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Freehold Raceway cuts purses, Meadowlands could be next

Just more proof that horse racing in the United States can’t survive economically today.

Freehold Raceway has released a reduced purse structure and the Meadowlands is expected to follow with drastic purse cuts if the New Jersey legislature does not quickly fulfill promises to provide a purse supplement.

Freehold issued a statement to its horsemen on Tuesday which said:

“No deal has been reached as of yet for a new purse supplement. We have been overpaying purses by over $100,000 per week. With the current purse schedule, we would be in an overpayment situation in another week. This will be the new purse schedule until a new agreement is reached. Unfortunately, we will not be able to write an invitational pace, open mares or open trot until a new agreement is reached.”

The Meadowlands has also indicated that it could possibly be cutting its purse structure by as much as 45 percent by the end of the month if no agreement is forthcoming from Trenton. Additionally, the leading standardbred track in the country will be asking for payback of the overpayments it made in January.

Without a purse supplement, the Meadowlands’ nightly purse distribution would drop from the current average level of $220,000 per program down to $90,000 nightly.

That is a 60% dropoff. You would think with its close proximity to New York City, racing at The Meadowlands and even Freehold would be thriving. Apparently not, remember the New York Racing association even had to file for bankruptcy almost fifteen months ago. Few race tracks today can survive without support of other forms of gambling(casinos, poker), even then racing establishments often struggle to survive.

Sadly I think horse racing may be dead in this country about 50 years from now. It could happen alot sooner. I’ve been to the races no more than five times since leaving the Navy 18 years ago. If a racing fan like me don’t attend the races, then the sport has problems.

 

Harness horse driver Wally Hennessey gets his 7000th career win

The Hall of Fame driver has won at least 200 races for 17 straight years. From Harnessracing.com-

Hall of Famer Wally Hennessey became the 22nd driver in harness racing history to reach the 7,000-win plateau on Wednesday when guiding Blessed Victory through the wire first in the 11th race at Pompano Park.

Starting from post nine in the non-winners trot, Blessed Victory led every step of the way en route to a seven-length triumph, covering the mile in 1:58.2 to give Hennessey his landmark victory.

“Any time you can reach a milestone like this, it’s an accomplishment,” Hennessey said from the Pompano winner’s circle following his winning drive. “I’ve had many opportunities from a lot of good people, and you don’t stand here with 7,000 races won having done it alone.”

A native of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and born to a family rich in the tradition of Standardbred racing, Hennessey was a dominant driver in the Maritimes throughout the early stages of his career, becoming the youngest driver to win the Maritime driving championship when tallying 136 victories in 1981, returning to claim the title again in 1982 and 1983 before leaving the comforts of home to ply his trade south of the border.

“I used to take some trips down to Pompano Park in the early ’80s,” Hennessey recalled. “I would dream of driving down here, even if it was for just one race. Then, in 1986, I decided to make the jump and give it a try. I’ve been very fortunate to do as well as I have, and many of my wins have come at this track.”

Inducted to the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y., in July 2007, Hennessey is also a member of the Prince Edward Island and Florida Sports Hall of Fame, and will forever be linked with the illustrious career of Moni Maker, who he drove to victory across North America, along with a triumph in the Elitlopp in Sweden.

After finishing 2007 with 274 wins to mark the 19th consecutive season that the 52-year-old horseman has won at least 200 races, Hennessey has no intentions of slowing down.

I saw Wally drive when at Pompano Park when I used to go to the races there with my father. 52 years of age is still quite young for a harness drive. Wally could be driving and or training for another 20-25 years easy.

It isn’t three months since Joe Hennessey, Wally’s father, passed away. I’m sure Joe is proud of what his son has accomplished.

 

Adios stakes race probably moving to Pocono Downs for 2008

It has been raced at the Meadows since beginning in 1967. From Harnessracing.com-

The Meadows is working on an agreement to move its signature race, the Delvin Miller Adios, to Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs for one year, while the new casino building is being constructed on the track’s property. The new building is scheduled to open in early 2009, which would allow for the return of the Adios. Both The Meadows and Pocono are five-eighths mile racing ovals.

Meanwhile, The Meadows also plans to ask the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission for permission to drop Saturday racing in 2008. Track general manager John Marshall told Harness Tracks of America that business has been tough in the afternoon market on Saturdays.

Both tracks are virtually the same, just in different parts of Pennsylvania. The move makes sense, though I am sure local businesses in Washington PA aren’t happy with the one year move.

On a personal note- The only time the Adios finished in a dead heat, was 1972 between Strike Out and Jay Time. Both those horses were rivals of Fast Clip, a horse then owned by my father. Clip didn’t race in the Adios that year. It may have had something to do with an accident that happened in July 72 where the horse’s leg wraps were applied too tightly causing a loss of circulation. A serious injury to a race horse, that caused Clip not to race for almost a month.

A month after the Adios, Strike Out and Jay Time were at it again in the first heat of The Little Brown Jug. I wonder if Keith Waples decision to park Jay Time as the two horses went the 1st quarter in 27 flat had something to do with what happened at The Adios. Jay Time finished last in the Jug’s first heat, and had to be scratched from the second race.

I was to a Adios race in either 1973 or 1974. My father didn’t have a horse in the event, but saw the race take place. Other than Pompano Park in Florida, Pocono Downs is the last harness track I been to. I went there with my father sometime in the mid-80′s.

The Meadows joins a long list of race tracks in financial difficulty. Hosting one of racing’s premier events doesn’t protect any horse venue these days.

 

Breeders Cup Champion trotter kidnapped in Italy

From Harnessracing.com

Equinox Bi, who won this year’s Breeders Crown and Maple Leaf Trotting Classic and is scheduled to begin a career as a sire at Blue Chip Farms in New York next February, has been kidnapped from the Gina Biasuzzi Farm near Padua, Italy. There has been no official information regarding the circumstances of the kidnapping, but news of it began spreading throughout Italy, Europe and the US early Friday morning.

Equinox Bi, who is 6 years old, is the fourth trotter of renown to be kidnapped in Italy in the past 10 years. About two years ago Lemon Dra was kidnapped and that horse has never been found.

Equinox Bi was bred by the Biasuzzi family and trained at their farm in northern Italy by Jan Nordin.

Equinox Bi came to the US this summer and competed at the Meadowlands and Mohawk. He finished second in the Nat Ray on Hambletonian Day, then won the Breeders Crown and Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk in September. He earned $774,348 in purses in North America this year, giving him a career bankroll of $1.3 million.

Equinox Bi carries a royal American pedigree. His sire, Valley Boss Bi, is a full brother to Valley Victory. His dam, Personal Banner, raced for George Steinbrenner in the US and was sold to the Biasuzzis before she won the Breeders Crown as a 3 year old. Personal Banner hails from the family of the great Delmonica Hanover.

A top sire can make millions in stud fees for its owner. The only trouble I see is if the horse is stolen, how do you sell Equinox Bi’s progeny? They obviously would be worth quite a bit of money. If the breeding papers say the father was Equinox Bi, I’d think a buyer wouldn’t want to risk money(and his liberty) purchasing stolen property. If the papers don’t say Equinox Bi, then the colt or filly won’t raise as much money at sale time.

Anyone who knows more about the horsebreeding business, please pipe in. I’d love to hear some theories as to what the horsenappers plans could be with Equinox Bi.

Update- Just occurred to me. The kidnappers could ask ransom of Equinox Bi’s owners in return for their horse.

 

Harness racing driver Joe Hennessey dead at 82

I can not recall ever seeing Joe race, but his son Walter drove many races I attended at Pompano Park here in Florida. Wally is in the Hall of Fame, and I’m sure his father Joe is a great part of why he made it. RIP.

Joe Hennessey, the father of Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey, died Monday in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island at the age of 82. Mr. Hennessey was the patriarch of one of the province’s most well-known harness racing families.

Mr. Hennessey drove his first winner in 1943 at Summerside Raceway, directing his father Wal’s horse Dale H to a 4-2-1 summary finish, with the 2:11 victory being the fastest on the race card that day. He went on to drive 923 winners over his career.

Included among Mr. Hennessey’s more well-known horses were Royal At Law, Cheeky Chief, Dominion Byrd, My Darling, John Willie Bob and Callie Hal. Along the way he also helped many young horsemen get their starts in the business, including Ralph (Bo) Shepherd, Jack Pound, Joe Arsenault, Bert McWade, Lorne Hennessey, Maurice Hennessey and Lloyd Duffy.

Mr. Hennnessey was also instrumental in the careers of his sons, which included Danny, Jody and Gordie, besides Wally.

Mr. Hennessey is survived by his wife, Shirley, and 10 children.

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Another doomed horse racing track- Vernon Downs

Officials there want to end its racing season early.

VERNON, N.Y. (AP) – After struggling to open this year, a harness track in central New York wants to pull the plug on its racing season to save money.

Officials at Vernon Downs near Utica say they want to cancel the last four racing days of the year. The track’s owners want to close for the season after Saturday’s races. Vernon Downs had been scheduled to race on weekends until November 10th.

The track’s owners were hoping that legislation would be passed in the state Assembly earlier this week that would increase vendor license fees for video lottery at New York’s race tracks.

That would have given track operators a higher percentage of revenue from their video lottery terminals.

The state Senate approved a bill in June, but the Assembly postponed voting on Tuesday because of revenue concerns raised by horsemen’s groups across the state.

The decision to close early must be approved by the state’s Racing and Wagering Board.

My father took me to Vernon Downs once, it was in 1972. The track was 3/4 of a mile then, which is an unusual length for a standardbred venue. Most racing are done on 1/2 mile, 5/8 mile or mile tracks. Pompano Park here in Florida is 5/8ths of a mile around.

Sadly Vernon, like many horse tracks, can’t survive on horse racing alone. In this track’s case, other forms of gambling haven’t created adequate enough revenue to finance racing.(Note Vernon Downs financial difficulties go back many years) Having grown up around the sport of horse, I feel sad at what is happening. In honest truth, I don’t even follow the sport much any more. Take for instance, The Little Brown Jug which some call The Kentucky Derby for Standardbred Pacers, was raced last month. It went totally unnoticed by me.

Side note- The Little Brown Jug website contradicts itself. Saying that Strike Out in 1972 went 156.3 then both a Jug and I believe World Record for a 3-year-old on a half mile track at the time, but on another page saying a record set in 1965 stood till 1977.

I know about Strike Out’s record outing, for I was there. My father owned Fast Clip, the horse who came in second to Strike Out. Clip went 156.4 for the race.

Back to Vernon Downs. Rather than hoping for help from the state legislature, the owners of the track may want to re-evaluate whether horse racing should continue at the track. Another band aid is only putting off the inevitable.

 

Joanne Nickells, wife of Harness racing trainer Bruce Nickells, dead at age 73

She was married for over 50 years to my late father’s horse racing stable partner.

The matron of the Nickells family, Kathyrn Joanne Nickells, of Lighthouse Point, Florida, passed away on Sunday, June 24, 2007, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Celebrating her birthday on June 13, she had just turned 73.

Mrs. Nickells had been in poor health for some time, but had attended the races at Hoosier Park on many evenings until just a few weeks ago.

She was the wife of noted filly conditioner Bruce Nickells for over 50 years. Nickells’ standout performers have included Miss Easy, p,3,1:51.1 ($1,777,656); Immortality, p,3,1:51 ($1,614,939); Follow My Star, p,4,T1:52.3 ($1,537,503); Park Avenue Kathy, 3,1:56.4 ($553,521); and Central Park West, p,2,1:53.3f ($534,863). His recent promising performer is Me And My Baby, p,2,1:53.1 ($207,336), who is currently competing at the Meadowlands.

In addition to Bruce, Mrs. Nickells is survived by two children. Assisting in the family stable, son Sep Nickells is a trainer-driver. Mrs. Nickells’ daughter, L. Brooke Nickells, runs the Nickells Stable, LLC, currently competing at the tracks in Indiana.

An owner in the Nickells Stable for many years, Mrs. Nickells campaigned horses like Cosmic Crunch, 7,1:54.4 ($287,809); Midnight Cowboy K, 5,1:57.2f ($92,650); Out Of Sight, p,3,1:52.2 ($200,142); and Padre Hanover, 5,1:54.4 ($169,987).

Mrs. Nickells was considered by many as the glue which held the Nickells Stable together. The stable currently includes a filly named in her honor, Kathyrn’s Secret.

She was an avid gardener and enjoyed antiquing. Serving as president of her garden club, the group often raised funds to benefit underprivileged children.

Note- That’s Joanne on the left. This old photo was ironically taken place at the Indiana State Fair in 1973. Indiana was where Joanne died, and where her daughter Brooke still races.

From age 10 till I was 15, I spent many weeks during the summertime traveling with my father as he pursued the race horses of BruBill stables in the mid-west. The horses usually racing at the tracks in the Chicago area, mostly Sportsmans Park, but also at Scioto Down outside of Columbus Ohio. Bruce Nickells, the Bru in Brubill, was an excellent trainer and adequate driver of harness horses. He was also friends with my father, so I spent many days at the Nickells apartment outside Chicago, at their Lighthouse Point home during the winter. My family coming to Florida on vacation for many years before moving to The Sunshine State in 1976.

I blogged about the Nickells family before in this post, mostly concerning Joanne’s daughter Brooke. My memories of Joanne Nickells are good ones, she was very kind to me and my brother George. Unfortunately my father and Bruce had a falling out in the late 70′s. Other than when Joanne came to my mother’s wake and funeral in 1985, I hadn’t seen her in thirty years.

My condolences to the Nickells family. RIP Joanne.

 

Horse owners want bigger share of slots revenue at Pompano Tracetrack

Pompano Park’s three year agreement with horse owners ended this week. From the Sun-Sentinel-

The horses raced without interruption Wednesday at The Isle Casino & Racing at Pompano Park as uneasy horse owners and track officials remain locked in tense contract negotiations.

The three-year agreement dictating how much the track pays the horsemen ended Tuesday, as a potentially nasty legal battle brews between Pompano Park and the Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association. The association is suing the harness track, accusing Pompano Park officials of refusing to give the horsemen a fair cut of the money generated by the new casino’s Las Vegas-style slot machines.

The association — which represents about 600 owners, breeders, trainers and drivers — wants the state to ban the track from operating its slot machines until a revenue-sharing agreement is reached.

Pompano Park officials announced Wednesday that they would increase the money paid out to the horsemen as of tonight’s races.

“We are pleased to say that on average our purses will increase approximately 45 percent and in some of our more popular race classes, the purse will rise more than 50 percent,” said Doug Shipley, Pompano Park’s general manager.

The attorney for the horsemen’s association questioned Thursday whether the increase in purses is temporary until “the heat is off.”

“Even with this supposed 45-50 percent increase, Pompano Park pales in comparison to what other parks are paying out in other jurisdictions,” said attorney Jeffrey Schneider. “This is even inconsistent with their earlier statements [to the news media] where they said the purses would more than double.”

Horse owner Dave Schneider said he’s considering moving his 15 horses at the track out of state.

“What’s making morale low right now is people don’t know what the future is going to bring,” said Schneider, no relation to the attorney. “You are afraid to leave if it gets good, but afraid to stay if it gets bad.”

Schneider’s threat is pretty empty. Horse racing in this country is in serious decline, click here and here for examples. Moving to another state is not going to improve anything for this horse owner.

Yes the horseman should get a proper share from Pompano Park’s new revenue source, but at the same time the racing industry should be grateful. Without the casino, Pompano Park may have died like so many other racetracks.

 

It’s in the blood

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch-

NEW KENT Once you know who her father is, it’s no wonder that Brooke Nickells has become something of a rarity in the world of harness racing.

In addition to being an owner and a trainer, the daughter of future Hall of Famer Bruce Nickells does what relatively few women do in this sport: She participates as a driver, too.

“When I was going to school, I would work on the weekends and then in the summers,” Nickells said yesterday. “When my friends were at the beach, I’d be at the barn. I always wanted to drive.”

Nickells and her boyfriend, Joe Essig Jr., have a stable of nine horses (they own two) at Colonial Downs for the annual harness meet at the New Kent County facility. While Essig does most of the driving, Nickells has driven in four races during the first 12 days of the meet, winning once and finishing third, fifth and sixth.

“I get a great sense of enjoyment out of it,” she said. “I really like my job. I enjoy working with the horses and having them race and do good. You feel like you’ve accomplished something.”

While her father was riding and training winning entries around the country, Nickells was able to become acquainted with all aspects of the sport.

“I learned everything from him,” she said. “I like to talk to other people, too, and I’ve learned things from other top trainers, but my dad is very knowledgeable. He should be in the [Harness Racing] Hall of Fame.”

At 78, the elder Nickells is still training winners and was working with a 2-year-old filly, Me and My Baby, which raced yesterday in one of the pacing events on the Little Brown Jug card in Delaware, Ohio.

“He’s still pretty lively these days,” Nickells said. “He’s at the barn at 5:30 every morning. You can’t beat him to the barn. He’s always been like that.”

There are a number of women who own pacers and trotters, as well as those who train, but not many who do the driving.

“You see a lot of women on the back side, grooms and trainers,” said the 33-year-old. “I don’t know if they don’t want to drive, but it’s the way I was pointed my whole life. I was trained for driving. I’m not scared of it. It doesn’t bother me to be out there.”

Back in the 80′s there was Bea Farber a prominent driver at Pompano Park here in Florida. Her husband Charles(?) did the training while Bea did all the driving. If I remember correctly they were the leading driver and trainer recordwise at the track one year.

I have to confess knowing Brooke Nickells. We haven’t met in about 30 years, she was a little girl the last time we saw one another. My father was partners with Bruce Nickells, co-owning BruBill farm that raced some 20 or so horses in the 1970s. So I knew the Nickells family well, including Brooke’s mother Joanne Nickells and her brother Sep. There is no mention of Sep in the article, I wonder what he is doing today?

Because of my father’s business partnership, I was a frequent visitor at the Nickells home in Lighthouse Point Florida in the 1970′s. Bruce came to Florida to train his stable of horses during the winter.

Recently I found this news about Joanne Nickells.

The best horse raced by Brubill Farms was Fast Clip. The pacer won a little under a quarter million from 1971-1974. A very small horse, one driver compared driving Clip to being behind the wheel of a small sportscar. My father said he was the fastest horse at the time for an 1/8th of a mile.

This may well be proved by Fast Clip’s 2nd place finish in the 2nd heat of the 1972 Little Brown Jug with Bruce Nickells in the sulky.(Bruce was usually at the reins of Fast Clip, but Max Lynch and Ted Taylor also regularly drove the horse) The Jug is harness pacers’ version of the Kentucky Derby, the most prestigious race for that breed of horses. At the turn for home, Clip was in 2nd place right behind a horse named Strike Out. Till then Clip had been both covered up and not been used for the race, when Clip came out from behind Strike Out, my father said “We have this race won.” Well Clip came second, as the race went 1:56 3/5 a world record then for a 3-year-old pacer on a half mile track. The record before the race was 1:57 flat. Clip went 156 4/5 but still lost. That says alot for Strike Out.

Brubill Farms broke up in the late 70′s as Bruce and my father had a falling out. Despite this, my father called Bruce the best trainer of two-year-olds in the business. The reasoning, Bruce knew how to get a horse to race their best without pushing them too hard. Horses pulling up lame while training was not an uncommon happening with some of the sports legends like Stanley Dancer and Billy Haughton.(Look what happened to a Fast Clip rival named Silent Majority trained by Haughton. If you go to that link you’ll read a brief mention of Bruce Nickells and Fast Clip) Bruce had big stables in Chicago and Columbus Ohio in the 70′s but then fell off for a while. More recently he has become famous for training and driving fillies. With her father as her teacher, I’m sure this talent has passed from father to daughter.

Good luck Brooke, and get well Joanne Nickells.

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