Harness: Witherite's 412 Communications broadcasts bring us into the future

Despite the fact that they offer no purse value, baby races provide owners, trainers, and drivers precious information that some may deem priceless. Following at least six months or more of conditioning, potential is all that most owners can think about until "judgment" days arrive in early June, and horses get to feel out the competition while sorting out their potential class.

That baby races for many years proved blind items - not just for owners, but for those who would inevitably have to wager on these horses some weeks later - was something left to the devices of the specific racetracks and markets where the babies raced.

On Monday (June 7) the doors opened brightly to what may be the "next" generation, not just of pacers and trotters, but of broadcasts. The remote location was Gaitway Farm, a training facility in central New Jersey, where a solid segment of top trainers condition horses for battle in the Northeast.

This new venture was led by James Witherite, a 35-year-old enthusiast who has held many media positions in a very short time. He was on-air commentator for Harrah's Philadelphia between 2007 and 2013. He would later call the races at Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs the next three years and more recently returned to Harrah's Philadelphia in a handicapping role. Witherite made his debut on-air, so to speak, on Monday and Wednesday (Magical Acres) with a livestream of all of the baby races. His Monday broadcast alone stood out in both form and substance, as graphics looked better than some racetracks offer on a nightly basis and commentary was complete, filling air time during notable breaks in the racing action.

"It's actually something I wanted to do last year," said Witherite of his concept to livestream the baby races. "The problem for me trying to do it last year was that when COVID-19 hit I had two small children to take care of."

For Witherite and his well-oiled team of cameramen and graphics people, 2020 would also provide them with the groundwork and live on-air experience that would allow them to perfect the production, and it certainly showed this past week.

"I've been doing live broadcasts of the University of Delaware hockey games for the last five years," Witherite said.

What's amazing is how Witherite was able to accomplish this feat over the course of the last season due to quarantine issues.

"Joe Sindoni was able to handle the video, and I was in my basement doing the play-by-play," Witherite offered.

It was that type of on-air presence that Witherite exhibited this week in handling baby races on location.

"It was pretty hot out there," Witherite said of his first effort on Monday as he dealt with the live broadcast without the benefit of the type of cover one would get at an actual racetrack. The viewer wouldn't have known there was a weather issue or anything else given the fluidity of the livestream event.

For Witherite, race-calling is his number-one passion and as part of his baby race productions he handled most of the race-calling as well. What impressed me in each one of his calls was his ability to handle the missing pieces of the telecast matter-of-factly, even when fractional times did not appear.

Thankfully to those who breed horses and buy yearlings, Witherite's team was able to bring a solid visual production from training centers where the sport's next generation of stars are likely to take their first steps.

"I've got to thank the Hambletonian Society and Northwood Bloodstock for their sponsorships," Witherite said. "I would hope there are others out there who could add to that."

Though Witherite studied jazz composition in college and played the bugle on occasion prior to major races in the Northeast, he is exceptionally low-keyed, offering credit to others as opposed to blowing his own horn.

"I'd like to thank Karen Fagliarone for helping get this off the ground," Witherite said. "The people at both Gaitway and Magical Acres have been extremely helpful as well."

Had Witherite and his team just shown the races and offered graphics with the horse's names and drivers, it would have been satisfactory, no doubt, but that he was able to grab a pair of trainers and get them to speak live on air was the icing on the cake.

Greg Peck, of Muscle Hill fame, was more than happy to accommodate the host with a stream-of-consciousness-like interview where he fantasized about what the world of trotting would be like today had he made the decision to geld Muscle Hill on his way to the races.

"People think he was an easy horse," Peck said before confirming the contrary.

Later on the Monday broadcast, the sport's leading conditioner Ron Burke spent a good amount of time on the air and ironically the "gelding" subject arose once again, where Burke told a story of one of his horses that would likely have not shown up to qualify on Monday had he not been gelded.

"Actually, I think there will be two more after today," Burke said in closing, recognizing that some of his babies needed more focus on the track.

This was just the first week of baby race action at Gaitway and Magical Acres and in the next three weeks we'll get a chance to see a host of expensive, and hopefully talented, pacers and trotters emerge from these events. That the races were not just shown live, but remain a fixture on Witherite's 412 Communications YouTube channel, holds immeasurable value to all within this industry. From a gambling perspective, having the ability to go back and watch horses improve and advance before thier first pari-mutuel race is valuable for those who don't believe everything they read but only everything they see.

I'm in the latter group.