Not only that, some of the comments that have followed—from those with no ideas to offer—have been, “This will never work”…or, the best one, “I’d rather eat chalk!”

Once the few of our remaining “optimists” are gone, I am fearful that our grand sport—with a tradition going back almost 2 1/2 centuries—will continue to fade away, finally, into oblivion.

The aging participants competing today, whether they be 20 or 90, don’t care about the future.

They care about putting food on the table TODAY…and that’s understandable.

Yes, we still have our moments…The Hambletonian…The Jug…Breeders Crown…The MGM International…many others, of course, but many of our signature events draw insignificant crowds—far fewer than when we were in the hey-day with programs featuring, in many areas, C, B, A and AA Classes, to name a few.

Tomorrow might be guaranteed…but, in another generation or two, who will be left?

Yes, Edison Hatter and Jessica Hallett and Nathan Bain and “Ace” Barnsdale and Trey Colbeck,  among others,  are trying to carry the torch forward these days…and, on the racetrack itself, Brett Beckwith, Marvin Luna, Carson Conrad, Joey Putnam and Joe Chindano, Jr., again, among others, are a handful of guys in their ’20’s trying to ply their trade in our sport BUT the number of trainers and drivers 25 and under is, probably, under 5%.

We need 100 times—make it 1,000 times—more of their kind to insure our future.

We need a continual flow of new blood in our sport—just like every other vocation…bar none!

Where are we going to get them?

Oh, there are some bright spots…Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, among them, but, in other jurisdictions, we’re fading away.

Ohio has done some amazing things with the OHHA leading the way in spreading the gospel about our grand sport…televising on their fair circuit with competent commentary educating the youth in insuring their future and its participants.

Fairs draw families…fairs draw children…the very kids that can help insure the future of our sport.

Kentucky has had legislative backup beneficial to horsemen and their betting clientele with two additional racetracks in the fold lengthening and strengthening their program on either side of The Red Mile.

The program has been a boon to the entire State, including real estate investment luring other business ventures to the Bluegrass State.

Indiana has provided the Midwest with yet another reason to race in that “tri-State” triangle—now the strongest in the land.

Fairs, once prominent in most of our 48 contiguous states, has, virtually disappeared…right before our eyes with fairs now concentrated in the Midwest to the east…but not much west of The Mississippi!

No more track records in Fresno, Pomona, San Mateo or Santa Rosa or Stockton in California…or in Lincoln, Nebraska…or in Salem, Oregon…or Aberdeen, South Dakota…to name a few.

Why don’t other business models have the same problem?

Here’s why!

Part of the problem is that a nothing is guaranteed in harness racing…there’s no “minimum starting salary” and, in recent years, the sport has been dominated by a few that have been able to—some say—corner the market (to their credit), locking out the “mom and pop” stables of the past that have shared the growing purses of the last few years,  despite the attrition in handle.

The fastest trotter of 2023 barely made $100,000 and, on occasion, found it difficult to find a race that would fill.

This is a “dog-eat-dog” business that has no business model for success for the bottom 90% of the participants.

And, even more importantly, doesn’t have a program to lure and train youngsters.

Major league baseball has its minor league full of hopefuls that may, someday, make it to the big leagues, where the minimum starting salary is $720,000. In the National Football League, the minimum starting salary is $705,000…with their “minor leagues” consisting of colleges all over the land with players hoping to get drafted to the big time.

Where does it all start? LITTLE LEAGUE!!! Eight-year-olds swinging the bat against eight-year-old pitchers!

That’s just one example.

From high school through college…there are programs for football, hockey, tennis, golf and many other sports with kids honing their skills with dreams for tomorrow.

Without exception, they all start with youth programs.

It doesn’t have to be a Harvard, Yale or Dartmouth school…or UCLA….or University of Chicago or others in name that have sterling reputations and costs a fortune.

It can be a Lynn University or Kaiser or Grand Canyon or Maryville or Capella or University of Phoenix.

Our industry should be doing the same thing…bragging about an industry that is exciting and lucrative.

We need—NOW—a grass roots program offered in grade schools, high schools, colleges and universities—and, yes, there is a difference between the latter two—that can draw the interest of our young folk to the equine industry, whether it be as a caretaker, trainer, driver, veterinarian, farrier, farm specialist, journalist, official or any other position of equine interest to our young.

The perfect grade to start is KINDERGARTEN! Just like our yearlings and two-year-olds, we must mold our youngsters into our sport.

Every State that offers harness racing, Maine, New York, Delaware, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, Indiana, Minnesota, Kentucky, Virginia, Massachusetts and California should make an effort to create a curriculum for students five-years-old to 25 with graduated courses to entice our young to choose a career in the standardbred industry.

And let us not forget the State of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin, where there is no pari-mutuel racing.

Why, you nay-sayers ask?

BECAUSE THEY OFFER FAIR RACING!…and there are hundreds and hundreds of fairs.

The land is fertile with schools located within short distances of any fairgrounds in the U.S.A. and they, too, can contribute to the future success of our sport.

Again, to you “nay-sayers” echoing your familiar phrase, “it’ll never work,” or “You’re dreaming,” everything in our world was built on dreams…from driving a car to flying in an airplane to the invention of the telephone…and then the cell phone…

…From medical miracles from medications to every single racetrack that was built on barren land…it all started with a dream.

Our sport was built on dreams!

We’re just getting started fighting global warming…and hope it’s not too late on that world problem….or a medical breakthrough…or developing a flying automobile…

But I’m not intelligent enough to tackle those situations…but I sure as hell don’t want a sport that I love so much fall into oblivion without a fight!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink