Harness Racing Blog

Same crowd tonight I thought as the 1st race entries turned onto the track. It continually amazed me that the same faces, the same voices, the same conversations seemed to repeat themselves over and over again. While I didn’t mind many of those faces, in fact enjoyed most of their company, it seemed to me that we could use a little variety every now and then. Ok there were a few that I could definitely live without.

How could we as an industry ever envision growth when we were constantly depending on the same people to produce the change we so desperately need. Every industry whether in sports or not has a necessity for this change that I talk about. Success and progress evolves over time if you allow it. Harness racing was going in the other direction. We are an industry that fights change. We are an industry that always looks to pass the blame onto someone else as to why things aren’t going our way.

It was now time for a different voice . I was ready to do my little part to begin the process. How do I start? What do I need to do? Those were the questions that I fought with. The process began and slowly it became clear that we needed new faces. We needed new voices. I wasn’t naive enough to think that I was going to revolutionize the sport but I was confident that whatever I could accomplish it would be a benefit and couldn’t hurt the stagnation that I was seeing. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.

Fractional ownership was the answer. I could see these groups popping up here and there. It was a way to get even the most novice fan involved. We didn’t just need the multi-millionaire, we needed the little guy who loved coming to the track with their own chair, sitting by the winners circle and listening to the hoof beats coming down the stretch. Imagine if this same little guy owned that 7 horse who was in the lead half way down the stretch. He jumps from his chair and screams at the top of his lungs. He screams so loud that even you start routing for the 7 horse. Who cares if your horse lost. Look at that guy. He’s on cloud nine, and ten and possibly eleven. “That’s my horse”, he yells as if we all didn’t know by now.

I missed seeing that at the track and I so desperately wanted to see it again. That was the start. That was the day that the process began. That was the day that I knew how I was going to do my little part to get the fun back into harness racing.In the months to come, I will attempt to provide a few tidbits and tales of the process that I have begun ( what have I started! ) . Yes it is ongoing. There is no end yet but I’m sure by the time I am done I will have provided an avenue for others like myself to get involved with the greatest sport on earth.

Along the way I hope to poke a little fun at us. I hope to share a few stories along the way about some of my owners, some of their experiences but most importantly I hope that it takes us forward in the direction that we should be going.

I may offend some people and organizations but if it needs to be said, I won’t back down.

We need to work together and not continually fight each other over common sense issues as we seem to be doing over and over again. We need regulatory agencies to work with us and not against us. It is a partnership that if we do not grow will be the demise of our industry whether we like it or not.

I thank Harnesslink for providing me with this avenue and I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I look forward to writing it in the weeks to come. Stay tuned.

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This article was submitted to us by Paul Garofalo of Harness Racing Canada.

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