Harness: Nothing more inspiring than youthful exuberance

As I close in on my 60th birthday, I tend to be one of those guys that has become cynical and doesn’t usually see the glass as half-full. It’s not a trait that I particularly like about myself. But my recent trip to the Hambletonian was a breath of fresh air and reminded me of the many things that I still love about the harness racing game after being around it as a fan, bettor, writer, and owner for close to six decades.

At the top of the list are the horses and the people. The best qualities of both were exemplified on Wednesday morning (July 31). Each year during Hambletonian week, my son “Ace” and I volunteer as advisors as part of the United States Harness Writers Association’s Clyde Hirt Journalism Workshop. We take college students that know nothing about harness racing and teach them how to write stories about the sport. The week culminates with them each writing Hambletonian recaps to deadline, which were published in The Boston Globe, The Trentonian and The Asbury Park Press this year.

On Wednesday morning, first on the Hirt students’ agenda was a visit to Goshen Historic Track and a guided tour of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame and Museum. What we don’t tell them is what awaits them there: a trip behind a racehorse in a two-seated jog cart with a professional trainer.

One of this year’s eager students, Melly, showed some ingenuity and researched previous workshops. At dinner on Tuesday night, she asked: “will we be jogging horses?” So, the usual surprise was gone but the thrill wouldn’t be. Typically, Ray Schnittker graciously invites us into his barn and takes the students out in the two-seater. This year, he was racing several horses in New York Sires Stakes that day at Batavia and had to leave at 10 a.m., so workshop co-chair Debbie Little hooked us up with D.R. Ackerman and his wife, Angelika.

If you are going to introduce four young media students to the sport, what better way than to immediately get them sitting behind one? Melly was first up, and she initially was holding on to the back of the cart as if she was on an amusement park ride. She let out a bit of a nervous whoop as they picked up speed. It was so cool to see her holding the lines by the third of four half-mile laps and she couldn’t help but beam a huge smile.

The remaining three Hirt students, Nynoshka, Joann and Habiba had similar experiences before taking a guided tour of the spectacular Harness Racing Hall of Fame and Museum. The annual visit is always a highlight for me as an advisor because the track just seeps history. I haven’t been there yet to experience live racing, so this year I decided to sit in the grandstand and imagine how great it would be. I walked to the very top, sat, and watched horses from several barns train. It was cathartic for me, sitting in the breeze with the sounds of birds chirping and rhythmic hoofbeats of training Standardbreds below me. This has to be one of the best venues in harness racing, I thought as I soaked it all in for the better part of an hour.

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One of the horses that the students got to jog, 3-year-old Tactical Landing gelding Mr Grant, was in-to-go in the Muscle Hill on Hambletonian eve and was a closing 5th in that stake, beaten five lengths by Schnittker’s Victor Lazlo, who likely was also out there training over the Goshen track that Wednesday morning. When the jogging was done, I thanked D.R. and pulled some money out of my pocket to buy him and his wife lunch. Despite repeated offers, they were having none of it. They absolutely would not take anything despite being so generous with their time and horses. I was disappointed but unsurprised at the same time. People like them are not uncommon in this industry, and it’s one of the reasons why I still love the sport.

I was reminded repeatedly on the five-day trip just how many great people are in the sport on every level. Many are unsung but shine in their roles. Take Ed Angell, for example. He is the Track Superintendent at Yonkers and he ended up being critical to our Hirt Workshop group on our Thursday night excursion to Yonkers. Yonkers announcer and Hirt Advisor Edison Hatter arranged a full evening for the students. First were starting gate rides two at a time. This required all of us to be delivered from the paddock to the track and back at certain points and some assistance from Angell and his crew.

While it might seem like a simple, mundane task, it was the way that Angell treated all of us that left a very positive impression with me. He couldn’t have been nicer, always asking: “do you need anything else?” He seemed genuinely happy that we brought the four young students to experience harness racing at the Hilltop half-mile oval. Angell was also a facilitator of the highlight of the night for the four students when he arranged for them to jump in the winner’s circle with Yannick Gingras.

As Gingras, for whom the students had already built a strong affinity, pulled into the winner’s circle with 4-year-old Justice Hall gelding Stormont Divide, one of our students entered from trackside to head for the vehicles to transport us to the backside. Angell motioned to Gingras, who said to invite them all out, and the four young ladies excitedly scurried to get in the picture. A simple act of kindness from Angell and Gingras deepened their fandom of the Hall of Fame driver.

Sticking with Gingras, I have only had a few short interactions with him, but he has always been a pleasure to chat with and he has always oozed class. More on him later.

Let’s go back to Hatter, one guy that people shouldn’t use the old “are you a rocket scientist?” joke on, because he really is one, working for NASA. He also is Yonkers’ full-time announcer, and he did a terrific job organizing the night, which also included a visit to his booth to watch him call a race and some time spent with the judges. The Hirt students loved the experience, including picking winners, and it all went off without a hitch.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Debbie Little, who is the matriarch of the entire program and does a stellar job organizing the jam-packed schedule. Hall of Famers Dave Little and Ken Weingartner also happily assist with copy editing and coaching, and my lone offspring Ace does a stellar job teaching the students harness racing terminology, jargon, how to watch and recap a race, and fielding all questions they might have.

Hirt graduate Lia Eustachewich, who is now Managing Editor of News at the New York Post, arranges a visit to the newsroom where the students are invited to sit in on an editorial meeting then get their Hambo advance stories edited. Lia was welcoming and helpful as always on a hectic day at The Post. It was the same day that the prisoner exchange involving Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was announced.

Moving on to the main event, we are always treated exceptionally well by Meadowlands CEO Jason Settlemoir and his staff on Hambletonian Day. As busy as Jason was, he still found the time to poke his head in the spacious office room that he gave our students to work from, asking if we need anything at several points of the day. He is just one of the reasons why I always refer to The Big M as “The Mecca.”

I guess if you are in this business and still don’t love Hambletonian Day, you should be checked to see if you have a pulse. From the moment you enter the track on Saturday morning the atmosphere just feels different. There is a buzz and excitement in the air that you just don’t get on any other day, except for maybe The Little Brown Jug. This year was no different. It is simply the best day of racing, packed with stakes races featuring the best in the sport in virtually every division, building up to the crescendo that is the Hambletonian.

For someone like me that has been a gambler for close to 50 years, this is the day of opportunity: full, competitive fields; big pools; and many opportunities to make scores. Alas, although my handle is down from what it once was, I still love the action. In addition to making profit when you cash on a race, there will always be the hook of being right. The passion to punt still burns brightly with me and even though it took a few (or 20 or 30) years longer than it should have, I think I have finally learned to be selective and press only my strongest opinions.

Coming in off making an $800 Pick 4 score the night before thanks to a great Andy McCarthy steer on winning 46-1 shot Time For Landing, I walked into The Big M brimming with confidence. I held my own in the early part of the card, dabbling but not splashing. It was a trotting colt in race six that I was waiting to play who I thought was close to a lock and wouldn’t get bet like one.

The rookie trotter out of a pacing dam, Nordic Catcher S, was an eye-catching winner on debut on July 12 in a leg of the New Jersey Sires Stakes but was passively driven two weeks later when finishing second. That night he was allowed to sit 3rd through a snail-like 1:27 4/5 three quarters and still gained two lengths in the final quarter to be beat only one length, kicking home in 27 1/5. This colt is perfectly prepped for the final next week I thought, watching what was essentially a paid training mile.

As post time for race six approached I could see that Nordic Catcher S was hovering around 7-2 and I wanted around 3-1 to make my maximum bet, which for me is $100. This time, driver Ake Svandstedt remained patient, sitting 4th behind more honest fractions. He moved on cover which would stall on the final turn and briefly back him up. “Go Ake!” I yelled, getting the attention of the Hirt students. He obliged, and the son of the Somebeachsomewhere mare That Woman Hanover circled the leaders with ease and drew off to a 3-1/4 length 1:53 3/5 score. He returned a healthy $7.80, which ensured that Ace and I would have plenty of bullets for our annual stop at Saratoga Racecourse on Sunday. Being right about this colt felt almost as good as the $380 in my pocket.

Soon it would be time for the main event, and I decided that Highland Kismet would be this year’s winner and to bet accordingly. I said on a podcast earlier that week that I was certain he was being passively driven on purpose in his past two starts, and that was sitting on a big race and would get more aggressive in the Hambo. It turned out I was right about that, and it ultimately may have cost him the race, because he provided perfect cover for winner Karl. Had he started behind Karl and forced him out first-up, we could be talking about a different result.

The disappointment of ripping my tickets up, though, was abated by watching Gingras win his first Hambo. He is all class all the time, like many of the people included in this piece. The downpour that began as the horses approached the gate paralleled Gingras’ outpouring of emotion after winning his first Hambletonian with Karl, which was also trainer Nancy Takter’s second straight in America’s Trotting Classic. The students, too, were elated, as the trainer and driver they’d grown to root for over the course of the week won the biggest race in North America.

It was just another chapter in the Hambletonian’s storied history. It seems as though every year there are plots and subplots, one of which plays out to provide a great story. Taking it all in with my son is a bonus and yet another reason why I still, and always will, love harness racing.