Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Welcome to Odds On Racing!

Welcome to the Odds On Racing web site....our goal is to
provide a harness racing site that appeals to both the novice
fan and to the seasoned veteran. We welcome comments,
questions and e-mails. Be sure to check out our on-line
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                                          Odds On Moinet
     wins the Tender Loving Care Final at The Meadowlands in
      1:54.1 with leading driver George Brennan at the lines.

Schadt In The Sulky Wednesday
Robin Schadt, trainer for Odds On Racing, will be the featured guest on Meadowlands Racetrack’s Wednesday night pre-card television broadcast.

Schadt will talk about her recent claiming activity, Odds On Moinet’s Tender Loving Care win and more. Fans can e-mail questions for her to answer on air to racing@thebigm.com.

The broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. Can't make it to the track? Watch the live video on MeadowlandsRacetrack.com: http://www.meadowlandsracetrack.com/liveVideo.asp

Harness Museum Seeks Input
It’s time! Time to update the museum’s timeline reader board located in the Delvin Miller Historic Timeline at The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY.

The last historical reference is for 2001 and we invite harness racing fans to help us bring the exhibit up to the present. Send ideas by April 1 to director@harnessmuseum.com.

The museum is looking for items considered significant to harness racing that took place between 2001 and 2010. Two or three lines will do and suggestions can have had either a positive or negative impact on the sport. We look forward to the response!

More than 28,000 people visited The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame last year. This showcase to the sport is located at 240 Main Street in Goshen, New York and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last tour 4:00 p.m.)

The Museum is currently offering free admissioen for walk-in visitors and $4.00/person for group docent-guided tours. For information on the Museum, special events, gift shop services, free traveling exhibits and promotional opportunities as well as educational programs the Museum offers, please call 845.294.6330 or visit www.harnessmuseum.com.

Officials Support Monmouth Schedule
When Monmouth Park officials announced they would be slashing the New Jersey track’s race schedule nearly in half in order to provide larger purses and create better quality racing for bettors, they were bombarded by negative editorial opinions and commentaries suggesting the change had signaled the death of the local industry.

But Bob Kulina, vice president and general manager of Monmouth, and John Forbes, president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, beg to differ.

“The last time I checked, it wasn’t dying,” said Forbes during a March 9 National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference, noting how Monmouth conducted a 141-day meet last year with purses of more than $300,000 a day, had large summer crowds, and hosted the Breeders’ Cup in 2007.

While it came as a shock when Monmouth officials announced March 9 that the track would this year run a reduced 50-day meet from May to September with purses boosted to $1 million per day, Forbes and Kulina claim the move may actually save the local industry, which in its current state cannot begin to compete with neighboring states that benefit from the revenues of casino gaming.

“What we have to face is competition from neighboring states whose purses are augmented by casino gaming, and we have a casino industry that wants us to disappear,” said Forbes. “One of the things we recognize is that with or without slot revenue, racing has to change. We’ve heard from the customer, and we’ve gone recently from a local sport to a national sport with full card simulcasting.

“The customer has spoken—he wants quality racing, larger fields, and we think it’s time that someone stepped up and gave the customer in racing what he’s looking for. This isn’t a survival issue; it’s an issue of responding of what we all know is most important—quality racing—and that’s what we hope to provide. We don’t use tax dollars to support our game; the casinos don’t give us a handout. We have to sign an agreement with the casinos not to go after slots; they buy us off. So it’s a struggle, but we felt we needed to get to the heart of the matter.”

Kulina said the new purse schedule at Monmouth would include bottom level claiming races ranging from $5,000-$30,000; maiden special weight races at $75,000-$90,000; and overnight stakes at $100,000. The major stakes races—such as the $1 million Haskell Invitational (gr. I)—would stay at the same level they were last year.

With the fall meeting at the Meadowlands being eliminated, the Meadowlands Cup (gr. II) would be moved to Monmouth, and the date of the Pegasus Stakes (gr. III) would be moved to serve as a prep race for the Haskell. Meadowland’s Violet and Cliffhanger Stakes (both gr. III) will be put on hold for 2010.

Eliminating Meadowlands' fall meet is a one-year experiment, and Kulina said he plans to assess the decision over the summer in order to decide what will happen in the future.

An agreement has been made with New Jersey breeders to run two and a half New Jersey-bred programs a day, with the state-bred maiden special worth $75,000.

“They’ll have the corresponding purses, and the New Jersey-breds will get a 20% bonus if they finish 1-2-3 in open races,” said Kulina. “This is a wonderful thing for the New Jersey breeders, and I think this is a win-win proposition for everybody. We’re making their rewards program whole and they are very happy. They’re going to have funding for an out-of-state New Jersey-bred program for the rest of the year. So we think we have most the issues resolved.”

Kulina said the goal for Monmouth’s 2010 season is to consistently have 8- to 10-horse fields.

“We’re working on a meaningful payback to horses that finish outside the money,” he explained. “We think it’s important that owners are rewarded for participation in fields. We’re trying to spread some of the money around, not only to the small owners, but to everybody, because it’s a very costly game. So we’re doing some different things, and we’re cautiously optimistic that this is a model that will work. No matter what level the race is, if it’s competitive, it’s a good race.”

Kulina said he realized that by cutting 50% of its race dates, Monmouth will have to increase the handle on its existing races by 50% just to break even on revenue.

“That is the gamble, but we are adding two to three races every day that we race. Our signal will be stronger so people in other parts of the country will look at it. We made very soft projections, and we reduced the days that are extremely weak, so we’re hoping that if we offer one of the best products in the market, the consumer will respond to it.”

One of the many concerns with the new schedule is how it will affect the smaller horsemen in the state. While Forbes said he is apprehensive of how those players will deal with the situation, he’s more concentrated on looking at the future of the sport.

“We’re surrounded by five states that have casino gambling and slot revenue and we sit in the middle of that,” he said. “Our sense was that over the next five years we would be dying a slow death with the reduction of days to try and keep our purse levels competitive.

“If this is the death for the small horsemen, it’s because he doesn’t have the kind of horse that America wants to bet on,” Forbes continued. “But I don’t it’s the death…I think it’s an opportunity for our horsemen to recognize that not to upgrade, not to improve the product for the consumer is a prescription to eventually be eliminated from the mix here in the Midlantic. We’re very concerned about our small horsemen, but we also want them to step up to the plate. If they can’t recognize that poor racing with horses that aren’t competitive is itself a death then none of us are responding to what the industry wants.”

Forbes made a reference to the boutique track Atlantic City, which offers a handful of turf racing dates each year, and has somehow remained a popular local venue in spite of not even having a functioning tote board.

“(Atlantic City) is an example of the fact New Jersey racing isn’t dying—somehow it still exists,” he said. “If they’re willing to step up to the plate and attach some decent purses to their turf racing, we’re hopeful they have a place in New Jersey. But they’re going to have to offer a product the public wants to bet on, and if they’re not a positive part of our solution to our problems, then they will have to go by the wayside. They have to recognize that what New Jersey has done is dramatic, with intent, and its back to the old adage if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

Bill Seeks to Divert Slot Funds
Maryland horse racers may not see the money they were promised when slots were legalized in 2008.

While one bill that would have cut the purse dedication account -- the 7 percent of slots revenues that would go to winners -- in half has been withdrawn from consideration, another threatens to get rid of the pot of money completely.

Delegate Luiz Simmons, a Montgomery County Democrat, is proposing to take that 7 percent -- or up to $100 million a year -- and use it for a school construction fund.

"I don't have any ill will toward horse racing, but I don't feel that we should be giving a handout to the horses when most other groups are scouring in the weeds for pennies," Simmons said, calling the purse dedication account "a public subsidy of a moribund business."

His legislation, House Bill 885, would create a school construction and improvement account that could be used in addition to general obligation bonds on public education infrastructure. The state has cut or delayed most of those projects because of the $2.5 billion budget deficit predicted in 2010.

"We really have to think about priorities," Simmons said. "If we don't think in terms of priorities, we are going to basically neglect and ignore some serious aspects of our social and economic structure because we are dumping $100 million a year into what I regard as a rat hole."

However, the amount going into that fund, whether it is for school construction or racing purses, will not reach the $100 million ceiling for quite some time. That number was calculated based on the state issuing all 15,000 available video lottery terminals to the five locations. Last fall, only three locations were awarded licenses accounting for less than half of the available machines.

Simmons does not have a horse racing track in his district. The bill is cosponsored by four other Montgomery County delegates.

Another bill that threatened racing purse funds -- this time reducing them by half -- has been withdrawn, although the sponsoring legislator said he may try again next year.

Delegate Frank Turner, a Howard County Democrat, has taken what was known as House Bill 40 out of consideration, saying that the extra money would not be needed to purchase video lottery terminals until some of the larger proposed facilities are operational.

"If I thought we had needed the revenue this year, then I would have continued with the bill," Turner said. "But with only two sites coming online that aren't even the biggest sites, there wasn't the need."

The legislation sought to cut in half the purse dedication account for horse racers, leaving only 3.5 percent of slots revenue, or no more than $50 million, to be split among winners. The other 3.5 percent would be added to the Maryland State Lottery's cut for administration costs and investment in slot machines. With the change, the state would have 5.5 percent of VLT revenues, or no more than $7.5 million, enough to provide top-of-the-line machines, Turner said, the type needed to lure people away from casinos in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

While the state will need more than the $30 million already set aside to stock all three approved sites with the best VLTs, the delegate added, the original allocation will pay for Ocean Downs in Worcester County and the new facility in Cecil County, both on track to open later this year.

However, the 2,300 machines headed to the facilities account for only a third of the 7,050 awarded. The rest will go to the Cordish Companies' development in Anne Arundel County. That site was approved in December after more than a year of debate in the county council over local zoning, and will likely not be ready until 2011.

No bids were received for the Rocky Gap State Park location and an application for the Baltimore City facility was rejected after the applicant failed to pay a licensing fee. Both will be rebid by the state.

With that in mind, the Turner said he plans to resubmit the legislation in the future.

CHHA Stallion Auction
The Christian Harness Horseman’s Association Annual Stallion Auction is in progress at www.ongait.com through Friday March 12th.

Breedings to 29 stallions in Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ontario have been donated to benefit CHHA’s ministry. Jereme’s Jet, Lis Mara, Blissful Hall, Sportsmaster, Mr. Lavec, Xactly Hanover, and Big Apple Deli are among the seasons being offered in an Open Ended format that ends at 1:20 EST on Friday.

Participants are asked to be considerate and not bid for problem mares, those over 20, or ones that have been barren two or more consecutive years. For more information call John Klark at (910) 281-4744 or email ahorseman@windstream.net