Derick Giwner

I bet you did not know that I used to call harness races? From 1997 to 2004, I called races at Goshen Historic Track, Monticello Raceway, and the entire 1999 season at Bangor Raceway in Maine.

I was recently involved in a conversation about stakes races. The debate was over classification of major races. Thoroughbreds, of course, use a Graded system with three grades (I, II, III) to denote the most important events of the year. In the harness world, we leave fans and newcomers the exciting freedom of choice – have fun and guess which races are the most important.

After hearing some initial feedback on our past performance pricing options, we jumped into action with new plans designed for those who enjoy playing harness racing on a daily basis. No one likes limits, so we have eliminated them. As of Friday we began offering extended unlimited plans for our Harness Eye and Daily Harness Program past performances. Both flavors of the PPs can now be purchased on a monthly, quarterly, half-year, or annual basis.

There is a $27,470 Pick 5 carryover commencing in race 1 and a $15,177 Pick 6 carryover starting with race 4 at the Meadowlands on Thursday night. The pool for the Pick 5 is expected to top $100,000. It is worth noting that a good deal of rain is expected to cover the tri-state area by late afternoon Thursday. So check for scratches and try to get a glimpse of how the wind is blowing before you put in your ticket. Let’s dig into the Pick 5 with my ticket. Race 1 – 1, 2, 5, 8, 9

I am fresh off a trip to Orlando to attend the United States Harness Writers Dan Patch Awards banquet. Well, I’m actually sitting in the airport in Orlando as I write this . . . details. San Pail won Trotter and Horse of the Year, while Foiled Again took home Pacer of the Year honors. The festivities ran quite long and attendance was down from 2010, but all in all it was a good night. I even came away with a Tim Tetrick bobblehead in the nightly raffle.