If you are in Southwestern Ontario, this week, you might be able to get a glimpse of the Olympic Torch Relay as it makes its way to your town or city

. It is an exciting event that has already passed through many parts of Canada, and as I write this it is Southern Ontario’s turn to catch the spirit of the flame that is uniting Canadians.

As reported on the Standardbred Canada web site earlier last week, I will be running in the Olympic Torch Relay as it passes through the Sudbury area on its way to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. A few weeks ago, I was in that area to catch up with some of the many friends I made while working in Sudbury from 2005 to 2007. I was also there, to check out the specific stretch of road in Dowling, northwest of Sudbury and not far from Sudbury Downs, where I will run with the torch on January 2.

While I was there, I had the pleasure of visiting the half-mile oval in Chelmsford, which was a regular hangout of mine during my stint in Northern Ontario. Four of my friends were there, enjoying a night out. I knew they would be there, so we arranged to meet up. After spending a few races up in the announcer’s booth, I went down and joined my friends at trackside for the rest of the card.

By the time I had gotten to trackside, the fearless foursome seemed to have already figured out win, place and show wagering, and made a tidy profit doing so. They nonetheless seemed eager to have an “expert handicapper” join them and show them the ropes. I explained to them such things as the various elements of a past performance line and the meaning of all those numbers on the tote board. I shared with them my impressions of the horses in each race and gave them my picks. I even took one of my friends to the mutual window and helped her call out an exactor wager. They seemed eager to learn, and keen to put that new information into practice.

The winnings that the group had made earlier in the evening eventually made their way back to the track (funny how that happened after I showed up). In any event, one of the guys in the group shared his impressions of the evening with me. He told me that everyone enjoyed the races and that it was a great value for two couples to have a night out for less than the cost of going to the movies or attending live theatre. I told him that we need to recruit people like him to promote the sport!

After the final live race of the night, my friends went into the slots area of the track to try to revive the luck that had shone upon them earlier in the evening, and just enjoy themselves a little more before going home. Before we went our separate ways, they were already talking about coming back to Sudbury Downs for the final card of the season on New Year’s Eve. All in all, it was a great way to spend a Sudbury Saturday night!

That brings me to the point of this blog. This year, many of us in the industry have pondered what we can do to promote the sport, bring in new fans, and ensure the growth and survival of the sport. One simple thing all of us can do is bring friends and family to the track. There, they will see the efforts that harness tracks make to provide an affordable day or evening of entertainment in clean, friendly and welcoming surroundings.

While we are at the track with our friends and family, we can help them feel at ease and enjoy the experience even more by demystifying things for them. It has been lamented that racetracks generally do a good job of getting people to the track but that newcomers feel bewildered and overwhelmed when they get there. When we explain to our guests at the track what the different types of wagers mean, what that random string of letters and numbers in the program is really trying to tell them, and how those numbers on the tote board translate into money in their hands at the mutuel windows, we help them enjoy the races.

The other thing that we can share with our friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, and everyone else with whom we regularly interact, is our love of the sport. We can teach them the mechanics of handicapping and wagering, but the thrill that is sparked within us by seeing these beautiful animals, anticipating the race, watching it unfold and collecting our winnings is a feeling that we can share with those around us, and which just might prompt them to return to the races.

Reflecting on both my evening with my friends at Sudbury Downs and my upcoming return to the Sudbury area to run with the Olympic torch, I am reminded of the commercials that aired prior to the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, inspiring us to “Share the Flame”. The passion that we have for harness racing is the flame that burns within all of us. Let us share that flame, and pass the torch on to a new wave of harness racing fans. We can start doing that this week, with racing on Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, and many of the days in between at tracks across Canada.

I conclude by wishing all of you a very merry Christmas, a safe and happy holiday, and all the best for 2010. It is a privilege to be involved in the industry to the extent that I am, and I look forward to seeing many of you in the New Year!