Not THAT way…PART TWO

As you can imagine, it didn’t take long for comments—both pro and con—to arrive at my “front door” after the interview with harness racing Hall of Famer John Campbell…about 1:52 3/5 or so.

The “pros” outnumbered the “cons” by a wide margin and, to those that provided comments saying, “it’s too late” or “it’ll never happen” or “it’ll never work,” I am hoping the optimists outweigh the pessimists so we can have a future for our sport.

Over the last months, when we at Harnesslink have published ideas and possible solutions to move forward, not one single “naysayer” responded with any suggestions of their own after criticizing those that, at least, made suggestions.

But, after the “J. C.” Interview, that changed a “bit.”

From R.P.S. of Orland Park, Illinois came this response.

“I applaud Mr. Campbell’s interview and his view on needing a Commissioner. But the thing I thought was the ‘key’ was that he didn’t forget about the heart and soul of the harness racing—the fan.

“With harness racing just about dead in Illinois these days, we rely on simulcasting and our phones to play a game we have loved for, in my case, 50 years.”

“Even when Hawthorne is opened for its few racing days, I’ll play by telephone since I am up in years and don’t want to travel even a half hour to travel.

“Just as everything else is changing at breakneck speed (Editor’s note: while harness racing is continuing at a snail’s pace), harness racing has a great opportunity to do some great things.

“First, ask the question, ‘who runs your business? Is it the track management or the fans?”

“You can’t let outsiders run your business…and what I mean by that is that the track should set up a post time and GO! No drag. Drag is unnecessary.

“If I go to a store and get there even a minute late, it’s TOO late!. They are CLOSED! From banks to grocery stores…They are closed when they CLOSE!

“Drag does no good and plenty of bad.

“The bettors will get their bets in no matter the post…you could have five minutes between races and they would get their bets in. I know because I am a bettor myself!

“Believe me, it won’t hurt handle and it will probably help handle because people my age don’t, won’t and can’t stay up until 10:45 to bet Northfield or Meadowlands or Yonkers or any track east where it’s already close to midnight. Cal-Expo might be a play because they are two hours earlier for me.

“Help the folks everywhere—not just the midwest—by shaving 5,6,7,8 minutes off post times.

“It might now seem like a lot to ask but, say, 12 minutes race-to-race would cut TWO OR THREE HOURS off of a program for the exact same handle. Bettors are bettors and, if post time is firm at a certain time, they will get their bet in…I’m a bettor, I know!”

Going a stride further and being a bit less extreme, if a track has “only” 10 or 12 races and shaves only five minutes per race, it’s still a time saver equalling close to an hour.

R.P.S. has some very valid points and, as an afterthought, would save the track three hours of hourly wages, as well.

From Gary A. In Pompano Beach…”I’ve been a player for 40 years and I can tell you something you already know…there are no longer any long lines at the windows at any racetrack. Simulcasting and phones and lap tops took care of that.

“Slot players and poker players are getting their kicks every few seconds and we have taken the boring route with 25 minutes between races.”

Floridian Jerry W. challenged my thinking on my “zero” takeout idea for those on-track playing the races and said he doesn’t understand how that could possibly work.

My answer is this…Since as much as 97% of wagering is off track, the amount of on-track wagering is peanuts so why not reward those folks a bit.

There used to be two sets of payoffs in New York for OTB patrons.

Wouldn’t it pay for casinos/racinos to offer “no-takeout” payoffs for on-track players. An $8.00 win payoff would be $10.00 on track. Even better, a $750.00 trifecta payoff would be around $1,000.00 on track—well worth the effort to get to a racetrack for a night out.

They sure give away enough free slot play—sometimes in the hundreds of dollars to the “whales.”

Zero takeout could be considered “free play,” as well.

Casinos could even tie it into free slot play and, quite possibly, convert some of that to casino participation.

Tim Bojarski, who has played “every instrument in the orchestra” over the past 40 years or so in our sport, suggested a trio of ideas to help improve harness racing, the first one making racing a bit more strategic and interesting by giving an option to those drawing the seven and/or eight post to start from the second tier—the seven being from back of the “one” horse and the eight beginning from the “two” post. (Of course, if a single horse starts from the second tier, it can start from anywhere in that tier.)

Tim also wants to level the playing field for horses and their owners, as well, offering this suggestion…”Since race secretaries frequently assign post positions in certain races, consideration should be given to the possibility of horses having drawn posts five through eight one week will draw posts one to four the next start on a half mile track.”

Of course, the opposite would be true of course with horses drawing posts one through four one week must draw posts five through eight the following week.

Tim also would eliminate the morning line in racing programs.

Racing Secretary Joe Zambito has chimed in with the necessity of there being one set of rules nationwide, for—and including—including pylon violations, whipping violations and drug suspensions.

“There’s just too much wiggle room these day,” Joe Z states.

Longtime horseman Peter Blood, one of the most articulate participants in harness racing for over a half century, has seen it all as a trainer, driver, owner, breeder and judge.

He recently lamented, “Our sport has to catch up to today’s world—not the world of, even, 20 or 30 years ago.

“It’s not an easy task but the only thing that we’ve done is create speed—but only on the racetrack.

“I’ve even been affected a bit and having a tough time keeping up with the times, myself.

“I’ve driven winners in 2:10 and been beat in 1:48, so it’s not an easy task to keep up with the times.

“I have had some really great horses recently that have impeccable blood lines and have trouble getting 10 great mares to breed to him. That’s how tough the competition is in this day and age.

“Just take a look at what happened during other sport’s season…in baseball, football and basketball, they have a regular season, then the playoffs and, finally, the BIG day.

“From the Super Bowl, which had storylines and playoff games leading up to that big game—the same is true for the baseball World Series the NBA Finals and even the month long March Madness for college hoops. These are things that keep the interest of the fans for a long, long time…and that’s the secret for their huge success.

“Just look at the prop bet money put into these sports…and harness racing is all about BETTING!

“Every racetrack can build on a driver’s ‘shootout’ whereby the top, say, eight drivers compete in a seven week event…you might even have two groups of eight, one for drivers over 40 (years-old)) and another for under 40 with the top one from each group in our own SUPER BOWL or WORLD SERIES of drivers.

“There could be seven weeks of competition WITH SPORTS BETTING on the outcome with weekly updates.

“We mentioned March Madness, how about Meadowlands Madness, or Caesar’s Madness at Scioto Downs or Red Mile Madness in Lexington or Harrah’s Hoosier Park Madness…the list of possibilities is endless.”

“I think we could grab some headlines for our industry and get some fan interest…and, possibly more important, some prop bet interest!

“And, during the competition, have drawings on-track—no USTA members—to own a piece of a horse for that night with a ‘share the purse’ drawing.

“John Campbell, in his excellent interview, said it’s important to show legislators the importance of interest in harness racing. This would help accomplish that!

“We can’t just sit back and let the world revolve around us…WE have to get in the ballgame and here are a couple of ways!

“We might even get a headline or two!”

Speaking of headlines, the recent one about a four-team parlay on four basketball teams caught this Harnesslink eye with lines of -275, +105, -250 and +105 which was calculated at +54,215.

It hit with a payoff of $416,970.35…and got the headlines!!!!!!

We need some of those same headlines for harness racing!!!

Finally, as one other horseman said, “The status quo in our sport reminds me of Congress—the inability to recognize change and keep up with it. Maybe it’s time for cleaning house at the top.

“To me, it’s amazing that the folks that lead our country—or supposed to lead—can’t grab hands and walk forward, instead of having a tug of war and go nowhere.

“We have meetings and more meetings and get little done to keep up with the times—except on the racetrack. It doesn’t matter to me anymore at 65. I just hope it’s not too late what I call the new ‘Beckwith generation!’”

Future Mane Attraction columns will have a lot more to say on the future of our sport and, if you have any POSITIVE suggestions, send them along.

Hopefully, it’s not too late!

May The Horse Be With You!

To read Part 1 of the column, click here.

by John Berry, for Harnesslink