The Sharks Smell Blood

Make no mistake about it. The glory days of the Meadowlands are long gone. Half the plant is closed up, they now need to card $7,500 claimers to fill their cards and short fields are becoming the norm rather than the exception. Even when slot revenue arrives (it is just a question of how and when, not if) and the purses get big again, the days of drawing huge crowds will be long gone. The closed portions of the plant will be reopened for VLTs, not horseplayers.

The flagship of harness racing is taking on water. Surprisingly, there are people out there who are taking pleasure at what is occuring at the Meadowlands. They are criticizing management there for the short fields and the $7,500 claimers and for offering the 25% NJOS Preferred supplements on Meadowlands Pace night to ensure the overnights fill. They take delight in the top drivers and stables abandoning the Meadowlands except for stakes night and heading to Yonkers, Chester or Pocono Downs and they criticize the revised driving colony at the Meadowlands. It is clear the sharks are smelling the blood and they are waiting to pick over the remains.

Foolish, foolish people.

Look, as a horseplayer, I am no fan of the Meadowlands. While I live close to the Meadowlands, I prefer playing the half mile and 5/8 mile tracks as they tend to be more formful and I have more success wagering at the smaller tracks than the Meadowlands. My visits to the Meadowlands is limited to stakes nights and the occasional afternoon cards. However, make no mistake, as a person who is involved in standardbred racing, I understand the success of tracks like the Meadowlands is critical to the long term viability of standardbred racing.

Let's go over the facts. The Meadowlands has the highest handle day in day out of any standardbred track in the United States. With the exception of the purse supplement provided by Atlantic City casinos, all the purse money is derived from wagering. At tracks like Chester Downs, over 90% of the purse money comes from slot money. That is free money that the horsemen have done nothing to earn; it's welfare plain and simple. What would the purses be at Chester, Pocono Downs and Yonkers if the only thing feeding the purse account was wagering?

As for media coverage of harness racing, with the exception of the Little Brown Jug, how much press does harness racing get nationally outside of the events occuring at the Meadowlands? If you think coverage is poor now, it will be non-existent if the Meadowlands was to close.

I understand the flight of horsemen to the tracks that have slot fueled purses. If you can race for $10,000, why race for $7,500? That being said, the horsemen who have abandoned the Meadowlands better hope that once the slot money starts flowing in New Jersey, that they don't implement a program giving preference to trainers that remained faithful to the Meadowlands over those that went for the money. And some of those so called 'second tier' drivers and trainers? They are going to be sticking around once the good times return. Management remembers who stood with them during the lean times.

Look, the NJSEA as a semi-governmental agency should not be running a racetrack. Racetracks are best run by private companies. However, during this period of turmoil, they have shown great restraint. They realize their importance to the sport. Look at tracks like Monticello (a racino) and Freehold who either cancelled some or all of their stake races. The Meadowlands could have dropped certain stake races or could cut the added money to thes races in order to offer higher overnight purses but they didn't.

For many horseplayers, especially those that are price sensitive, the Meadowlands is the only track for them to play. Sure, the better horses may now be racing at Chester and Pocono Downs, but how many of these horseplayers are going to wager into pools where exotic wagers have an extortion-like takeout of 30%? If the Meadowlands closed, many of those gamblers would be lost; forever.

Like it or not, the success of harness racing is tied directly to the Meadowlands. While some racinos do have some great stake races, none of them have stepped up to have a stakes program that comes close to the Meadowlands' program. The Meadowlands is the foundation of harness racing. If the foundation cracks, the whole sport comes tumbling down.

Rather than take delight at what is happening at the Meadowlands, people need to realize the seriousness of the situation and hope the Meadowlands can hold on till the slots arrive. Slots are not the solution to harness racing's issues, but it will allow time to fix our problems; making the product desirable to gamble on.

Your future may just depend on it.