Mane Attraction column creates a bit of a stir

As one might imagine, our last Mane Attraction caused a bit of stir in the harness racing world.

In case you missed it, the idea for larger fields, longer races, higher purses, a 10:30 last race post with the implementation of much larger payoffs—whether they be pari-mutuel or prop wagering—featured the “opinions” from both sides of the fence.

That Mane Attraction was “food for thought” in saving our industry, now, mostly, on life support from casinos and legislators.

The few horse personnel that have surfaced, thus far, are somewhat against it, some wondering how much horses will be compensated in such large fields.

“Hey,” one trainer said, “right now I am happy with the way things are…I make some money with my few horses and it’s all good.

“But I’m in my ’60’s now and I don’t know what’s down the road in 10 or 15 years but, having said that, that really doesn’t concern me. For me, it’s all about today and tomorrow!”

That is the problem. Few cares about the future and this industry is satisfied living on the welfare provided by casinos and legislators and, if we have learned anything from the past performance lines of those two entities, the future is on shaky footing waiting for the earthquake!

And, at many tracks, handle just doesn’t support the purses.

On the other side of the coin, one longtime member of the BDHC (Broken Down Horseplayers Club) was all for it saying, “Your last column proved my point that racing is no longer a spectator sport but, rather, an insider sport.

“That’s the reason we have lost so many fans.

“All of us guys” (and gals, too) “would be using both fists to go after a lotto like payday. It could be the start of a re-birth of the sport—that is ‘IF’—and that’s a big ‘IF’ the sport can recover from all the damage done thus far,

“You’d have to have a PR (public relations) blitz to get it going—maybe a wager seeded with a $5 million jackpot for a Pick-8, or something.”

Another BDHC fan chimed in with the thought, “Sulkies would have to be completely re-designed with back supports to prevent drivers from leaning way back.

“In an 18-horse field, with the guys leading back a horse near the back would be at least 30 lengths behind—so that leaning back stuff would kill this plan and have to stop.”

In checking the two large fields at “SPk” from the last Mane Attraction, in the 18-horse field, one horse, racing in 14th place 17 lengths back, finished second just 1 1/4 lengths back of the winner.

In the 16-horse field, the horse in 16th—last–place, 14 lengths back, rallied to be third—and Sportsman’s Park was a FIVE-EIGHTHS MILE TRACK back then (with half-mile track turns!)

With a track a “bit” longer–7/8s or 1 mile–it could make for very interesting racing drawing a new “breed” of fan enjoying a calvary charge to the wire and life changing payoffs all the way down the line.

(Just think, Kentucky Derby payoffs every race…plus an added kicker of lotto-like payoffs.)

R. Phil from the Chicago area asks, “Just how would this work?”

There are a few scenarios for success here.

Similarly to the different Lotto event drawings through the week, envisioning a Wednesday Pick-6 and a Saturday “Perfect Pick-8.”

The mid-week Pick-6 with the aforementioned larger fields from 12 to 18 horses per race, would have odds similar to the chances of in the lotto, which have attracted billions of dollars on a “mindless” drawing—many of which are “quick picks.”

The Pick-6 would take astute handicapping and keep our sport in the limelight with that feature alone by the time it takes to handicap the event. (Yes, more eyes on our sport!)

In the Pick-6, the “odds” of winning would vary with the number of horses in each leg but, as an example, if each leg had 15 horses in it, the odds of winning would be about 11,390,625—the number of different combinations offered.

The Saturday Pick-8 Bonanza would require the selection of the first eight finishers in order in an event with between 12 and 18 starters.

Yes, the number of different combinations is astronomical—just like the lotto with its different games requiring one to pick six from as many as 54 numbers!

Difficult? You bet! But harness racing’s prize could grow into the hundreds of millions of dollars and would be a welcome “shot” in the arm (for a change) and, like the lottery, attract huge gaming dollars—just like the lottery…and sports betting…and slot machines…and bingo…and blackjack, craps, roulette, poker and dice, to name a few.

One horseman said, “It’ll never work! Too complicated!”

That’s exactly the reason “it’ll never work!” When we won’t try it!

Throughout the ages, if all mankind had that same attitude, we wouldn’t have television…then cable television, rotary phones…then smart phones, cures for disease…going back further, airplanes, automobiles, computers, the internet and every other thing that has been invented during our lifetime!

Too complicated?

If our own pari-mutuel industry can’t handle it, maybe FanDuel, DraftKIngs, BetMGM, Fanatics, Bet 365, Hard Rock, Borgata, Caesars and ANY of the MANY more sports books would hop on the bandwagon…in a heartbeat!

If our own intelligence isn’t smart enough to handle it, maybe ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE can.

One horseman did have an interesting suggestion—wondering if there would be any way to involve a half mile track, somehow, instead of just the larger 7/8th mile tracks or the mile ovals.

Great idea!

Larger tracks were selected because of field size. Period!

A half mile oval—Northfield gets a lot of action—could host a “Spectacular-Six Sunday” featuring races as short as a quarter mile sprint, a half mile, three-quarters of a mile, one mile, 1 1/4 miles and 1 1/2 miles—the first four events requiring nine starters and the last two with a minimum of 12 starters. The starting points would be easy with timing beams already in and no problem!!

Canadian harness racing aficionado Trey Colbeck loved the idea but wanted to “tweak” the last race off time suggested at 10:30 saying “MORE late races will attract the young crowd, especially on weekends.”

Point well taken.

The original 10:30 time was based on “FLORIDA” time, where our BDHC clientele has few members in that “younger set.”

There are very few BDHC members under 60 with the vast majority bordering on “antique,” including myself.

Another astute observer, Sue, asked, “Just out of curiosity—say you have a field of 18 horses and the purse was $25,000—how much would all the horses stand to make?”

Great question.

When everything is negotiated (and we previously mentioned the huge lottery “bite”) some of the wagers on harness racing’s lottery events would go to purses so the belief in this corner is that there wouldn’t be any purses at $25,000. They could be MUCH HIGHER, especially when carryovers push the advertised grand prizes up, up, up as they ripen with carryovers!

Finally, there were a couple of comments concerning the safety of horses and drivers.

First, they don’t seem to have much of a problem in Europe with the larger fields and, second, if a “newly designed” back support sulky, drivers will be sitting up straighter in the bike and see where they are going!

As another BDHC member chimed in, “Maybe my horse won’t have to come from 15 or 20 lengths back with all them guys leaning back.

It sure will cut the front-to-back distance by as many as 20 lengths.

“I’ve thrown some tickets away halfway through” (a mile) “in disgust thinking my “live” horse is already “dead.”

That BDHC member has a point…Race secretaries put events together where horses are in a same “class” but, as this punter said, “If I’m sitting back maybe 15 lengths away at the half, if my horse of equal class three or four seconds faster during the last half?

Of course, if some of the races carded would be “under saddle,” there would be much less of a distance from front to back.

Well, that’s a sampling of some thoughts on, literally, “both sides of the fence”…the “inside” where our equine athletes complete and the “outside,” where the punters put their $2 bucks—or $200—on which one will be the longest nose in the race to the wire!

May The Horse Be With You!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink