The “pros” and “cons” of speed….mostly “cons”

I had a good, long conversation with an old-time horseman the other day.

He came from an era where drivers were trainers, carrying stopwatches in races trying to put something over on the competition by trying to get to the half in 1:03 by “clocking” in at the three-eighths pole in :47 and a piece.

They were the in the “strategy” era of the sport and the greatest of the great were great strategists.

Of course, Dancer and Haughton were on the lists…and Herve and Jiggling’ Joe…Buddy and Bob Farrington, Chappie and the Red Man, Delvin and Curly, Chris Boring and Del Insko…Gene Riegle, Bill Popfinger, Dick Buxton, Frank Ervin…Dwayne Pletcher and Billy Shuter…Sholty and Jim Dennis, Hodgins…Benny The Whip…Beissinger and Earle Avery…Louie Rapone…

Some you’ve probably never heard of…or forgotten long ago…Buck Minniear, Buck Waugh, Bucky Day, Bob Williams, Joe Hennessey (yes, Wally’s dad), Tom Graham, Edgar Leonard, Colonel Kidwell, Joe Marsh, Jr., Bob Seabrook…hundreds more…literally…

These guys really knew the entire spectrum of the training rainbow and, when they got in the bike, knew what to do and how to do it.

They sat straight up in the bike, stopwatch in hand, glancing down every few seconds…trying to get to the winner’s circle for their owners and the poor fella with $2 on a horse’s nose.

The win price was the same whether the mile was in 2:00 or 2:05 3/5…and there were very few 2:00 miles back then.

I remember one night some years back at PPk in the paddock, one trainer, unable to drive in his later years, summoned veteran Wally Hennessey to drive every week.

When Wally went in the paddock, he noticed, “Hey, looks like the hobbles are a half inch longer this week!”

WOW!

It was an era where the stands were packed on Friday and Saturday nights, pretty full the rest of the week and, in some areas, where racing was six or seven months a year with members of the BDHC (Broken Down Horseplayers Club) clamoring for action as the springtime finally won over the cold winter.

Then again, there was Pompano Park in the winter with their great harness racing featuring many of the greatest…and still more across the road at the training center where future champions learned their trade from bit and bridle to a training mile a few months later in, hooray, 2:20.

This old timer is of the opinion that speed has not helped our sport but, on the contrary, has done nothing but hurt us to the point where the stands are empty, participation has waned dramatically, as has the desire or affordability of owning a trotter or pacer these days.

“The sport has gone speed crazy these days,” he laments, “not realizing the damage it has caused over the past 20 or 30 years.

“New equipment, medications, chemistry and greed have killed us…well, maybe not killed us completely, but no one can deny that we are on life support.

“The few that are reaping the huge rewards could care less…the handful of drivers making the big bucks as catch drivers could care less.

“But, where you compare the number of drivers and trainers making a decent living in the sport versus the one who aren’t, the percentage has got to be 20-80…and you can guess who is in the 80% bracket.”

As far as the speed parade goes, this old timer has some stark warnings about that, as well.

“The sport would be just as exciting today with the 2:00 mile still being the standard of excellence.

“A 6 to 1 shot would still pay $14.00 whether the clock showed 2:00, instead of 1:49.2…guaranteed.

“Let me tell you a story about a real good trainer-driver back in the ’60’s.

“I won’t name him because it would be too embarrassing but the old timers, especially on the east and west coasts. will know who I am talking about.

“He used to be a truck driver…a long-distance driver with one of those big rigs.

“He had quite a sense of humor and had a big scar on the side of his face. I asked him how he got the scar and he said, ‘Well, when I was on the road and saw someone down the road on the side, I would lean down to the right so it looked like nobody was driving the rig. I would drive by the light poles looking up and never crashed…except once! That’s how I got the scar!’

“I laughed about it and didn’t give it much thought until a few years ago when I started seeing drivers leaning way back in the bike…I mean WAY back!

“I know they couldn’t see a damn thing in front of them and relied on the horse to do the sightseeing for them.

“I thought, ‘this is a tragedy waiting to happen.’ And, with the speed today, it is…every single race.

“The thoroughbred industry hasn’t seen this speed explosion and, while it is hurting them in some instances with these deaths on the track, the speed isn’t the thing to blame. Hell, they’d be going miles in 1:20, instead of 1:35 or 1:36.

“Yes, they do have problems as shown at Churchill and other tracks, but it’s not the speed, I don’t think.”

“I think we were much better off and safer when we had driver-trainers, and I certainly would not permit these guys leaning back because they think it’s more aero-dynamic with less friction.”

There may be valid points in these “old-timer” arguments, but it may be too late to turn the clock back.

Already today, a 1:52 pacer may be entered in a “5” or “6” claimer and the speed shown by our two-year-olds this year is, quite simply, unimaginable to many of us old-timers.

Those of us who grew up with the 2:10 two-year-old list are in disbelief that there are six juvenile pacers with marks UNDER 1:50—the fastest being the filly MY GIRL EJ (Sweet Lou) at 1:49.2.

The others are Captain Albano (Captaintreacherous), 1:49.2, Captains Quarters (Captaintreacherous), 1:49.3, the filly Pass Line (All Bets Off), 1:49.3, another filly Geocentric (Sweet Lou), 1:49.3 and Newsroom (Always B Miki), 1:49.4. Legendary Hanover (Huntsville) is right at 1:50.

A total of 23 more are at, or below, 1:51 and, to be on the top 50 list, one has to be a couple of ticks below 1:52.

We even have trotters that have been UNDER 1:52—TWO-YEAR-OLDS. Of course, the magic rivalry between Karl (Tactical Landing), 1:51.2, and T C I (Cantab Hall), 1:51.4 has yet to be determined by some and the distance between them is about a “ns” at this time.

The old-timer remembers, fondly, the days of when a 2:05 trotter was a good breadwinner.”

“He lamented, “I go back to the days when Ayres went 2:00 and a piece (2:00.1) to set the world record for a two-year-old on a half mile track and one of Harry Pownall’s trotters shook up the world with a big Time Trial of (1):58 and a piece. (Matastar, T1:58.3)

“We’ve substituted durability for speed and there’s only many of these miles a horse can take. Mark my world, we will be seeing smaller fields and a shrinkage of horses racing as time goes by. No more Seatrains!”

To be in the top 50 (plus ties) this year, a two-year-old trotter must be UNDER 1:55.

That list, incidentally, shows earnings on that top 50 list ranging from #1,081,370—T C I—down to zero, in the case of Call Option (Greenshoe).

Turning back to the pacers for a fifth-of-a-second, earnings in the top 50 list range from the filly Geocentric at $536,751 down to the gelding Ridin The Seaside (Downbytheseaside) at 1:51.1.

Yes, “times” have changes and the future focus on the grand sport of standardbred racing just might be safety, instead of speed…but, in these eyes, it will never happen.

by John Berry, for Harnesslink