Harness: Profile of owner-breeder Eric Cherry

What kind of car do you drive?

750 BMW Li.

Favorite dinner meal? Snack?

I’m not much of a foody. Fried shrimp and sweet potatoes. For snack, dark chocolate almonds. They are part pleasure, part good for your health.

What is your favorite track to visit?

Since Roosevelt Raceway is not there any longer, I’d have to say The Meadowlands. Besides all of the great memories there, it is still the center of harness racing.

What is your favorite event in racing?

The Breeders Crown when it is all on one night.

How often is racing on your mind?

25 hours a day.

What is your favorite thing to do outside of racing?

Racquetball, ping pong and chess. We play ping-pong to the death.

Do you have your own ping-pong table?

We have a room with a lot of the stakes race memorabilia and like a wood basketball-type floor. We take it really seriously. We play a few times a week and four or five times an hour someone will hit the ball so hard that the person receiving can’t even get their arm back to return before the ball is past them.

What is your favorite sport to watch? Team?

Football – whoever covers.

What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know?

I love to laugh.

What is one word that describes harness racing for you?

Possibilities.

How did you get started in the sport?

I started at Roosevelt Raceway at age 16 in 1969 as a bettor.

You’ve worn many hats throughout your career. What was your path through the sport to get to today?

Bettor – owner – broker – National Raceline – Breeder – OnGait.com

What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten about harness racing?

Ride the winners and get rid of the losers.

What was your favorite moment in harness racing?

Call Me Queen Be winning the Breeders Crown. It was very unexpected. She had a high liver count and was first-over. The whole race I expected her to stop. When I realized she was going to win, it was thrilling. The second best was winning my first stakes race (Historic) on July 15, 1982 with Tango Almahurst at The Meadowlands.

Which is the best horse you’ve ever owned? Why?

Tug River Princess and a homebred Shadow Dance. Their toughness and showing up every single week.

What’s the hardest part of being a breeder?

When a baby that was born and you are looking forward to unexpectedly gets sick and dies.

Does that happen often?

It happens probably once every couple of years. This past year I had a beautiful foal out of Togo Blue Chip from Captaintreacherous. She was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and didn’t make it.

How many broodmares do you currently have?

100.

Did your Let It Ride stables come from the Richard Dreyfuss movie Let It Ride?

The Let It Ride Stables came first.

Where did the name come from and who is involved?

It was a combination of a play on words and pushing your chips in and letting them ride. It started in 1978. I am the sole owner.

You’ve come up with a lot of ideas to improve the sport. What’s the best one you are sitting on now that hasn’t been implemented?

For about 15 or 20 years I’ve loved the idea of fixed odds wagering. I think that will make it a game within a game and the amount of time between races will become meaningless because you’ll be able to watch the odds go up and down looking for the right time to lock in your bets.

I have an idea where you can make a bet at the beginning of the night on which driver will make the most money pari-mutuelly (win/place/show prices) throughout the card. It wouldn’t matter how many wins, because that would end in too many ties. I think it will keep people interested throughout the night because it is never over until the last race because a 50-1 shot could win at any time.

On the breeding side, it would be for mares to have more than one foal during a year through Embryo transfer. We have a tremendous shortage of horses and importing is not enough. You see too many short fields and tracks having to cancel cards. No one wants to breed to bad mares, so if we don’t do something to increase the population, you’ll see tracks shortening their meets or closing.

You came up with the Survivor 10 wager that the Meadowlands decided to cancel last week after seeing only modest success. Why do you think it failed?

First of all there was no guarantee on it. Also, I never wanted to see it as a bet that could be split. I wanted it only to pay out with one winner. Any bet that doesn’t have only one winner limits how much a person can put into the pool. That was part of it.

I don’t bet races that are Non-winners of $3,500 or $5,000, I just don’t handicap them. When I played the Survivor Bet I handicapped them and found myself betting those races. I think a by-product, between me and three friends, the amount of handle that will disappear because I won’t bother handicapping those race. It was a game to see who could survive longer. Those races won’t get bet by us and I’m sure we aren’t the only ones that feel that way.

I still think it is a good bet. I think it will find its place somewhere in the future. If I have an idea that doesn’t work, I have no problem saying, hey, this is my idea and it sucked. With this particular bet and the driver idea, I’m trying to figure out ways to keep people involved for the whole card. They gave it a try and for whatever reason it didn’t work.

If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be?

The breaking rule. I’d like to see if a horse makes a break before the first turn, I’d like to see people get their money back. They’ll likely reinvest it anyway. Our sport is supposed to be entertainment and fun. Nothing is worse as a bettor than seeing your horse make a break before the start and you lose your money.

How do you view the future of harness racing?

If the future is defined by the next 10 years, we’ll probably be fine. If things don’t change dramatically, the generation in 50 years is only going to be able to read about it.

If you had one wish in life, what would you wish for?

For my wife and I to live a long and pain-free life.

You have a nice 2-year-old filly in New Year that won at the Red Mile and raced in the Breeders Crown. What do you think her potential is?

I wouldn’t be surprised to see her in the top three this year. She is a homebred by Drop The Ball. She seems to have a lot of her physical attributes. Every one of her starts have been first-over and she’s won four out of six. She eats well, travels well and is a calmer version of Drop The Ball. I have high hopes for her.

As a bettor, how has the game changed over the last 20 years? Is it still possible to win in the current environment?

It’s possible to win by being selective and not betting every race. The computer algorithm-generated whales really help our sport by pumping a lot of money into the pools, but you have to be pretty smart with your betting.

Time for the stretch drive. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind?

Best Horse Ever: Niatross.

Best Trainer Ever: If I don’t say Ross Croghan I’ll be in trouble.

Best Driver Ever: John Campbell or Buddy Gilmour.

Lasix – Yes or No?: Yes

Best race you ever saw: Shadow Dance in the Presidential jumping over a piece of paper and giving up 20 to 25 lengths and winning by a neck.