Craig Barss has been involved in the harness racing industry since he was a teenager. With a lifetime of racing knowledge and a little bit of luck on his side, the Ontario resident is now the 2016 Trot Magazine Fantasy Stable champion. By Chris Lomon
He was up for the challenge in winning the 2016 Trot Fantasy Stable, and now Canada’s Craig Barss is ready to take on the world, this time in the BetAmerica World Harness Handicapping Championship at The Meadowlands. The keys to winning again? A triactor consisting of a phone charger, a good long-distance calling plan and a few longshot gambles.
When he heads to the New Jersey to take part in the April 29 handicapping challenge, boasting a guaranteed $50,000 prize pool ($20,000 to the winner), Barss’ blueprint for success will be a three-pronged approach, a simple plan the Cobourg, Ontario resident hopes is effective.
At first blush, it might seem like tongue-in-cheek advice. Let it ruminate, though, and it very well could be a winning strategy for anyone who’s ever thought of entering a horse wagering contest.
“My strategy is to look at the entries, and phone every person I know to see if they have any insight,” said Barss with a laugh. “And hammer on a few longshots, too.”
While he might not be taking himself too seriously – at least not yet – Barss is admittedly buoyed by his Trot triumph, a confidence-boosting victory he’ll use as inspiration when he’s in the Garden State.
Not that he ever anticipated taking all the spoils.
“No way,” admitted Barss. “Every year I’ve gone in, I’ve been in the top 100, but I didn’t even think this would happen. I didn’t even know what the prize was until I looked at it one day when I was in the lead. Well, I’m a little more comfortable now after winning this challenge.”
And although the tournament at the Meadowlands consists of a totally different format than the Trot one - where the contestants make WPS wagers from a $300 bankroll, on 10 different races - Barss also has comfort in knowing he’ll have a cheering section – albeit of one – when he goes for a second consecutive challenge crown.
“My son (Josh) and I are going to head down there and have some fun with all of this,” said Barss. “We aren’t really expecting a championship, but we’re going to enjoy it all and give it our best shot. I’ll show him a few of my old haunts in New Jersey and we’ll have a few laughs along the way. It’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it, like I did with the Trot one, too.”
Barss’ fantasy stable of horses featured harness heavyweights Southwind Frank, Wiggle It Jiggleit and Always B Miki, all of who were integral in his winning the contest that was based on total earnings of selected horses, and five per cent of the earnings of selected trainers and drivers, between May 20 and December 31, 2016.
But it was the two-year old fillies named Someomensomewhere and Magic Presto who proved to be the game changers.
Selecting Someomensomewhere wound up being a good omen, indeed. The bay daughter of Somebeachsomewhere, eked out a nose win – at 17/1 – in the $600,000 Breeders Crown Final for two-year-old pacing fillies on October 9.
For the purposes of the fantasy bankroll, the winners (horses only) of the 2016 Breeders Crown Finals each received a $200,000 contest bankroll bonus.
Then on November 19, at Woodbine, it was Magic Presto taking the $447,000 Goldsmith Maid in her last start of the season.
Both late-season stakes wins were crucial to Barss’ eventual triumph. A victory he grabbed by $111,051 fantasy dollars over ‘Horse Racing Stable B.J.C.’ of the Netherlands.
“I guess they was the key ones,” he noted. “I’d like to tell you I put a ton of thought into it, but I really didn’t. I think it’s your two-year-olds that are the difference makers. Everyone will take certain stars, but you’re not going to win unless your two-year-olds come through. Another tip, I guess, would be to try and find yearlings that are going to the right barns.”
Barss, whose fantasy stable earned over $8.3 million, looks to dependability when choosing the human component of his stable.
“As far as trainers and drivers, I go with the ones that just seem to do the same thing year after year,” he offered. “You want consistency.”
Barss’ winning stable included trainers Rene Allard and Richard Moreau, as well as drivers Tim Tetrick and Trevor Henry.
It’s a quality Barss hopes to harness when he attempts to rein in another contest victory. He’ll have plenty of standardbred friends keeping tabs on his U.S. adventure.
Barss, who owns and operates his own shoeing business out of Cobourg, has been part of the racing industry since his teenage years.
“I grew up in the west end of Toronto,” he said. “My mom and dad got divorced and I was living with my mom. She told me that she didn’t want me staying at home all summer, and that I needed to get a job. I told her I wanted a job at a farm, and I ended up at Jack Radcliffe’s farm in Elmira. I was there from when I was 14 until I was 18 or 19. I worked for Jack and (Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee) Dr. Ted Clarke at Grand River Raceway. After that, I trained with Jack and trained some for Dr. Clarke.
“From there, I went to Windsor Raceway and worked for Lou Clark. And it kind of went on and on from there. I worked in Sudbury and I also worked for Ron Waples for a while – just rubbing horses. I also worked for a guy named Jeff Lohmeyer in New Jersey. Then I came back home to Canada and started apprentice shoeing at Mohawk for Serge Bergeron and Luc Lacroix. From there, I started my own shoeing business in Cobourg. I was always around horses.”
Calling Cobourg home with his family (wife, Joyce and sons, Josh and Carter) since 1993, Barss trains horses in the morning and shoes in the afternoon.
“I have five horses right now,” he noted. “I have two mares, one foal and another due soon. One mare in the barn is Ashlees Luck (a Camluck whose highest profile win came in the $45,200 final of the Blizzard Pace in 2006). I owned and raced her, and raced everything out of her. Then I usually buy one at Harrisburg each year. Ideal Jet [p,1:50.3s; $256,180] is a nice son of hers that I race. And I raced his brother Stolen Car [p,1:49.3f; $558,759], who I sold to U.S. interests. They were good, 1:50-type pacers.
“As for the shoeing, my customers are my buddies. A little bit of shoeing, a little bit of gossiping and then I go home. The key to success is showing up. That’s how I got a lot of customers at the start. I was always on time. If they needed me, they picked up the phone, and I was there for them.”
Soon enough, they might be on the receiving end of a call from Barss.
“I never saw a win in the first one (fantasy contest) coming,” he said. “But, it’s pretty great to be able to say you won something like this. And now, to have the chance to compete in another one in the States – it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The 2016 Trot Magazine Fantasy Stable winner: BARSS RACING - $8,381,709
Horses
SOUTHWIND FRANK - $1,174,188
WIGGLE IT JIGGLEIT - $1,611,137
MACH IT SO - $324,513
ALL BETS OFF - $404,630
OBRIGADO - $771,040
NVESTMENT BLUECHIP - $90,400
ALWAYS B MIKI - $1,698,920
COLORS A VIRGIN - $13,195
RICHARD HILL - $32,250
VERY SPECIAL AGENT - $70,371
BLUE BEACH - $0
SOMEOMENSOMEWHERE - $689,115
SIGNAL HILL - $86,452
SHEER ASSAULT - $7,400
SPENDING SPREE - $22,432
MAGIC PRESTO - $393,049
Trainers
RENE ALLARD - $184,347
RICHARD MOREAU - $133,017
Drivers
TIM TETRICK - $501,395
TREVOR HENRY - $173,858
