Now is a good time to be a player if you wager on harness racing now that the sport has gone international.  Harness racing from France?  Yes.  Sweden?  Absolutely.  Even Australia on weekends?  Check.  What more can you ask for, harness racing virtually 24 hours a day. That is unless you are legally stuck with one ADW; in my case 4NJBets which is run by TVG.   Why doesn't TVG offer this?  After all they offer French and Swedish harness racing on their other platforms, what would be the problem with offering it in NJ (Australian harness racing ..read more

I knew things were not going well for me when I transferred View From The Racetrack Grandstand to another individual but had no idea what was in store for me.  Months and months of being on the DL.  Let's say I was feeling as good as a $1,000 claimer. Life Happens. When I was starting to feel worse, transferring the blog to another individual, one eminently qualified to continue the blog, seemed to be a great idea.  Who knew life was going to throw them for a loop? Life Happens. Anyway, roughly a year and a half later, we're back.  Ready to pick up where we left off.&nb ..read more

Coming in the first half of July, I will be transferring ownership of the blog to a new blogger who will continue writing from where I left off.  I can't say who the new blogger will be but they are well informed in the sport of harness racing and I am sure they will bring an interesting perspective to you, the blog reader. So keep VFTRG bookmarked.  It will be well worth the wait ..read more

Perhaps it is fitting this decision comes on the day the Great Herve Fillion has passed away, though I certainly would never claim any type of equivalency.  It's just funny how some things come together There comes a time when one must face reality; after 3,308 posts (including this one) and over 992,000 views, it is time to say goodbye to VFTRG.  Long-time readers shouldn’t be surprised by this news as the almost daily posting of articles has dropped off to a point where it could be a week or two between postings.  I have been debating this moment for a while when today, the d ..read more

The possibility of Vernon Downs being in the midst of their last season has become more real as the track is slated to close for good on November 11, at the conclusion of the current meet as the New York legislature remains deadlocked over granting Vernon Downs tax relief with regards to slot revenue.  While the Senate has approved relief for the upstate track, the Assembly seems to be bogged down with respect to the bill.  Track majority owner Jeff Gural claims the end of the current legislative session, June 21 is the drop dead date. Harness racing, while a money loser a ..read more

Yesterday, I posted a link to Bob Marks, excellent column over at DRF Harness about questions he would like to have answers to.  Well, with his permission, here are my responses to his questions; admittedly some answers are  bit cynical. Regarding why so few horses qualify at Yonkers even though they want to race there and why they are qualifying at the Meadowlands.  No one wants to go over the half mile oval if they don’t have to.  Besides, who wants to deal with the traffic to get to Yonkers if they don’t have to?  My question is, what happened to the rule if you qu ..read more

From the title of this blog entry, you may be thinking I am talking about handicapping the races.  After all, if you play favorites all the time, odds are you will be losing.  While this may be true, I am talking about race secretaries and the favoritism given to local horses (often the result of contract negotiations).  Take this condition for example: NON WINNERS $6,000 LAST 5 STARTS OR $10,000 IN 2017 STARTERS AT LEAST 10 TIMES AT PLAINRIDGE PARK IN 2016-17 ALLOWED 20% AE: CLAIMING PRICE $15,000 4 YEAR OLDS ALLOWED 25% With this condition, you are basically saying if you a ..read more

The famous Hialeah Park for all practical purposes is gone.  A track of grander in its heyday, Hialeah has some of the best thoroughbred racing in the country with horses like Citation running on their track.  Then, in a bit of deregulation genius, the other South Florida thoroughbred tracks killed off the track, seemingly for good. Then the possibility of slots arose and the track rose from the dead.  Not picking up thoroughbred racing, but going with the quarter horses.  It no doubt lost money, but it was the cost of doing business. Well, after three years of quarter ho ..read more

Parx Racing has instituted new rules effective June 1 (not retroactive) in an effort to protect the wagering public from drug cheats and hidden ownership.  Any trainer who gets three drug positives (fine or suspension) or two drug suspensions within a 365 day period will find their stall privileges  revoked and  be evicted from the track, presumably unable to enter any horses at the track  In addition, any horse which tests positive will be subject to a 45 day suspension and will not be able to be sold or transferred to anyone else who stables at Parx.  If the horse is ..read more

I was watching the Elitlopp broadcast today and thoughts of "What Could Have Been?" came to mind as I took the Swedish spectacle in. What could have been if we didn't emphasize two and three year old racing?  Timoko was the victor of the Elitlopp at the tender age of 10 years old.  The average age of the Elitlopp competitors was 6.875 years old with the youngest being 5 and the oldest 12 (Spring Erom).  Recognizable horses bring their own fan clubs with them to race, bring patriotism to the forefront, you would have thought you were watching the World Cup soccer tournament. Ho ..read more