Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Personality of the Month
August 2008

John Berry

John Berry is one of those multi-talented people who have worn nearly every hat possible when it comes to publicizing the sport of harness racing, with which he as been involved for over 40 years.

His writings have appeared in the sport's major publications including The Harness Horse, Horsemen & Fair World, Hoof Beats, Harness World, Hub Rail, and many others.

John Berry

John was the winner of the coveted Hervey award for a storoy about the Little Brown Jug and a classic Roger Huston race call. He served as the US Harness Writers Association president and as the Florida chapter's president and annually heads their annual awards dinner, raising thousands of funds for the Allan Finkleson Scholarship fund.

John has worked for the Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association, Balmoral Park, the Standardbred Owners & Breeders Association of New Jersey, Pompano Park, the National Raceline and the USTA, where he conceived their "Horse of the Month."

While at the IHHA, he created the Illinois-bred Season's Leaders list and complied, wrote and editied the Illinois Standardbred Yearbook for the Il. Dept. of Agriculture. He also modernized and wrote stallion directories for the SOBA of NJ and a state industry report for Harness Horsemen International. Currently, he is putting the finishing touches on his second edition of his book, The ABC's of Pari-mutuel Wagering.

As a broadcaster, Berry served as color commentators and producer for New Jersey's series of harness racing broadcasts on PBS and was a member of the first broadcasting duet to do a radio broadcast of the Breeders Crown in Canada. He also serves as a pedigree reader for sales in Illinois, New York and Florida. He was also spotlighted in a CBS of Chicago news segment as "Someone You Should Know," due to his work with charitable organizations and goodwill efforts within harness racing.

As a handicapper, John was known as "Pickin' Berries" in the Balmoral Park racing program and received his "PHD" (Professional Handicapping Degree) from Teletrack in Connecticut after conducting a seminar where he selected a quintet of winners at Yonkers Raceway. He is also believed to be the only handicapper in horse racing history to prdict a "dead heat" in a live seminar at The Meadowlands.

Today, John serves as Pompano Park's handicapper for the Sun Sentinel Newspaper and continues to do some part time race calling for the FLorida-breds in their summer-fall stakes series. As a licensed auctioneer who has conducted over 1,700 auctions, Berry recently was the host of the WPBT Public Televisions record-breaking auctions in South Florida. Also, his slogan: "Pompano Beach: A Century of Building Brighter Tomorrows" was chosen as the official slogan for the Pompano Beach centennial celebration.