Harness: Charity, Merriman and Foiled Again

A few thoughts on this and that to start the year--

I am not sure how tax reform affected your charitable giving, but the charity that I run saw a huge negative impact. If you did not give to an equine-based charity in 2018, please consider doing it in 2019. I have (in the past) tried to donate 10% of my gambling profits to an equine charity. I have not always succeeded, but that has always been the goal. Harness racing has provided a number of pleasures and benefits to me throughout my life -- as a trainer, an owner, a publicist and even now as a free-lancer (we will leave amateur driving out of the equation for now) and I have always tried to give back. There are so many great organizations out there – Harness Horse Youth Foundation, Standardbred Retirement Fund, The Harness Racing Museum, New Vocations – to name just a few that I am sure you can find someone to donate to this year. Make it a goal and help our sport!

What a thrill it was to see Aaron Merriman named Driver of the Year. I have written about the “Hardest Working Man in Harness Racing,” in this space previously, but his remarkable numbers, especially over the past two years, winning over 1,000 races in each, are hard to comprehend. As I write this he is just 19 wins shy of the 11,000 career mark, which means that by the time you read this, he will probably have exceeded that plateau. As a Midwesterner, I was especially pleased to see a guy who has not necessarily broken through at the major stakes level get credit for simply being very, very good, day in and day out for a long period of time, rather than picking based on a few major wins or a permanent move “out East.” Aaron has proven he can compete with the best in limited opportunity in the major stakes, but he has chosen to keep up his breakneck pace in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. In the past, when injured, Merriman has worked special event Northfield broadcasts, providing analysis that neither Dave Bianconi nor I could provide. He did not have to. He just did. Now that he is 40, maybe he will slow down and focus on winning fewer big races. No. I don’t think he will. But still, what remarkable numbers from a guy who simply aspired to be a postman when he was younger.

Speaking of the voting, while I did not have every category winner on my ballot, I think the USHWA voters generally got it right this year. You can maybe quibble here or there, but it is the first time in a long time where I looked at the entire list of winners and did not say “Huh?” to at least one of them.

If the great Alan Kirschenbaum was still with us, the Foiled Again story would already have been optioned to a major studio. I hope somebody has the chutzpah to put it together and get this story sold. Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Stripes, Draft Day) would be the perfect director for this project. He could capture the humanity (equinity?) of the story, while telling it with humor. Vince Vaughn would be a perfect Ronnie Burke (or if there are budget constraints, perhaps John Corbett?). If we really focused on his 14-year-old celebration season, we might be able to get his actual drivers to play themselves, although a cameo by Jack Black as a driver would be fun. Leo DiCaprio could play co-owner Mark Weaver, with Roger Huston as himself. Foiled Again would be played by a series of horses as he grew up, but if he does not play his 14-year-old self, well, that would be a deal-breaker.

It’s fun to speculate, but the Foiled Again story may well be one of the greatest ever in harness racing history and it needs to be told. If Rambling Willie is the Horse That God Loved and Bret Hanover was Big Bum, certainly this story is compelling. And all the credit goes to his connections for this triumphant tour. Foiled Again earned $77,110 in 2018 while racing at 18 tracks in 28 starts. Those 18 tracks were located in numerous states, including a few trips to Ontario. My guess is that the Burkes, the Kourys and Weaver Bruscemi LLC (am I the only one who thinks that sounds like the name of a law firm, not a horse owner? Sued by an enemy? Call Weaver Bruscemi) spent as much, if not more than that on the horse. They deserve all the credit in the world for creating a great publicity situation for harness racing, indeed one that may never be equaled. My hat is off to them.

That’s it for this month. While we can no longer “go cash,” on Foiled Again, I hope you cash far more winners in 2019 than you did in 2018. See you next month.