The Canadian Sportsman

It’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

I think sometimes we’ve got the opposite problem in this industry. We see the forest and we are well aware of the ‘big picture’ realities, knowing that we need to do something, anything, to bring new people, preferably younger, into our midst.

But we want to get them all fast, at once, in large numbers, and so we try to come up with ideas to attract a lot of ‘new people’ in one fell swoop, often forgetting how difficult it is to re-grow a forest overnight.

It may be on a small-scale, but the Ontario Harness Horse Association (OHHA) youth camps have been planting saplings for quite a few years now.

Since 2003, the youth camps have been providing a free introduction to racing for children (aged 10-13) from a non-harness racing background.

Liz Waples, camp coordinator since 2007, estimates roughly half of the kids who have participated in the four-day camps over the last few years have gone on to be matched with a local trainer and have continued helping out in their spare time.

In several instances, the parents of those children have also gotten involved and bought horses themselves or, at the very least, made going to the races a new family activity.

Although this may only add up to a few dozen eager new participants each year, these people are proving to be much more active and engaged on a level that can be matched through interesting promotions or special events designed to attract outsiders to our sport.

Take the case of one camper, Brianne Sloan (please see Keeping You Posted)

When everyone plays his or her part, it’s a beautiful thing to see.

It’s also a very interesting case study:

• Brianne, an 11-year-old girl, attends the OHHA youth camp last summer.
• When camp is over, she would like to remain involved so coordinator Liz Waples hooks her up with local trainer George McClure and Brianne starts coming regularly to help out in his barn.
• Brianne is very dedicated and does a great job for McClure.
• Brianne’s parents, Rob and Sandra, support her chosen activity and make sure she gets a ride to and from McClure’s barn so she can continue helping out. Both parents get groom’s licenses so they can be involved as well.
• McClure rewards Brianne’s hard work by making her a part owner of an inexpensive pacing mare he buys at a recent mixed sale.
• The mare wins a race at Brianne’s home track, Clinton Raceway, the following week leading to big smiles in the winner’s circle for the new owner’s first big win.
• Race announcer, Frank Salive, and track photographer Gerald Millar, both called special attention to Brianne’s special achievement, making a great day that much more memorable.

No fewer than seven people, and one horse, played a role in making this a very positive experience for Brianne, and they did it so effortlessly. Together, they made magic happen and created an environment where everyone came out a winner.

That’s a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, but I’ll take a couple dozen hardcore newcomers with staying power over a few thousand people, superficially exposed, with lukewarm interest, any day.

Sometimes there is nothing wrong with thinking small. Even the smallest saplings, when nurtured, can have very deep roots.

When opportunity knocked for Scott Zeron to get his first-ever drive in the U.S., the 20-year-old driver took the Red Bull by the horns.

After getting a call to see if he was available to drive a colt named V Squared in an Ohio Breeders Championship on Jugette Day, Zeron didn’t hesitate. He booked off his drives for the next day, drove at Grand River on Tuesday night, pounded a couple of Red Bull energy drinks and then hit the road for Delaware, OH, arriving at 4:30 a.m.

It was worth the effort. Zeron scored an easy win with V Squared, the trotter’s fifth in a row, and in doing so won his first race in the U.S. in his first start south of the border.

“It’s unbelievable. That’s what I want to do. I’m happy I got my name out there and I’m so happy I got into the winner’s circle,” said Zeron, whose margin of victory was comfortable enough that he even posed a little when he crossed the wire as he savoured legendary announcer Roger Huston calling his name.

“I think that was my favourite part,” he said, with a laugh. “That was as good as winning, just having him call it.”

Shortly thereafter, he was receiving a congratulatory phone call from his proud parents, Joyce and Rick Zeron — who has won nearly 7,000 times as a driver, but never at the Delaware County Fairgrounds.

“My mom said she had to pass him the Kleenex box,” he said, with a laugh.

“He’s never won here, I guess, and hasn’t raced here very much at all, so for me to win my first race, in my first start, it was unbelievable.”

The only unfortunate thing for Zeron was that he couldn’t stay longer to enjoy the atmosphere. Shortly after his big win at Delaware, Zeron was heading straight back to Canada to drive one of the favourites, FBs Terror, in the Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Final at Flamboro on Thursday.

Then again, there are worst things than leaving Jug week batting 1.000.

For a moment, let’s not debate the rule itself.

I think just about everyone in the industry has, by now, said his or her piece on whether Ontario’s new whipping rule is good or bad or something in between.

Obviously, the disqualification of Angostura in the Peaceful Way stakes elimination due to Trevor Ritchie’s whipping infraction has been a lightning rod for negative feedback on the rule. People like Trevor Ritchie. People like trainer Dan Creighton. People holding winning tickets on Angostura would’ve liked to cash them. People aren’t quite sure why the owner, trainer and bettors had to suffer for the driver’s mistake.

Beyond those factors, many have turned their minds to the ‘spirit of the rule’ and how something seems amiss when the most notoriously punished whipping offender is now Trevor Ritchie, one of the least likely candidates to ever abuse a horse.

If the spirit of the whipping rule is to prevent horses from being abused, was that really accomplished by disqualifying a mare who may, or may not, have been tapped twice by Ritchie in a momentary brain-freeze?

The judges, of course, acted correctly by enforcing the rule to the letter of the law. As written, and implemented, Ritchie did break the rules when he took the lines in one hand and used his whip. The judges are afforded no discretion to consider factors such as intent or the driver’s history or character, or the fact that the race was an elimination for a very lucrative event.

Much like the poor tennis line judge, at last week’s U.S. Open, who incurred the wrath of Serena Williams by calling a foot fault at a pivotal point in the match, there is no wiggle room in the rules to abstain from calling infractions at inconvenient times. The rule in tennis is black and white: Did the server’s foot touch the service line or not?

If we want mitigating factors to be considered or discretion to be used in such cases, we are back to the same refrain that has been repeated ad nauseam for years now — we need a commissioner.

National Football League (NFL) commissioner Roger Goodell and National Hockey League (NHL) commissioner Gary Bettman (in collaboration with his right-hand man Colin Campbell) exercise their personal discretion all the time when it comes to meting out punishment for infractions committed in their leagues.

Remember the final minutes of Game 2 in last year’s Stanley Cup finals? Leading scorer Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who went on to win the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP, instigated a fight with Detroit Red Wings star Henrik Zetterburg in the last five minutes of the game, an easy win for the Wings.

By rule, a player instigating a fight in the last five minutes of the game is to be suspended for the next game. Bettman, however, ruled that Malkin would not be suspended for pivotal Game 3 in the series, reasoning that the purpose of the instigator penalty was to prevent tough guys from ‘sending a message’ or taking advantage of more skilled players in the dying seconds of the game and not to suspend a frustrated superstar who landed a few soft punches on Zetterberg’s shoulder pads.

Fans in Detroit wanted the rule to be applied. Fans in Pittsburgh wanted discretion. It didn’t matter what they wanted because the only opinion that mattered belonged to Bettman, who had absolute power.

Similarly, how did Goodell arrive at the number of NFL games Michael Vick would be forced to sit out as punishment for his conviction in operating a dogfighting ring? He picked a number off the top of his head. Because he can.

Goodell originally said that Vick could be suspended for the first six weeks of the football season, then reduced the suspension to two weeks because he was impressed by Vick’s behaviour, community service and association with mentor Tony Dungy.

Like it or not, in a commissioner system, these men hold all the cards.

Would a harness racing commissioner have looked at Ritchie’s past history, his good character and the unharmed Angostura and decided that a disqualification was not in the spirit of the new whipping rule? Maybe. 

Would he or she ensure that the rules are applied fairly and reasonably in all instances? Maybe not.

Do we want black-and-white or shades of grey? Do we want structure or discretion?

Pick your poison.