by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Freehold, NJ — It took only a week for Tom Charters to see the impact of the Breeders Crown.

The series, celebrating its 25th anniversary, debuted October 5, 1984 when Workaholic became the first champion by winning the 2-year-old colt trot at Lexington’s Red Mile. But it was the following weekend when Dragon’s Lair handed Nihilator his first-ever loss in the 2-year-old colt pace at The Meadows that Charters recognized the Breeders Crown had arrived.

“I’m often asked what the most memorable moment is, and it would have to be that point around the three-quarters (of a mile point) when I realized Nihilator wasn’t gaining any ground on Dragon’s Lair,” said Charters, who worked for the Breeders Crown at the time and is now the president and CEO of the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown.

“But I think the important thing, in my mind, was at that point I realized we were going to have a big impact on the sport. I think that’s one of the things (the founders) wanted to do.”

Nihilator was in the discussion for Horse of the Year, but finished third behind 3-year-old filly trotter Fancy Crown and 3-year-old male pacer On The Road Again. Fancy Crown, who won her Breeders Crown event at Rosecroft Raceway two weeks after Nihilator’s defeat, became the first of seven consecutive Breeders Crown champions to be honored as Horse of the Year.

Overall, 18 Breeders Crown winners have been named Horse of the Year.

“I think it’s met its goal in terms of having an impact on year-end voting,” Charters said of the series. “Particularly with the 2- and 3-year-old races, and even the older horses even though those races aren’t held at the end of the year.”

The goals of the series were to create a major racing program to promote and benefit all sectors of the sport in addition to stimulating public interest and awareness of harness racing while forging a positive, high profile image for the media and fans across North America.

To help reach those goals, the series was aired on ESPN and TSN (in Canada) from its inception through 1999. The races still receive live coverage on The Score television network in Canada.

“We found we could get on ESPN, but we had to pay for it,” Charters said. “I want to say it was $25,000 initially and it bought airtime and production. We got a live show and three replays; ESPN was so desperate for programming. That was for a half-hour.

“If I have any regrets it’s that we haven’t found a way to keep the event on national network television, although television has changed a lot since 1984. Between Internet streaming and simulcasting and satellite uplinks, it’s not that the races are inaccessible. But there is a certain cachet that network television brings to it. Unfortunately, the costs went up far faster than what we could afford. Then it was complicated because we were, for a variety of reasons, squeezed out of the ESPN menu.”

As for the on-track future of the Breeders Crown, contracts with the Meadowlands and Woodbine/Mohawk, which have hosted races for 2- and 3-year-olds and older horses on a rotating basis for most of this decade, expire after next year. Both have expressed interest in continuing to be the homes of the events, but the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown is examining options.

“We’re talking to other tracks right now. We want to explore that,” Charters said. “We have some interest from tracks in Pennsylvania and the Chicago tracks always seem interested if they can find the funding. I’d enjoy taking it to other tracks as long as we could get the media attention and as long as the tracks could provide the hospitality for the horse owners. If you have a horse in the Breeders Crown, you should leave the track feeling like you were treated special, win or lose.”