What does harness racing need---

[Generation XYZ]

Harness racing needs a good purge. Perhaps a sleeve of delcolax and a big colon blow out.

[Kleinhorse]

In my opinion, the challenge of handicapping and making correct decisions in betting is what makes racing (both harness and tbreds) great.  There is so little emphasis placed on explaining how to handicap, that I can't imagine any young fan "getting" what's so exciting about the sport.  In the old days, Sports Eye did a fantastic job at turning each race into a story.  I think track programs should include much more written, subjective discussions of the races.  There are a million other things, but if you never learn to handicap, you'll never become a real, regular fan.

[White Rabbit]

Problem is for the entertainment gambling $ it is boring and to long drawn out. Gamblers want fast action and a lot of it quickly. Win or loss they want it fast , so they can get to the next bet

[Balmoral buzz]

Problem is for the entertainment gambling $ it is boring and to long drawn out. Gamblers want fast action and a lot of it quickly. Win or loss they want it fast , so they can get to the next bet

Then how about in-race wagering like they have in-game wagering. Allowing the odds to be changed from the start to the 1/4’ from the 1/4 to the 1/2, from the 1/2 to the 3/4’s and that’s it. The window locks at 3/4’s pole. That would give gamblers fast action.

[The Exporter]

You can't get much faster than Quarter Horse racing, a few 440 yards in 20 seconds. Some races shorter and faster. Yet, they are regional in population.

[CMJAnew]

Problem is for the entertainment gambling $ it is boring and to long drawn out. Gamblers want fast action and a lot of it quickly. Win or loss they want it fast , so they can get to the next bet

Like a three or four game parlay that takes the entire weekend to win or lose?

[Parked]

2 things the younger set dont like.  Time between races and 1/2 mile, line them up and sit racing.

[7minuteAbz]

I guess you missed the Saratoga women:

Melissa Beckwith
Lisa Z.
Megan Reynolds
Jackie Greene
Amanda Kelly

I was referring to the bettors (patrons).



Linda Toscano

Can others please add some names?

[old guy]

Jackie Ingrassia
Casie Coleman
Susie Kerwood
Brandy Wine

[caddy]

Problem is for the entertainment gambling $ it is boring and to long drawn out. Gamblers want fast action and a lot of it quickly. Win or loss they want it fast , so they can get to the next bet

ENTERTAINMENT  -  look at any other big-time sports.  It's non-stop action .... between innings, at halftime, my glory - there's plenty going on.  It's time to resurrect the old boxing round cards.  Trax could have beautiful bathing suit gals walk along holding a race # placard to show what race is coming up.  WAIT?  can you even say that out loud in this day and age?

Actually, same cultural cluster reason that a track can't have a LADIES NITE promotion.

[seriously]

Let’s see the people in harness racing have punched the betting fans in the face like one thousand times. Now you want to know what will bring these fans back to trust the sport that earns no trust? That ship has left the port.

The original post completely missed the answer.  They didn't even include it.

Owners?  Fans?   that is all they posited.

This person's response was well on the way to the answer. 

NEW PARTICIPANTS.

[Mailbox Money]

I've seen 2 pages of ideas that have a few gr8 points. Without any implementation there's no way to sort out the good from the bad. The one thing I am positive about is that unless the changes are made,nothing will improve!! How can we get a few of these things implemented ? Who can or will get the ball rolling towards a revamped product??

[dinkadoo]

Bring a new person to the track

race 1, no movement, boring race.

wait 25 minutes

race 2, no movement, boring race

Now unless the new person has a mental deficiency, they will know within two races, that if they are not near the front, they will probably lose.

** Now the kicker **

can you get them to stick around for race 3     

[Bitter Truth]

 As long as the slot $$ keeps flowing, no one will do anything. Happy with status quo, and by the time it's taken away[and it will be] it'll be too late.

[IL guy is retired]

The racing industry does a horrendous job of educating its potential audience of the what and how that goes into making the races. As a person who spent most of their adult life in the business, nothing was more aggravating than hearing a novice patron say "all these races are fixed". Product placement wouldnt hurt anything either that isnt about juicing or "fixed". Billions had a story line about Axe being someone who loved the "trotters"....yeah, that worked our well.
 Another thing without question is the HISA bs coming. This will only make things worse. I was never a "Juice guy: when training my own but I used whatever I could under the rules. Well, guess what, HISA will make that gap even larger. Remember what "Tiger proofing" the golf courses was meant to do? It only gave him more advantage.
I wont even bring up the intertrack split issue that is truly THE paramount problem. Im sure many of the games greats will continue to essentially force out the little guys. There's just no way to compete. Just my 2 cents.