Why Harness Racing is a minor sport to TVG.
 

I like TVG and I really like Michelle Yu. But on a night where they have the Meadowlands Pace wouldn't it make sense to have someone on camera who has an idea that when a horse breaks stride there will be an inquiry?

I think they let their best harness people go, which just makes their coverage of this big night look even more lacking.

Maybe they should just play the music tonight and let the races go off in between.

Michelle seems to me to be an authority only on ditzy.
Listening to her for more than a minute or two is pure torture.

People play harness?? :eek:

not really, they just watch and politely applaud.

ive trained both thorobred and standardbred, and although the thorobreds get the glory, they can't hold a candle to their "poor stepchild" siblings the standardbred. the harness horses are more sound, more consistant, race much more and are of better temperment to work with.

over the oast 3 decades the standardbred has improved lightyears compared to the thorobred which is becoming so frail, they barely make it thru their third year of racing.

Might have something to do with the fact that they go a heck of a lot slower, and they're trotting/pacing...not going in a full out gallop...no?

And that you can have a horse have no shot before the race begins. If a horse breaks before the start then just tear up the ticket before the race begins! :ThmbDown:

True, but this really has nothing to do with why the breed might be more durable...

Whoops quoted wrong message.
but that is why its treated to 'minor league' status

Like T-breds never stumble or act up or bolt out of the gate....Or get severely bumped around....Each breed has some drawbacks, don't you agree ?....

best,

But you never see Tbreds stumbling before they reach the gate, or spotting the field a sixteenth of a mile (never have understood why some harness jocks do this). I've played harness more in recent years, but watching how horses break stride at an alarming rate is ... alarming! By the way, I think TVG overdoes harness racing. You harness guys dominate the early to midweek cards on TVG. Just recently did they begin featuring Charles Town. Otherwise we never see old staples like Evangeline and Lone Star and many of the quarter horse meets.

But it happens after the race starts, whereas harness happens before the race starts. Big difference!!!

Few among us care about trotters/pacers. Sooooo boring, and the pools reflect that !!

Yes they "are" different, but they are still "severe" drawbacks....

Say you had a bet on on t-bred, and he stumbles at the start and loses all chance of winning, then what....It is racing luck...Same thing for both breeds....

Actually, other than breaking stride in S-breds, I truly believe that a t-bred can find more ways to lose a chance to win a race than the trotter or pacer...

best,

Ok guess we will agree to disagree. If it happens at the start after the gate opens its racing luck. If a trotter falls back before the start of the race is that racing luck?

How about a t-bred, stumbling, acting up or thrashing about inside a loaded starting gate ?....Same thing, losing all chance before the race starts, wouldn't you say that is quite similar ?....Perhaps, with either breed the horse shouldn't have been racing on that day, to begin with....Harness horses with gait problems are usually unsound racehorses, and most likely should have been scratched before post time...The t-breds have a much looser set of rules when it comes to scratches.....Sometimes, too loose for me....Imagine, a race that starts out with 10 entrants, and they go with 4 or 5 at off time.....Harness horses have to show much more "just cause" in order for a track vet to scratch a horse...

best,