by Robert Lieberman

Plainville, MA — Royalty For Life is among the favorites for this weekend’s Hambletonian Stakes, harness racing’s most prominent race, and the entire Massachusetts Standardbred industry should be cheering for him.

Not simply because Royalty For Life is a locally bred, locally raised, locally owned and locally trained horse, with connections throughout the state. Not just because the colt’s principal owner Al Ross has helped to keep the Massachusetts harness racing industry alive for more than a decade through his role as a principal investor at Plainridge Racecourse, the state’s only harness track.

The reason is actually much more basic than that; for Royalty For Life can be seen as a metaphor, a single horse whose story ultimately represents a much larger narrative which symbolizes the current state of harness racing in Massachusetts.

So many of the elements of the Royalty For Life narrative — commitment and perseverance, hard work and overcoming adversity, the hope for national prominence — are common to both the colt’s experience and Plainridge Racecourse’s seemingly interminable attempt to achieve the expanded gaming which is a necessity to keep harness racing alive in the 21st century.

Consider traits such as commitment and perseverance. Al Ross has been part of the Massachusetts racing industry since 1956. To put that in its proper historical perspective, one should realize that Al Ross entered the sport a few months after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on that bus, and a few months before the Boston Celtics won the first of their 17 NBA championships. He has invested in Plainridge Racecourse for 15 years, and purchased Royalty For Life’s dam nearly a decade ago even as the harness racing industry in Massachusetts was cratering.

Ross, along with partners Chip Campbell and Paul Fontaine, hung in there during the bleak times, continuing to participate in a sire stake program whose purses are paltry compared to other states. Their commitment and perseverance mirrors that of the overnight horsemen at Plainridge who hang in there on an annual basis, racing for fewer purse dollars year after year.

George Ducharme, Royalty For Life’s hard working trainer, is a local kid who has finally made good, after years of virtual obscurity on a small training center in Plainville, Mass. A 35-year veteran of the industry, Ducharme represents the dreams and aspirations of all those Bay State horsemen and horsewomen who toil 365 days a year at a vocation they love, hoping against hope to some day have that one, special horse. Just as Al Ross put his trust in a trainer to prep his horse who would ultimately end up in the sport’s most high profile race, he has also put his faith in a management team at his racetrack in the hope that it too would achieve the ultimate prize.

Then, when it appeared that Royalty For Life and his connections were finally on the cusp of something big they were dealt a bad hand. After Ducharme moved his stable to Vernon Downs for a summer campaign which was supposed to be full of promise, an outbreak of an extremely contagious disease quarantined the barn area. The trainer and his star pupil were essentially prisoners, their barn surrounded by yellow caution tape, prevented from doing their respective jobs. After Royalty For Life was finally freed from his shackles, shipped to the Meadowlands, and won the Dancer Memorial, Ducharme told the media “all the colt wanted to do was race.”

That is how most of the Massachusetts horsemen feel today, as they tread water waiting for the license process to unfold. As the days pass since gaming was authorized there is an emotional battle every day for the Massachusetts harness horsemen who see the December deadline, when the slot parlor license is issued, as the beginning of a much brighter future or the end of their industry, their dreams, their livelihood. Like Royalty For Life, those associated with Plainridge merely want to be freed from their shackles and do their respective jobs, whether on the pari-mutuel line or on the backside.

Win or lose in the Hambletonian, Royalty For Life has already achieved national prominence. That is a distinction that still eludes Plainridge Racecourse, though it remains a stated goal. A visit to the track’s website, where the company lays out a path for the future Plainridge Park, says as much.

The three week wait between the Dancer Memorial and the Hambletonian has probably seemed like forever for Al Ross and Georege Ducharme, for Paul Fontaine and Chip Campbell. But just imagine what the wait until Dec. 15 is like for all those associated with Plainridge Racecourse.

The entire Massachusetts Standardbred industry should embrace Royalty For Life, for his story is our story.

Robert Lieberman is a freelance writer living in Massachusetts. The views contained in this column are that of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the United States Trotting Association.