Reader Feedback

July 18, 2007

Click here to send us your thoughts on any of the comments below.

This edition of Reader Feedback comes from our online poll that asks which of the distances at Saturday's X-treme Horsepower event you would most like to see at your local racetrack.

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I had an opportunity to race at longer distances in Montreal a few years back in the stake races...I found it was harder on the horses, and contributed to them getting sore faster.

Ronald Hess

Lunenburg, Ont.

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Congratulations to all in their efforts on a tremendous event. It was refreshing and novel to see harness racing at different lengths, and would certainly be interesting to see from time to time. I do not see it as a permanent fix that will revolutionize the sport. While some changes may be necessary, the most strategic and interesting distance for me will always be one mile.

Many of those adjusted distances are hard on a horse and they will stay sounder much longer at one mile. Even though other sports have introduced major changes to keep them exciting, some aspects remain constant. Just like NHL Hockey will always have 3 periods and ML Baseball 9 innings, the traditional and flagship distance for harness racing should remain at 1 mile.

Glenn Le Drew

Regina, SK

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Tracks complain that we have short fields of horses to race, and they are going to be a lot shorter if race them two and three mile races. How can you have integrity in this business with 17 and 18-horse fields?

Ross Forster

Ripley, Ont.

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The mascot race was the only one worth watching.

Jim Peterman

Cambridge, Ont.

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I have felt for years that distance races -1 1/2 & up - are the salvation for our sport. The standardbred that our "SPORT" was built on was an endurance animal (multiple heats in on day) and we have changed them into a sprint animal, that I must add, is not durable enough to last at the regularity we race and surfaces we race on.

Bob Harris

Rodney, Ont.

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Any opinions and views expressed are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Trot Magazine or Standardbred Canada.