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September 01, 2009

The cold slap: We have never been more irrelevant

By Alan Kirschenbaum

There's no doubt that Hambletonian Day 2009 was the best foot our sport is capable of putting forward. It was a beautiful August day in New Jersey, the racing was terrific, and on national television, the spotlight dance was performed by the best three-year-old trotter we have ever seen, an effortless march to glory by an incandescent animal who in short order nearly erased our memories of the three great colts who most recently visited the Hambletonian winner’s circle. It was as good as harness racing gets, I promise you that. And here’s the cold slap in the face that may end our friendship just as it gets off to a very nice start: Nobody cares.

But, you say, there were 25,000 people in attendance. And I say “so what?” And I say “so what?” to the 50,000 wonderful fans that will show up in Delaware, Ohio in a few weeks for the Little Brown Jug. These are the two biggest spectacles we have to offer, and they are great days, but what do they add up to? The overwhelming majority of those in attendance get their harness racing fix on these special days, and are satiated until the next summer and fall. And another year goes by, and the day-to-day crowds at the races get smaller, and interest in our magnificent sport dwindles even more.

Except perhaps for these two days, we put on this show for ourselves. We are the performers and the audience. We clap for each other, because no one else will. We are the buyers and the sellers of horses. The money just gets passed around. How many people in the grandstand on the average Saturday night at your local track do not have owner, trainer, or groom’s licenses in their pockets? You may bury your head in the sand, but I will not: we have never been more irrelevant to the sporting world, and to the world at large. Are more people, or less, interested in harness racing or Renaissance Fairs? Civil War re-enactments? Collecting dolls?

But what does this matter? Why am I pissing in the punchbowl? Purses have never been higher. The catch-drivers and veterinarians have never made more money. Maybe some owners and trainers are doing the same. Maybe it doesn’t matter if anyone cares.

Ah, but it does. Because, at the moment, in the worst economic conditions on this continent in 60 years, hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent subsidizing this sport we love. And before someone extremely powerful wakes up one day and asks why, we had better do something about it. We need to make people aware, and we need to make them care. And, with all due respect to Muscle Hill, or Somebeachsomewhere, it’s not going to be because of a horse. We’ve seen the best horses in the existence of the breed the last few years, and they didn’t move the needle. Not for more than a few days, anyway. And if they raced until they were four, or five, or 14, that wouldn’t change. And it’s not going to be because of a human-interest story in the paper. There’s only one thing all humans are interested in, and that’s money. Ideally, lots of it. And the chance to get it. We have one opportunity left, and the window is closing. We need to go back to the future, and reinvent ourselves as a gambling sport once again. More soon…

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September 4, 2009
7:06 AM

Thanks for the slap, Alan.

Very astute observations and I think you are bang on. Getting people back to the races and discovering the entertainment value and excitement of handicapping and betting on the horses is paramont to our survival.

Good luck on your screenplay — it sounds like a winner. When you are done with that, how about doing one on the Dan Patch story? I think the Dan Patch story is comparable to that of Seabiscuit and a movie of the same quality would be popular, I believe. It would also give harness racing a little shot in the arm.

Looking forward to your future blogs.

~ Jack Darling

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September 4, 2009
11:21 AM

As you say Alan, nobody cares, nobody is listening - to you, or me, or anyone who has been on the inside, and outside, and can indeed see the forest for the trees.

Four or five years ago I attended a marketing meeting in Milton sponsored by the OHHA and Standardbred Canada, along with 'heavyweights' on the Ontario scene. After 2 hours of listening to Toronto agencies vying for the $400,000 up for marketing, telling us how to sell this business with 'gorilla' tactics - ambushing people at service stations, and then trying to figure out just who our market was - 18 - 35 or 35 - 50 year olds, I could take the crap no longer. I stood up and ranted, starting with who our market was. Ready? IT'S THE GAMBLER!!!!!!! And this industry has forgotten this! We have chased them away. Chased them to lotteries, casinos, slots, sports books and poker.

Want the crowds back - give THEM something to win. $7,000 total mutual handles at Woodstock, Hanover, Sudbury, etc. etc. etc. just don't work!

This industry has no leaders with vision, or clout!

~ Marty Adler, track announcer, Windsor Raceway

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