I have to agree with Pandy.
What has hurt the handle in harness racing is the bike not the evolution of speed nor the aggresive driving of the reinsmen today.
In the hey day of harness racing 1962-1978 it was great to see the big gamblers (Mort F, Artie Beard etc ) waiting to play at night and just use their "play" money in the daytime at the TBreds track.
I remember Sports Eye at 35 cents before they had multi tracks or past performances. All they had was morning line and what they thought the horse would go off at.
Your best bets were amazing.
I'll never forget when I saw a claimer on a 1/2 mile go under 2 minutes.
It was at Roosevelt and it was Gene B Good with Carmine in the sulky.
Even the Meadowlands was great at the beginning with horses shippiing in from all over before Garden State made it a year round circuit. Wooden bikes back then no modified sulky.
Remember when BG's Bunny paced 154 in his Wilson elimination?
I thought a 3yr old could never pace that fast.
Nowadays 154 is an average time at the Meadowlands for a 15 claimer in January.
I've gone from 6 days a week at YR and/or Meadowlands to 5 days a week at Monmouth Park.
From Pandy's best bets to CJ's Pace Figures.
Next year I retire and it wil be 7 days a week at Monmouth.
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Arno Umpire
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