Harness: Touching base with John Campbell

One of the reasons John Campbell won 10,667 races and just a few bucks less than $300,000,000 in his storied career was his attention to detail. But after stepping into the role of Hambletonian Society CEO, even he was surprised at the amount of planning and detail that go into staging a Breeders Crown night.

“It was my biggest surprise so far,” said Campbell. “There is more work and detail than you can imagine. I am fortunate that Tom (Charters, Campbell’s predecessor) is still here part-time and Moira (Fanning, the Society’s Chief Operating Officer). I would have been totally lost. They have vast experience. It was an incredible advantage to see that work from them.”

While there may be a few updates to the Breeders Crown going forward, don’t look for wholesale changes. “We get a lot of input from the host tracks and try to honor that,” Campbell said. “At Pocono, the track and the PHHA did not want trailers, so we honored that. Next year at Woodbine Mohawk Park, with the bigger track, the number of starters could change, for instance.”

One thing that won’t change is holding all of the races over one or two nights at a single host track. Campbell is a huge believer in making the Breeders Crown and the Hambletonian an event.

“It’s so easy to watch the races at home now. How do we get people to come out to the races?” he pondered. “At the Hambletonian we had a band and the food trucks. At the Breeders Crown, we had Foiled Again, who drew huge interest. There will only be one Foiled Again, but what those people (his connections) have done with him, for the sport, they are to be commended. It is great how people (in and out of the sport) have responded. We need to create excitement. I’m a firm believer in big nights. I have some ideas, but I am not ready to discuss them just yet.”

And, for the record, Campbell believes Foiled Again is the exception to the rule and that the 14-year-old age limit for Standardbreds to race is just fine.

He is disappointed that the $1,000,000 2-year-old race at The Red Mile fell through for 2019, but he hasn’t given up on it.

“We just need to find a way fit more weekends into the calendar between June and November,” Campbell joked. “I have attended the race secretary meetings the last several years, with the Grand Circuit and now that I am here. It is tough. Sometimes you can compromise, sometimes you can’t, but we will have a strong presence there again this year, not just me. We are very involved and we know the calendar creates a problem.”

Some handicappers, pundits and journalists have suggested getting rid of elimination races for the Breeders Crown. They suggest offering guaranteed slots to winners of Triple Crown races, for example, or limiting it to the top money winners. And dropping them would free up a week of the stakes schedule. But according to Campbell that is the only small advantage.

“How do you tell these owners they can’t compete? The Cinderella stories over the years . . . Bays Fella . . . Sunset Warrior . . . the Indiana-breds. Those are great stories and they deserve their shot. Plus, we would have fewer entries, which means lower purses for the horses that do compete,” Campbell said.

But what about the complaints from handicappers and fans that the elims make for bad racing, with some scenarios of eight horses racing for seven spots. Campbell has several strong thoughts on the topic.

“First, if you are handicapping those races, it is your responsibility to know the situation,” said Campbell. “Look at playoff hockey. It is far more intense and physical than the regular season. You can’t get “up” like that through a long season. It is the same with horses. They have a long season and they are not going to be “up” for every effort. There are only so many hard races in any horse. Our hope is that the numbers work out. Sometimes they don’t.”

And what about the weather, which by all accounts was miserable at Pocono this year, although the track still put on quite a show.

“We would love to go to a Pompano if they were in a position to host,” said Campbell. “But right now there are no ‘southern’ tracks that are in a position to host the Breeders Crown.”

Campbell also disputed my claim of last month that it would be a tough ship for Canadian contenders, and after listening to him, I will certainly defer to his judgement.

“We would consider earlier in the year, to get good weather, “he continued. “But when? The Jug can’t move and Lexington is not going to change their dates. We are always open to new ideas and creative thoughts, but tradition is important, too.”

We finished our conversation discussing Horse of the Year, but that discussion was off the record.

Over the years, Mr. Campbell and I have had our disagreements, but he has always explained his positions logically and rationally (and I will admit, he has usually been right). But agree or disagree with him, nobody can dispute that John Campbell is immensely dedicated to seeing our sport succeed as it heads into the future. I want to thank John for his time and to wish him and you joyous holidays and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2019. We will see you then. Go cash!