Jim Slendorn refused entries at The Meadowlands

Late Wednesday (Jan. 9) night, harness racing owner-trainer-driver Jim Slendorn electronically entered his three horses to race at the Meadowlands this coming weekend.

By noontime he was not a happy man.

“To be honest with you,” said Slendorn. “I’m kinda disappointed.

“I called the race office later that morning,” Slendorn explained, “to see if a class had filled and if my horse got in to race. Whomever I talked to told me that I had to call Brice Cote (Head of Security) as there may be an issue. So, I called Brice.”

What Slendorn heard from Brice Cote would come as a big shocker to the Howell, NJ horseman.

“Brice told me that they were not going to allow me to enter those horses at The Meadowlands,” Slendorn said. “He said there was no perceived difference in trainers between Slendorn and Kelvin Harrison.”

Slendorn, has his horses in the same stable/barn area at Magical Acres, Chesterville, NJ as Kelvin Harrison, a well-known trainer who is currently fighting (along with seven other trainers) with the New Jersey Racing Commission over positive tests back in 2020 and is supposedly under suspension for 30 days starting January 11, 2024.

“I’m being penalized because of my friendship with Kelvin Harrison,” Slendorn added. “Who is like all the affected trainers, innocent.”

Slendorn, 59, is a semi-retired iron worker, who did work with Harrison back in the 1980’s as an owner and started to earn his driver’s license. He became amateur driver, donating his 5% driver commission to charity.

In 2023, Slendorn had his breakout season, winning 26 races and earning more than $242,000 in purses with the horses he drove, of which $12,100 went to charity.

“I’ve loved and been involved in harness racing for most of my life,” Slendorn added. “Now that my kids have finished college, I can spend more time racing.”

“I’ve never understood as an owner,” Slendorn said, “how they can blanket cover and perceive two people that work in the same barn area as one trainer. They know about the case with Kelvin, and they know it is bogus, yet they come right after me and stop me from racing my horses that I not only own and drive but am also training.

“I even called Freehold Raceway. I told them what happened with the Meadowlands, and they said that’s not how we run things here. We don’t agree what happened with Kelvin either and you are welcome to come and race here.”

“We have treated Jim “Slendron” the same as we have any other trainer in this situation,” explained Brice Cote. “We are well aware of the situation with Kelvin Harrison and the other trainers with their suspensions, and we do not agree with what is happening to them. Regardless, our policy is that when a trainer is suspended and they transfer their horses to a “second trainer type” in the same barn to race them, that trainer will not be allowed to enter them.

“They can go and race someplace else,” Cote added. “We have no problem with that. Jim just can’t be the trainer of record and enter these horses at the Meadowlands at this time, but another trainer can race them, as long as they are transferred to another stable, they can race, like everyone else in this situation was allowed too.”

All that Jim Slendorn can do now is race elsewhere for the next month until Harrison’s suspension is finished. He doesn’t understand it just as many other horsemen do not either.

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink