Harness: Building on 2019 momentum
Harness racing is seeing its arrow pointed upward in many facets of the industry. Purses continue to soar thanks to revenue from casino gaming. New Jersey, perhaps, has the greatest momentum as they are receiving funds from legislation to help their ailing purses for the first time in a decade. In addition, sports betting in New Jersey rivals Las Vegas in terms of wagering dollars and revenue produced, and that contributes to New Jersey’s purses as well. But perhaps the biggest headline of all came across harness racing’s front page one month ago and it continued this week.
The Lexington Selected Yearling Sale sported not just one, but two seven-figure yearlings for the first time in the history of Standardbred sales. Naturally, this, along with other factors, led to record results. Gross sales for Lexington were $46.48 Million and the average yearling sold for just under $61,000. Both of those figures marked the highest in the sale’s history. The gross-sale figure was an increase of $6.7 Million from 2018 and the average yearling price was a 7.7 percent increase over last year.
Fast forward to this week and the Standardbred Horse Sale at Harrisburg has picked up right where the Lexington sale left off. While there may not be any million-dollar yearlings in Harrisburg, the results through the first two days are excellent across the board. Through the first two sessions of the sale, 468 horses have sold for a total of $32.65 Million. That figure marks a 16.6 percent increase from the previous year, despite five fewer horses being offered during the first two sessions. The average purchase price of $69,769 is a near 18-percent increase from last year’s average of $59,182.
Beyond the sales, through Tuesday, November 5th, handle on harness racing in the United States reached $1.233 Billion, a $41.3 Million increase over 2018 to this point despite 51 fewer race days. The industry’s premier racetrack, The Meadowlands, is responsible for $26.8 Million of that increase and are averaging handle increases of more than $500,000 per card to date in 2019. While it is great to see The Meadowlands doing so well, it is equally gratifying to note that beyond The Meadowlands there is nearly $15 Million more being wagered on harness racing this year. In addition, the Breeders Crown produced a Canadian-record total handle of $6.6 Million for the two-night event.
If I may be permitted a cliché, harness racing must strike while the iron is hot. Greyhound racing is nearly extinct and thoroughbred racing is facing a public relations nightmare. So, I ask the powers-that-be in harness racing, what’s next? What can be done to build on the momentum of 2019?
A couple of years ago, I presented an idea to some important figures in harness racing that I would like to float out there again. The era of cable-TV has come and gone. The modern world is a world that revolves around digital media and thus, digital (online) streaming. According to Nielsen, at the end of 2010 there were 105 Million households subscribed to Pay-TV (cable television). By the end of 2018 that number was 89 Million according to the independent research firm MoffetNathanson. DirectTV and Dish lost 2.4 Million subscribers or 7.5% of their total business in 2018, after losing 1.6 Million in 2017.
MoffetNathanson anticipates a 4-percent year-over-year decline in households with traditional cable subscriptions over the next five years, which means by 2023 there will be 72 million households who remain loyal to cable television. Over a 13-year period, over 31 percent of households in this country will have canceled their traditional cable-television service.
What does this mean for harness racing? It’s time to go digital. Harness racing would be well-served to partner with an entity that can build and support an application that streams harness races on mobile devices, smart TV’s, Hulu, Amazon Fire, etc. As it stands now, the only way to stream races is with an advance-deposit wagering account, or for select racetracks, through their website. It is time to take the next step. Beyond the development, the technology is not very expensive to support and if each standardbred racetrack committed a small amount of money to support such an application, this can become a reality rather quickly.
Much like you can go to apps like NBC Sports, Fox Sports, etc., and stream live and historical content, an app for harness racing can supply the same experience to its users. This is the next technological step for the industry and much like high-definition has become a must-have feature of any racetrack, there will be a time in the not-so-distant future when an application that I am describing will be a must-have feature as well. This time, harness racing should get ahead of the curve and keep the momentum going.
Lastly, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Roger Huston on an extraordinary career as the track announcer at The Meadows for the last four decades. I met Roger for the first time as a young, wet-behind-the-ears kid that was calling the races on Friday and Saturday at Tioga Downs. Roger would come in on Sunday to call the races and I would handicap the card on the television broadcast. Despite being a know-nothing guy in my early twenties, Roger always treated me as a professional and with respect, which I greatly appreciated. In addition, Roger was a mentor to Sam McKee, who of course, was a mentor to me, and while I moved away from announcing races as I got older, Roger was one of the first people in racing that I worked with and that I learned a great deal from. Best of luck on this next chapter, Roger. I wish you nothing but the best.