"I can't even visualize calling the Little Brown Jug and there not being 40-45,000 people there. It's almost a nightmare."
Roger Huston has been the voice of the Little Brown Jug for decades. In that time, he's seen pretty much anything and everything imaginable in the Standardbred realm. However, the 2020 edition of the classic pacing event could, sadly, provide him with another first.
In a recent discussion with Trot Insider Huston lamented the lack of harness racing in North America as the world does what it can to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I'm hoping we get back to racing soon here in Ohio, hopefully sometime in May or the first of June. I'm looking forward to the county fairs and such. Of course it's all going to be different this year because I can't imagine many fans being permitted to go to the county fairs...and maybe even Delaware. I don't know what the status will be come September, whether they'll be limiting crowds. This year's [Little Brown] Jug might be in front of 250 people."
While no formal announcement has been made with respect to the Delaware County Fair, Huston sees what's happening around the world concerning large crowds and acknowledged the possibility.
"Look at Churchill Downs," Huston continued. "They put off the [Kentucky] Derby thinking they'd be alright the first week of September. I think the Derby will be raced but I don't think there will be any crowd there."
Huston, who stepped down from his position at The Meadows and is now working with the Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association as its brand ambassador, isn't used to having this much free time on his hands and now live racing on his agenda.
"You might know that as soon as I make a change after 44 years something would happen," said Huston with a laugh. "It was going great and I was announcing whenever I wanted to at Hollywood Dayton or Miami Valley when I was over here. I'm really good friends with the announcer, Barry Vicroy. Barry always told me 'if you feel like announcing, just come on down and call the card' and I took him up on it quite a bit. But then when this whole thing started, I went to Aiken (South Carolina) for their matinee the first Saturday in March then when I got home everything fell apart.
"I've been working here at home now, this is the fifth week and it is an experience staying in your apartment and not going out very much, I'll tell you that!" continued Huston. "My big thing of the day is to get in the car and drive to the mailbox and pick up my mail."
Exactly six months ago to the date of this article being published (November 2, 2019) Huston called his final card of harness racing as the regular announcer at The Meadows. He's called more than 188,000 races in his career and still calls the occasional card in the Buckeye state. Those guest appearances are helping make the transition to the new position a bit easier.
"I thought it might be hard to give up announcing races day in and day out. It really wasn't, because I could still announce whenever I wanted to and that was nice," said Huston. "But this business of going like five straight weeks or six straight weeks and not even having the opportunity to call races? That's a little more than I can handle. I'm 77 and my entire life, from the day I started, has been kind of a rat race of travel, travel, travel. I don't really take vacations, I just go someplace to announce races and that's a vacation for me."
One of the working vacations Huston will miss most are the early fall guest appearances north of the border.
"The one thing I always look forward to, and it was always near the end of the season, was going to Canada and announcing at two or three tracks and that probably won't be the case this year. I doubt that I'll be making that trip up to Canada, and it will be something I'll miss...I really enjoy those trips up there. I've been doing it now for five or six years, I've developed a lot of friends. As much as I hope we might be able to do it this year I'm really not expecting it."
As the world adapts to the new realities amid the current coronavirus pandemic, Huston laments what be likely be those missed opportunities but accepts them as necessary. He feels most for the horsemen whose missed opportunities have greater consequences.
"At least for this year, it's going to be a 'new normal' so to speak...and I don't think we'll ever get back to the normal we've enjoyed all of our lives. I think this is a life-changing event no matter how old you are....You think about it, but you just can't describe it. You can't believe it's this bad, but it is that bad, that's the problem."
"I feel so bad for the horsemen, and what they're going through. I'm late in my life so I can handle the situation but they've got horses and this period of time will probably change harness racing and thoroughbred racing for years to come."
Huston will be a guest on this Sunday's COSA TV live broadcast, joining host Greg Blanchard, The Meadowlands' Jason Settlemoir and Western Fair's Greg Gangle.