Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

*The following two letters appeared on the Harness Edge's website, in their mailbox section. Odds On Racing contacted the author of those letters, horseman Steve Manzi, and was granted permission to reprint them here in full. Enjoy!*

April 18, 2006

Blame For Drug Issues Goes To Racetracks
By Steve Manzi, President of Global Standardbreds

It is time to place the blame for drug issues squarely on the racetracks. Those who follow this site know I have been down this road before. Those who REALLY want things to change, need to not only listen, but to HEAR the calling.

There is no way, EVER, that we are going to be able to devise a way to keep up with the testing of the newest and greatest performance enhancers and the trainers who use them. We can make the efforts and do the best we can, but we are no more capable of beating the cheaters than baseball, football, Olympics, bike racing or any other sport.

Therefore, we must look at this from a different direction. The purse structure set up by racetracks (race secretaries) is very much to blame for our problems. We have created a gorilla that is loose in the banana store. The banana is the high purses offered to claiming races. The gorillas are the owners and trainers who storm in to gobble them up. Until the tracks eliminate the bananas for these gorillas, the problem is not only not going to get better, it is going to get worse.

Never mind that we are also sacrificing the horses and forcing them to never, ever have a decent home for any appropriate length of time, but they are being subjected to cruel treatment through "any method necessary" in order to get the most out of them before they are swept away by the (flawed) system that has deserted them. It is absolutely inexcusable that we have created, or allowed to be created, an unsafe and uncaring environment for these special athletes.

If the racetracks and those responsible for purse structure and condition writing do not wake up and realize that they are a big part of the problem, then do not expect relief from the Gorilla infestation. The 300 lb Gorilla is going to grow into a two ton Gorilla. Mark my words, and check off the date. This is the first day of the rest of our business life. Someone with the understanding, the will, the desire, the guts and ultimately, the power to do so, needs to stand up and take the reins and steer away from the oncoming freight train of disaster.

If the purse structure were changed in a major market, or markets, I am supremely confident that it would provide incredible results within one year, and would snowball from there. Cut purses for all claiming races at least in half.

Write classes for NW of $5000 life, then $15,000 life, then $25,000 life, then $40,000 life and so on up to $150,000 life, and combine classes to fill races if needed and commit to filling them no matter what the short term problems. This would offer those owners who provide the meat and potatoes of the business a real opportunity to recoup some of their investments when they purchase yearlings.

These owners would be far more likely to stick with trainers that know how to train and how to actually care for and care about their horses. There would not be an urgency to extract every ounce out of a horse by these trainers, therefore their investments would be longer terms and actually much sounder investments.

The breeding industry would flourish. The yearling market would flourish. The quality trainers would flourish. The owners would flourish. The horses would flourish, and the industry as a whole would flourish.

If the racetracks do not step up and make these changes, then in my opinion, they are not only a major part of the problem, they do not truly care about fixing anything. It is time to stop trying to chase the Gorillas away with a water pistol. Help us help ourselves! Give us some help fighting this Cancer.

I have many ideas that I feel are excellent in assisting the fight, if people would just listen and be willing to look at all this a little different. Some of these ideas are:

1) Testing must be done by a lottery system where no human knows what is going to be tested. This would decide what drugs are to be tested for that night.

2) This lottery system, maybe something exactly like the lottery draw with the balls in TV, be done on video for all to see.

3) Another lottery draw decides what horses will be tested. Test less horses, but more vigorously and with every chain of command from taking the blood and urine to the sealing of the samples and coding of the samples to the actual testing itself be done either on film or in some way foolproof in that there is no chance of the test getting ruined or switched. There are far too many recent instances of people getting off because the samples were "lost" or "mishandled", as well as problems with the wrong person getting in trouble because samples were "mixed up" or "switched". NO WAY can we let these "mistakes" happen.

4) Another Lottery decides what lab it will go to. The point of all this, in case anyone is missing it, is that I want the testing so that no one, not one single person, ever has the advantage of knowing what they are testing for or if their horse is being tested. And to make it even more impossible, no one is to know before the lottery draw, where the sample will go. I want to take out the human factors first, then worry about how to catch them. If people are being warned or protected, all the testing in the world is not going to help. And I firmly believe that this has gone on and will always go on as long as there are humans who know beforehand.

I can go on to many more ideas and thoughts, but I have to cut it off somewhere. But I believe that if people want this problem addressed, they must think outside the box. We must make changes and make them now. And finally, to me, there is only one way to strike fear in the hearts and minds of the people who want to cheat, and that is to go after the worst offenders criminally. Jail time, serious jail time is the only true deterrent. Suspensions are not the answer. They make commissions and investigators feel like they accomplished something, but it is only like trying to sooth the savage beast with soft music. It works in cartoons, but not the real world. The whole industry knows exactly what I am talking about.

Time to turn off the cartoons and get into the real world. Let's make an honest attempt to do something and work together to make meaningful changes.

Fewer Claimers For Lower Purses
By Steve Manzi, President of Global Standardbreds
I have been a gambler, a groom, a trainer, a driver, an owner, a breeder, an agent, an advisor, and a stable manager, and throughout it all, I have been a horse lover and I feel very fortunate to be born into harness racing. I know of no other participant in this business who has been involved in all of the aspects of this sport as I have.

Sports Eye Editor Jay Bergman suggests that, from his point of view, claimers provide the best opportunities for gamblers because the purses are so high. This is simply preposterous. I have driven many races, and been a leading driver, and that was mostly in the day when trainers were also drivers. Winning was extremely important, no matter what the purse. But the past 15 years or so, driving has been virtually taken over by catch drivers, and I can assure you that their sole purpose is winning races.

My brother, Cat Manzi, knows a fair amount about driving and winning races. There is no doubt that he could care less whether he is driving in a claiming race or a maiden race, where the purse is far less. He wants to win. Any driver who wishes to play games and not do his best to win, will find himself sitting on the sidelines watching the races instead of driving. I have been involved, and successful, in every aspect of the sport since my father taught me how to use a pitchfork and a wheel barrel. And I can tell you with complete confidence that the racing aspect of this business has never been more competitive. The drivers could care less whether it is a claiming race or some overnight race. To say that gamblers need claiming races to survive the sport is just silly. And to say that drivers try harder because it is a claiming race is just a mind boggling comment.

Here is a summary of what I believe with regards to the disparity in Claiming Races vs Condition races: • The huge amount of money offered to claiming races encourages and even forces trainers and owners to do whatever is at their disposal in order to win the most races in the quickest amount of time. This is ALWAYS at the detriment of the horse. In short, we are basically allowing and encouraging these beautiful and special animals to be abused and used strictly as a money making machine. This also gives the advantage to those trainers who are willing and able to do whatever they can do, legal, illegal or immoral, to get that horse to go as fast as possible in this race, no matter what.

• By offering less money for condition horses, we are hurting the people who buy yearlings. All race horses, whether they be claiming horses or condition horses, come from yearlings. An outrageous amount of money is spent each fall at the yearling sales. And yes, it is mostly for a dream of finding that champion. But the truth is that precious few even earn back the money spent on purchasing them, let alone the training and staking of these horses. The wealthiest might be able to afford it. But, I submit that the backbone, and the future, of this Industry are the mid range investors and the small investors. And these people cannot afford it. And most of them will lose enough to either leave the business or drastically reduce their investments.

a. If we offered more money to Maidens, NW 1, NW 2, NW 3, etc., we would offer these investors a far better chance of earning money with their yearling purchase, instead of just taking a shot on a dream like a lottery ticket. When you buy a lottery ticket and it is not a winner, you discard it. That is basically what we are telling our investors to do. It amazes me, for example, that we can accept that an Investor will spend say $30,000 on a yearling, spend another $20,000 staking him as a two-year-old, and then spend $30,000 training him, only to find that while he is not a stake horse (which we can all understand), he is a nice quality race horse......who is now, coming back as a three-year-old, and is subjected to racing for a purse that is less than what a $15,000 claimer races for. How is this possible? How in the world do we expect to attract new Investors and keep many of the mid range and small investors that we already have?

If we offer more money to the young condition, and even older condition horses, then what we do is:

* Take care of our horses and treat them with the respect they deserve. They would be better taken care of and feel like they have a home, instead of some foster child being sent from home to home to home. There would also be less vet work done on them, as there would not be that pressure to get every ounce out of them before someone claims them and takes them away.

*Offer Investors a far better opportunity to make money with less risk. Also, as stated above, less vet bills! Every owner would love to see less vet bills. On that we can all agree.

* This will then offer the breeders a far better opportunity, as their yearlings will sell even better. This will give the smaller breeders a true opportunity that they need and deserve.

* Trainers, real trainers, will have an opportunity to train horses and manage them for the owners. These trainers would be able make more money. They would be able to keep the horses longer so that the trainer and the owner can actually enjoy their horses, as it is supposed to be.

What is wrong with purchasing a yearling at auction, or raising them yourself, and not even trying to race as a two-year-old? The purse structure is what is wrong!! People cannot afford to do that because there is no money for them. Everything is geared towards “a two-year-old stake horse or bust” mentality. By doing this, we ruin the horses and raise the risks (losses) for the owners. What kind of investment is that? What kind of sport is that? It is the only sport where we throw the youngest stars of a sport to the wolves. Baseball, Football, Hockey, etc, all have systems to allow the young talents to develop. Not us, we destroy them and the investors all at once.

I've been shouting about this for over a decade. Fewer claimers, and give them less money. There is a need for claiming races, but they should never be rewarded for being a claimer. Young talents should be offered a chance to live and get to flourish. Not to die trying. A classic example is the Meadowlands where there are no maiden races. Then, they offer a NW of 2 races life, where a young horse still learning or trying to learn must go, in the summer, as fast as 1:50 and change. That is just ludicrous. This is a death trap at the Meadowlands and they need to, they MUST change this and offer young horses an opportunity to develop.

Hopefully, some racetrack and race secretary, will step up and be the first to establish a better life for the horses and the investors. They need to be treated FAR better.