Harness: Could change be in the cards for the Tri-State harness scene?

There was a racing secretaries meeting last weekend to discuss stakes schedules for 2019. It’s an informal gathering for the purpose of assuring as many stakeholders as possible that their top events won’t run over the same weekends as others.

To me, 2019 will stand for a lot more than where stakes races can be placed. Most notably there could be a tidal shift in the making in the metropolitan New York area. With a potential purse subsidy in New Jersey combined with $1 million in revenue from sports wagering, the purse structure at The Meadowlands, along with expanded racing dates, could pave the way for a resurgence in handle. While The Meadowlands has been mostly downhill over the past few years with its dates colliding directly with tracks more suitable to race entire stables, a shockwave could be in the making. Should a subsidy make its way out of Trenton, it could lead to a different type of condition sheet at The Meadowlands, one more in line with the track’s lauded past and quite different from the cards parsed together as a last resort.

Of course, just adding purse money and continuing a two-night a week program may be what some people are thinking will make the difference, but there’s an awful lot of open dates during the winter that could be effective in luring horse owners, trainers and definitely drivers to compete. Horse owner Larry Karr speculated on Twitter the other day that he’d like to see Harrah’s Philadelphia and The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono stretch their racing dates out over 12 months as opposed to just eight or nine. While that seems unlikely to happen anytime soon, Karr’s wish could come true if The Meadowlands were to have at least 4 days of racing per week during the winter with purses high enough to lure back vacationing horsemen.

While many things need to happen first before The Meadowlands management can put in a new game plan, the same cannot be said for Yonkers Raceway. Despite advancing the Director of Racing title on Cammie Haughton earlier this year, the track’s racing programs have become just as stale as they were prior to the passing lane being closed for good. Interested eyeballs that helped bring out more fan and betting interest has faded over time, with the exception of some individual race handles that seem “cartel-inspired” by the disparity in size.

Now as we approach the final month of 2018, there are warning signs that the great “French” commingling experiment may not survive into the next year. Those Sunday programs, while not very effective at drawing out American blood to wager, were the track’s high-water marks when it came to overall handle figures.

With new ownership on the horizon for the Empire City Casino and its racing operation, there appears to be imminent danger that suggests handle could plummet radically. That’s not something any new owner would like to see and it could put added pressure on the horsemen going forward when a new contract will need to be signed.

Complacency is a bad thing for any business, but racing has managed to weather many storms despite the status quo. Yet there’s a feeling 2019 is going to have to be different, otherwise some of the faces that have been loyal to one family may not survive the next.

If there’s one element of the Yonkers condition sheet that continues to open the door for odds-on choices it is class drops. Most notably double class drops. There’s another area that seriously needs major modification if bettors and horsemen are ever going to coexist. The non-winners of two through eight classes need to be reevaluated in a major way. Over time they have become a paradise of sorts for the horsemen who benefit not from winning but from losing. While we all understand that horsemen and more specifically owners need a place where they can recoup their initial investment, there should be opportunity but not guarantee.

While I think the non-winner’s classes are great and that they tend to fill regularly, it would seem there’s no reason these races couldn’t go with nine or 10 horses every week. The time has come where incentivizing appearance fees have proven to be valueless to bettors and advantageous to horse owners. That is not the kind of balance to induce more wagering.

Clearly more effort must be made to revamp the condition sheet at Yonkers to limit the supply of odds-on horses as best as possible. Shutting down the passing lane caused some early activity, but for drivers to compete at a high level the fields either must be expanded or the rewards for finishing fourth or fifth must be reduced. It’s obvious to many wagering on the Yonkers product that a lot of horses that draw outside are more inclined to race easily and look for a drop than compete. The rewards of not trying to horsemen are far too great under those circumstances. I have expressed this opinion before and I will offer it again. Please don’t allow horses that make no attempt to improve their position early in a race the ability to be rewarded with a drop or double-drop in class. It can be done if only a single set of eyeballs gave it attention.

It would seem the perfect time for horsemen to start offering the same kind of largesse they receive to the betting public. While lower takeout can be an inducement, why not offer free bets to those with losing tickets. Maybe not to the player whose horse finished last, but maybe those that finished second or third. Maybe free play to those who finish 1-2-4 in triples or 1-3 in exactas. I wouldn’t mind seeing players refunded at 50 percent for horses that break stride, before or during the race as long as that money must go back into the handle in the very next race.

Here’s hoping 2019 is anything but status quo.