Harness: The antiquated system of elimination races

In the 1980's, the million-dollar babies night at The Meadowlands was one of the biggest programs of the year for the sport of harness racing. In fact, in 1986 Pompano Park simulcasted three races from The Meadowlands during that historic racing card and it was such a big deal that the story made the Sun Sentinel newspaper (https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1986-07-25-8602130703-story.html).

The week prior to the night that featured races like the Woodrow Wilson and Peter Haughton Memorial, included an abundance of elimination races. Some years you had to finish in the top-two in your elimination to make the final. In other instances, only a win guaranteed you a spot. Now elimination races are at times, for lack of a better word, comical. We have seen instances where a single elimination race has been used to eliminate just one or two horses. It is clearly not what was envisioned when an elimination format was implemented in the sport of harness racing. Thus, it is an antiquated process.

We can take things a step further though. Elimination races actually cap the potential for horses racing more often. That sounds backwards, doesn't it? After all, eliminations add races to a horse's past performance line. Historically, this is true. Lately, it is not. Many races with an elimination format don't require them because less than the requisite number of horses to trigger eliminations are entered. In some instances, one or two horses (usually the leaders of the division) earn byes and a single elimination race is used.

For years we have seen champion thoroughbred horses competing in fewer and fewer races, and unfortunately that trend is becoming worrisome in standardbred racing as well. One way to help reverse that trend is the removal of most elimination races. Instead, move to a format where the Top 9, 10 or 11 horses qualify for the race based on the earnings for that specific year, and if you enter but do not qualify, you can race in a consolation race. This will force trainers to race their horses more, amassing earnings that will be needed to qualify for races throughout the year.

I am not saying this should be done across the board. I am not saying to remove eliminations for The Hambletonian or Little Brown Jug. But in most instances, there is just a better way to approach how we card our stakes races.

In addition, this system puts a premium on competing in and winning big races while also rewarding horses that race more often.

I love The Meadowlands Pace. It is one of my favorite events in all of horse racing. But, when taking its usual position on the calendar, in the middle of July after races like the North America Cup, The Max Hempt Memorial and several sire stakes events, do we really need a 10 horse elimination to eliminate one horse?

We used to have champion 3-year-old pacers heading back to the racetrack in late winter, maybe getting some seasoning in The Meadowlands' many winter or spring series. Others would target a race like the New Jersey Classic or the Berry's Creek. Now we see horses entering the North America Cup off one or two starts. It's just not the same.

Eliminations were great where you had to go all-out to guarantee your spot in the Final. Every driver and trainer would do everything they can to win and earn a spot in the Final. That's just not the case anymore and frankly, can you blame them?

That brings forth another reason why we should look to improve the system of how we reach the final fields in our stakes races; the bettors. If you are racing for $700,000 in one week and you are competing in a 10-horse field in which you have to beat one or two horses to qualify for that race, are you really going 100%? Should we, as bettors, expect the connections of the horses to be going all-out to win in a spot like that when there is so much on the line the following week?

We can incentivize horses that win eliminations with post positions, but that isn't what it was once cracked up to be either. For example, the winners of the Hambletonian eliminations go into a random draw for posts one through five. The irony there is that statistically the best post position at The Meadowlands is post position six, while post one is statistically only better than 9 and 10. So, The Hambletonian elimination winner can draw into the third-worst post, but not the best. Not much of an incentive to win your elimination, is it?

It should come as no surprise that like many other topics, The Meadowlands has been an industry leader. While The Meadowlands Pace and Hambletonian continue to contest eliminations, outside of 2-year-old races, you will be hard-pressed to find another stake race with an elimination format at The Big M. The TVG Series is a well-executed program that awards points throughout the year for competing in specific races with the hopes of qualifying for the TVG Free For All Pacing and Trotting Championships.

Notably, The Meadowlands has even altered the format for some of their freshman stakes this year, the Fall Final Four. Those races will now reward the 11 highest 2020 money winners that are declared with a place in the final. The Meadowlands cited two reasons for the change. First was how late in the year the races will be taking place and the second reason was that amongst the four races, only the Three Diamonds required eliminations in 2019. I would venture to guess this format remains in place moving forward.

I write this column on the doorstep of The Breeders Crown Eliminations. While I know some will take issue with my points here, I will say The Breeders Crown is a different situation. This year, there are 17 eliminations, with 161 horses entered. Only the older horses do not require eliminations, which has become routine and is part of the reason stakes for older horses should not require eliminations at all.
I recognize that there is no perfect solution here. But there are a variety of avenues the industry could travel down in changing how we plan our stakes races. Moving on from an elimination format will reward horses that race more often and will be a welcome change for the bettors.