Every year around this time there seems to be a debate as to which races should be involved in pacing's Triple Crown. This race should be, this race shouldn't be...here's an idea that involves all races based on another successful Triple Crown model
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Who knows who Joey Votto is? Until last Thursday, I didn't. I like baseball, but I don't follow it as closely as I used to. Yet if there's anyone in Major League Baseball that I should know, it's a Canadian-born baseball player in contention for baseball's elusive Triple Crown - for batters, that consists of leading the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in (RBIs).
To show how rare this Triple Crown is, the last time a player in the National League won the Triple Crown was 1937. Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski was the last player in MLB to achieve the feat while playing for the Boston Red Sox in 1967....also the same year the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup. A cheap shot? Yes, indeed. Back to racing.
Why not consider a similar Triple Crown model for harness racing? Let's make the Triple Crown winner the three-year-old pacer or trotter that leads the division in wins, money earned and has the fastest winning time.
If we don't include wins, we could include win percentage. Just like with a baseball player's batting average, the winning percentage would require a minimum number of starts on the year. To ensure this also includes the highest caliber of horses, horses would have to start in a set number of Grand Circuit stakes races.
This would eliminate the debate - both for trotters and pacers - as to which races should be involved. It would, however, bring up the discussion of currency conversion. If the majority of races were contested in the U.S., that model would favour earnings converted to U.S. dollars.
By making the number of races and money earned as part of the system, it could give more incentive for horses to race a longer, more competitive season and not duck certain events. This, however, raises the biggest issue - what does the Triple Crown mean? How do you make it meaningful? Here lies one of the key issues. It's just a title. A label. If One More Laugh completes the Triple Crown this year, it won't raise his stud value - he's a gelding, and already a two-time World Record holder.
There must be incentive to race and win the Triple Crown. Nothing provides more incentive than a big wad of cash...the crux being where it comes from.
One idea could be a sponsorship model, wherein a corporate sponsor provides a financial bonus in exchange for title sponsorship of the Triple Crown. Funding would also help create a website like the breederscup360.com site on the thoroughbred side, a site that allows fans to follow the horses on their Triple Crown quest.
To me, a better idea would be if the races themselves also pitched in a percentage of the purses to boost this total. Ideally, a bonus of (at least) $1 million would be on the line, thus providing the single biggest payday of the year. Last year, owners of standardbred horses had the opportunity to race for $29 million in stakes money distributed by the Hambletonian Society alone. As these races would envelope most of the Triple Crown series events, for the sake of argument let's take five per cent off these purses. There's $1.45 million. The take between pacers and trotters might be contentious, and perhaps that money should be split accordingly to percentage of stakes money, with the sponsor portion topping up the Triple Crown bonus to the same amount on each gait.
At the end of the year, the Triple Crown would be won by the horse that danced the most big dances and won them, instead of (especially on the pacing side) the horse that for the most part best handles half-mile track racing and gets the luck of the post draw.
If the Triple Crown isn't won? Here's where we could get creative...the money could go back to the horses as if its in the purse pool in the first place. Or the money could be pooled - in whole or in part - for next year's Triple Crown bonus. These are just a few options and I'm not making a full out sales pitch here. I haven't involved the bettors, the drivers and trainers...for now. This discussion is simply a new way to look at part of the business that many seem to agree needs to be fixed but no one can agree on how. Gee, where have I heard that before...
The floor is open for discussion.
There is a need for change
There is a need for change when it comes to harness racing triple crown. The truth of the matter is in it's current form nobody cares. If you asked most people involved in harness racing who won the cane pace or the messenger pace last year most people wouldn't have a clue, ask them who won the na cup, the m'lands pace or the jug a lot more people would know the answer. On the pacing side they are the sports marquee events.
To have all 3 legs of the triple crown contested over a half mile track is not only ridiculous but it is down right boring. There is a certain excitement about the jug but half mile track racing is a thing of the past, make the front back it off a bit and win the race or have no shot because of an outside post position. For the most part about as exciting as watching paint dry.
There should be a bonus offered for the horse who accumulates the most points in the triple crown races but to be eligible you have to race in all 3 legs with the races being the na cup, the m'lands pace and the jug. The bonus should be in the range of 1 million dollars for the horse who accumulates the most points. How ever if the horse wins all 3 races the bonus should be in the range of 2 to 3 million. This would create excitement and give the owners of the top 3 year olds incentive to race in the jug. Would sbsw have passed on the jug if the connections had a shot of picking up a major bonus. Where the bonus money comes from is another debate.
I agree that the Triple
I agree that the Triple Crown at least for the three year old pacers has to be looked into and changed.I know harness racing historians would shutter at this idea but harness racing has to look foward to the future.Lets face it the triple crown is not even close to what it once was at least when it comes to the Cane and Messenger.In the past few years when it came to the Cane and Messenger some of the trainers of the top three year olds have bypassed at least one of these races causing the already entered horses to go straight to the final.In my eyes this is a shame and a joke.Why are the top three year olds dodging the Cane or the Messenger???Its simple.Its two reasons.The first being its a bad time of the stakes season where these races are scheduled and two the inflated purse money in the NA cup and Meadowlands pace.Its plain to see that a lot of the top horses contending in the NA cup and the Pace are going to rest up for the the Jug and the grand circuit at Lexington....The point I'm trying to make is that the triple crown should be based on harness racings three signature races and its plain to see that now those races are the NA cup the Meadowlands Pace and the Little Brown Jug.In my eyes thats the true triple crown for pacers.It really makes sense if you think about it.I also believe the way Ontario has become a harness racing power and the program we've put together not to mention host the richest race for pacers in the world should deserve to have a leg in the triple crown in the NA cup.Imagine if a horse won the NA cup and the Meadowlands pace what kind of excitement it would bring to the already exciting Little Brown Jug...From a Marketing stand point and a commin sence stand point this is the way to go.....lets bring the excitment back to the triple crown!!!!
You state that The
You state that The Hambletonian Society distributed $29,000,000 in stake money. Basically, owners of stake colts and fillies are racing to get the money back that they've paid in stake fees. Even with corporate sponsorship, I'm wondering how much this $1,000,000 bonus (or more) at each gait would effect the amount of stake payments and starting fees that owners are responsible for.