Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds on Racing's
Personality of the Month
January 2005

Christine DiNicola

You've seen her a million times, but
who really is that red-coated woman who shuffles through the snow, rain
and sleet to grab 1,200 pounds of horseflesh at harness racing's
premiere racetrack night after
night after night?

It's none other than Christine "Chrissy" DiNicola, who just began her 15th year as the Meadowland's winner's circle attendent. Chrissy grabs horses after each and every race so that owners, trainers and drivers may have their photo taken in easy fashion.

A native of Schenectady, New York, the 41-year-old lifetime horse lover worked for a number of different trainers in New York, Canada and on the Grand Circuit after high school.

"I didn't grow up in a harness racing family, but I was a horse crazy kid who loved to ride," Chrissy recalled. "When it came time for college, I really wanted to go, and to go into a horse-related program, but at the time they didn't have the programs available that they have today."

Chrissy began working initially as a caretaker for Saratoga-based conditioner Dick Hamilton, and later worked for Glen Garnsey. It was as a groom on the Grand Circuit that Chrissy honed the skills that would serve her well later in her position as winner's circle attendent at North America's top harness track.

"I started from the ground up, cleaning stall," Chrissy said. "I learned horsemanship, and I learned how horses reacted in various situations. When I took the position with the Meadowlands, I had been kind of looking for something different to
do within the industry."

Christine DiNicola

"It's tough when you're a groom with some of the top horses, because at the end of their three-year-old seasons, most of them retire, and it can be a heartbreaker after you've been working with them 24/7," Chrissy added.

"The girl who took the photos in the winner's circle was a good friend of mine and told me that the girl who was the attendant at the time was planning on leaving, and I thought it would be the perfect job for me," Chrissy continued. "Knowing how to hole horses properly, and how they might react has really helped me a lot. This year I started using a lead shank as it give me better support and control with horses that toss their heads or tend to move around a lot. it also adds an added element of safety to my job too."

Chrissy has held some of the best horses in harness racing history, including Moni Maker, Muscles Yankee, The Panderosa, CR Kay Susie and a host of others. Bunny Lake is her favorite amongst the females of the sport.

"She was my all around favorite," Chrissy said. "She was a very tough race horse with a lot of class and as worked up as she could get in the paddock, she was always a lady in the winner's circle."

"Claimers are my favorites of all the horses," Chrissy noted. "Horses like JW Best, who got claimed, it seemed, every other week here at the Meadowlands in 2004. He was always in a different barn, but every time he walked in to the winner's circle--which was a lot--he was a total gentleman."

Every since Chrissy has worked at the Big M she's handed out candy or chewing gum to the winning driver in the winner's circle. Two years ago, she started a new tradition.

"For any finals of major event, I buy carrots iwth the tops on them, I buy them by the bushells," Chrissy said. "The horses always are the ones that get left out, and I think they deserve a treat for their hard work. So each winner gets a thick bunch of carrots that she or he gets to eat after they're finished in the dentention barn and properly cooled out."

Chrissy and her husband Joey, have been married since 2001. In fact, the couple became engaged in the Meadowland's winner's circle, when Joey proposed to Chrissy in October of 2000.

Besides working as the Big M's winner's circle attendant, Chrissy and Joey work at maintaining many of the Meadowland's driver's bikes.

"It's a nice side job for us, and another way of staying involved in the business," Chrissy noted. "There's a lot that goes into maintaining some of these newer wheels. And the drivers and a few of the trainers know that they can trust us to do a good job, and have their wheels and race bikes ready for them."

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