Once in a while something happens in harness racing which really boggles the mind. On Friday January 4 at The Meadowlands in the first race, one such incident occurred.
Owner Peter Kleinhans, a very capable amateur driver, was listed to drive his Tech Titan in all simulcast books and the official track program. On the night of the races, a very common occurrence took place when it was announced than Kleinhans wouldn’t be driving and instead Yannick Gingras, perennially the leading driver in North America, would be taking the reins behind Tech Titan.
I could argue and have many times in the past, that driver changes need to be comparable. You should not be able to remove the 100th best driver in the country for the best. It simply isn’t fair to all of the people who were supplied information which is no longer valid. Isn’t the job of the Judges to ensure the betting public has a fair shake? How is it fair that some poor schlub is at the track, in a simulcast facility or sitting at home thinking that Kleinhans is driving when it is really Gingras?
But I digress from the more serious issue at hand. How is it possible in 2019 that I went to six different ADWs and only ONE of the six-pack listed Yannick Gingras as the driver of Tech Titan?
We can bet a race from the middle of nowhere, get news and weather virtually as it occurs, and can even have live video conversations with people from all over the world with a click of a button, yet we can’t properly communicate a driver change to the betting public.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t on The Meadowlands. They announced the change and it appeared on the “changes” crawl at the bottom of the screen. Since we can always do things better, maybe tracks should have an overlaid on-screen graphic during each race with the driver changes always listed so everyone has a fair shot, but the fault here lies with the ADWs.
Clearly the information was disseminated because one of the six bet-takers had it correct. One has to wonder why the other five couldn’t post the information? Are their systems unable to process the information? Is the information considered irrelevant by the ADW?
There is simply no reason why an ADW can’t display the correct information in real-time. If I can deposit money and bet in seconds through your site, there is no reason you can’t provide the correct information. Twenty years ago when I hung out in NYC OTB, even they were able to find a marker and write the driver change on the entry sheet. Surely, this should be an easy problem to correct, no?
By now I’m sure you can guess that Tech Titan won easily while paying a robust $6.60 to the “in-the-know” folks who were paying attention to the changes. It’s impossible to know for sure, but had Gingras been listed on the program, Tech Titan likely would’ve been odds-on and paid in the $3.60 range.
Personally, I was paying attention and benefitted from the misfortune of others. But, I’m still outraged that situations like this are allowed to occur. In a time when 80-95% of the total handle comes from off-site locations, it is vital that people are kept informed.
Another driver issue
Miami Valley Raceway held a driver challenge from Sunday to Tuesday. While I generally like the idea and typically these races are hotly contested, it is hard to accept using races where one of the drivers in the contest is competing against a horse he trains in the same races.
In race 9, Dan Noble was driving 4-5 favorite Mgsperkg Bluegrass and Drew Monti handled the Noble-trained 6-1 shot Cool Like That. Noble sat third with the favorite as Cool Like That set the fractions and went wire to wire for the win.
I’m in no way implying that anything improper occurred during the race. It’s not like Noble’s horse appeared loaded with pace when clear in the stretch, but it does not look good when situations like this occur. We don’t want to give anyone a reason to complain about how a race is contested if it can be avoided. Track officials must make sure to exclude races where any conflicts of interest could arise.
Ironically, Dan Noble won the driving challenge. Congratulations!
One final note on the Driver Challenge. I checked the same six ADWs to see if they updated the driver information and of the four that accepted wagers on the track, only two had the proper drivers listed. The other two left the driver fields blank. How sad!
Reader comments
In recent weeks, I’ve received a few suggestions/comments from readers and this seemed like the perfect time to address them.
Paul MacInnis wrote: “I watch races on TVG and find it sad when the only people in the winner’s circle after a race is the driver and groom. It got me thinking. Why not allow people who show a winning ticket to get in the picture too? If it's known before the race that no owner is present, make an announcement that the first X number of people who show a Win ticket can get their picture taken. I know I'd like that. And I'd buy the picture too.”
I love this idea and I don’t think it matters whether the winning owner is even present. Anyone with a correct WIN bet can come to the winner’s circle and the first five get to take a picture. If the owner is present and wants a picture without the “crowd” they can get theirs taken first and then the winning fans can go.
Paul’s idea is a no-brainer. It gets people more excited about being at the track in person and also gives the track photographer a chance to earn more money.
Walt Majowicz wrote: “My idea is to do a column on the daily behind the scenes activities of media personalities at the Meadowlands, Dave Brower, Dave Little, Hollywood Heyden, others and perhaps Frank Drucker at Yonkers in an attempt to provide information behind the voice. It’s free publicity for the tracks.
You could also include interviews with the judges at these tracks unless you consider it to be too politically sensitive. Generally there are many individual tasks and responsibilities in putting together a live performance at the racetrack which the fans may know little about.”
Maybe I can expand the On The Backstretch Q&A feature to include these personalities. Are you interested in finding out more about media personalities and Judges? If so, email me at Dgiwner@drf.com.