by Bob Carson

Editor’s Note: The USTA Web site is pleased to present freelance writer Bob Carson and his popular “Outside the Box” features. This monthly series is a menu of outlandish proposals presented with a wink — but the purpose behind them is serious.

Bob Carson

One of the best aspects of harness racing is that virtually anyone can get into the game. Purchasing a horse is easy and fun.

If you are wealthy, you can skew the odds by purchasing the best prospects and you can play forever. If you are of moderate means, you need to get a decent horse every decade or so to prevent the constant flow of red ink from driving you out of the game. A large problem for small timers is that getting a very good horse, at a very low price, is very unlikely. This hurts our sport and blunts an advantage we have over other sports.

I’m a lapsed member of the yearling-buying congregation. For eight years, I purchased harness horse yearlings at auction. The only thing my horses won was my affection and appreciation. It was great fun, but my coffers got low and the odds too long for buying a good yearling, so I reluctantly moved back into the sidelines. There are plenty of people with similar stories.

Autumn Schmidt graphic

I still receive Standardbred sales catalogues, but lately I purchase yearlings vicariously (a form of ownership that is much less costly). The main reason my participation is now fantasy is because the final bids on “elite” yearlings are science fiction. By the time a yearling falls into my price range, the horse is a very long shot. Thousands like me would buy a yearling next year if we had a better chance at a better-bred horse.

I want to get back in harness. In fact, I would be willing to spend more than I have in the past if horse sales would adopt this unorthodox plan.

Each November a yearling horse sale takes place at Harrisburg, Pa. I attend this annual horse auction because it is fun and they offer free food. The sale last year listed 1,112 yearlings (200 more and the Black Book catalogue will require wheels). Several of these horses sold for breathtaking prices; several were virtually given away. As we all know, inexpensive horses will occasionally be great and many of the big-ticket horses will be duds.

A few breeders left Harrisburg ecstatic, some breeders left prohibited from being around sharp objects and looking into more stable and fiscally rewarding occupations such as driving a cab in Kabul. To my eyes, breeding horses ranks alongside of sword swallowing in a mosh pit as a treacherous endeavor. An entire year of work spent tending a yearling (which can be injured every single day) can be a total loss if a potential buyer steps out for sixty seconds to grab a hot dog.

Some Ballpark figures:

The average yearling price at Harrisburg was $7,800. Allow me to suggest we help these poor breeders out next year and bump the average $1,200. The only stipulation is that the bidding process will be replaced by a lottery. Next year, the Harrisburg horse sales people will sell 1,112 lottery tickets, each for $9,000. The auctioneers can rest their pipes.

The new procedure will be simple. Potential horse owners hand over their money and their name is then clearly printed on a file card that is deposited into a large hopper guarded by a phalanx of PA’s finest. When the 1,112th file card is deposited, the hopper is sealed and a random drawing matching horses with file cards will begin.

The drama will be incredible. Imagine, Hip #1 is haltered and brought to the podium, all eyes quickly scan the conformation, then drop to the pedigree. To some eyes the thoughts will be…please pick my card, please pick me, for others, oh no, not this one…please, not this one.

And the winner is… Albert J. Flopinggast from Baltimore, Maryland. At this point, some lottery participants will smile and some will frown. Floppingast will pick up the papers and take his horse out for a stroll. There are 1,111 more to go. What fun! What a relief from all that stressful bidding. No more nodding, shadow bidding, non-bidding and inflation bidding. The most important thing for those of my non-wealthy ilk and me is that we would have a chance at the finest bred horse in the sale for our $9,000.

Alas, at first glance the people with the major resources will be unhappy about losing their monopoly of the cream of the crop. Glance again; your large bankrolls will still have power. The above concept may be attractive to the deepest of pockets. Let’s say you are a heavy hitter planning to spend $900,000 at the Harrisburg horse sale. You can purchase 100 lottery chances. When the last name is drawn, you will own 100 horses. It is entirely possible the horse you really wanted and planned on paying several hundreds of thousands of dollars for will have fallen into your grateful lap. You will have what you wanted and will also have 99 additional horses; some great, some marginal, and all available for re-sale or trade.

If you did not get the horse you had your eye on and were prepared to pay dearly for, all is not lost. Your money can still talk. The nature of horse-trading will assure people will listen. You can easily get the horse you coveted, probably at a lower cost.

Suppose some fiscally challenged clown like me gets lucky and my name is pulled for ownership of a highly prized yearling. Remember, I am a clown, I may not appreciate the value of the steed. Should some wealthy person stroll over and offer me, say $50,000 for my new horse, I may knock over the concession stand looking for a pen to ink the deal. And just so I don’t go home horseless, you can toss in one of the lesser lights you have drawn to sweeten the deal.

Various yearling sales could have different lottery tickets regulated to match the stock. Lower sales might only cost $4,000 a chance; for elite sales, a name in the hopper might go for $20,000. This would inspire breeders to continuously upgrade to interest upper tier sales to accept their horses. People are smart. Supply and demand would drive the horse-trading after the official drawing, but a leveling effect of the radical extremes in prices would occur. And the little guy would have a chance.

The free enterprise system would still be alive and kicking. The rich would still have the hammer. The breeders would have some blessed insurance of return. The poorer masses would have a chance at good horses. The drawing would be high drama.

Participation would increase. Post sales swapping would be a blast. Harness racing would expand our base of shrinking owners. And I would be back in the game.