Bob Carson

You buy a yearling with high hopes and big dreams. During the winter you watch the yearling learn the lessons that all young harness horses learn. The yearling trains down: 3:00, 2:45, 2:30. At this point, many yearlings fall by the wayside, maybe half of the crop. But you are lucky; your horse is still in the game, trotting or pacing faster and faster, overcoming a few bumps, bruises, and nagging injuries.

You grow to love and respect this horse’s efforts. The horse just might qualify to race. Summer approaches: 2:20, 2:15, and 2:10, what fun. Finally, a big day, your yearling goes to the gate in an attempt to qualify, to meet the time standard that makes the steed a true Standardbred. To some of us, this is a proud day; maybe better than winning a race. Our horse squeaks by. We made it!

It’s off to the races. Maybe fairs, maybe bottom level pari-mutuels or maiden races.

The next step is where many of us stumble. We find our horse can meet the standard to race; however, competing with the speedsters is a step too far. Several steps too far, several dozen steps too far. You realize that 2:00 miles are too fast for your horse.

My first six yearlings followed this pattern. I’m not complaining. They were fun. They did their best. They were good horses. The only fault of these nice horses was that they were a trifle too slow. Often we hung onto these “middling horses” for years, giving them a good home and good care although we knew we had no place to go with them. There are bushels of horses like this, they can qualify, but are several precious seconds from being viable purse earners. Real owners and trainers jettison them quickly and replace them with money earners. Participants on the fringe are often more deeply attached to what is often their only horse. They do not have backups or replacements. After a few adventures with these “close but not close enough” horses, fringe participants often drift away.

Let’s give these horses a place to race. Here is a plan. Pari-mutuel racetracks will divide and race on two different tracks. One track would remain basically the same. The only noticeable difference would be that there would be fewer races but these races would have higher purses.

Autumn Schmidt graphic

The new track would be called Tier Two. Here horses would race for very low purses, say one-fifth of regular racing. Tier Two racing would hold zero appeal to trainers and owners trying to make a living or to make world champions. Any horse that cracks the 2:00 barrier would automatically lose eligibility to the Tier Two level of racing.

The race dates could be split. For example, a racetrack that races Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday could have Monday and Wednesday as Tier Two days, Friday and Saturday as regular racing days. Or maybe a racetrack would designate just one day for Tier Two racing, or possibly some struggling tracks without slot machines would go totally Tier Two and become Mecca’s for harness hobbyists.

Considered below are some of the pluses:

1. First and foremost, Tier Two racing would give folks with horses that can barely qualify a reason to live, a reason to stay in the game. Many just need a place to race. They do not need to get rich. They do not need to break even. Quite frankly, they are guaranteed to lose money due to the economics. For horse enthusiasts at the Tier Two level, harness horse racing is a sport, not a business. A competitive field that paces in 2:03 for a $500 purse is all they require. This would be much better than just looking at their beloved horses standing in the barn for several years and occasionally squeaking into a regular field where they will be distanced.

2. Racetrack purses would be redistributed. Since the purses on the Tier Two race days will be a pittance, the money saved on these purses can be redistributed in the regular race date purses. In other words, the folks trying to make a living racing harness horses would have much higher purses and would be able to race less frequently — instead of racing weekly for $5,000 purses, theoretically they could race their horses bi-weekly for $10,000.

3. The handle would not suffer — and it might prosper. It is my contention that bettors don’t care that much about purses or times. Bettors just want a race they have confidence in even if that race goes for a $500 purse. A competitive race that goes in 2:03 is just as thrilling as a race that goes in 1:53 (in fact, the audience gets an extra ten seconds of entertainment). While not infallible, simple economics would dictate Tier Two racing for ridiculously low purses, by owners who are basically hobbyists, would be a game much less subject to the pressures that cause chicanery in the backstretch wars.

4. Tier Two racing, which would be basically hobby racing, would open our doors to new players. Today, if a new person gets into harness racing, the learning curve is very steep. Very quickly, you go from neophyte to competing against sharpies and this is very intimidating. Having Tier Two racing, basically a minor league system for horses and trainers, would take the pressure off and allow new players to learn and grow. The second tier of racing can watch the top players, but they only have to play against horses, owners and trainers who are of equal ability.

5. Finally, adding this new tier would take very little retrofitting. All that would be required is to write the Tier Two programs and redistribute the purses.

Middling horses and owners that can’t break that 2:00 mark (there are plenty of us) will quickly line up. We have horses that with a little more work could go 2:04 and we are raring to go.