Jog your Memories

Harness racing is a sport built on tradition, and Hoof Beats wants to hear about it. Every other month, there is a section in Starting Lines called "Jog Your Memory," where readers submit their favorite racing memories. We have printed several great stories, but the submissions have slowed to a trickle.

Would you like to share your favorite racing memory with Hoof Beats readers? Just write it down, 300 words or less, and send it to me at tj.burkett@ustrotting.com. Just please be sure to include your first and last name when submitting. The first five people to send in their stories (by Aug. 28) will get a print of Niatross and Clint Galbraith. If you would like a print, please include your mailing address.

Send in your memories. I can't wait to read about them!

Full of Adrenaline

Rich Johnston and T.J. Burkett really outdid themselves on their video efforts from Adrenaline, the big entertainment event up in Canada last weekend. Check it out at www.youtube.com/ustrotting.

Sounds like the event was terrific, though some weather issues may have impacted attendance. There were bands, different types of races, all kinds of food and booths. Rich and T.J. both loved the idea that attendees could buy pre-purchased for $10 betting tickets for five races, without having to do any handicapping, or visiting the betting windows at all—expect to cash! Great idea for the novice.

This week is the beginning and the end around Hoof Beats—the beginning of our ramp up to some extensive coverage at both the Little Brown Jug and Lexington, and the end of our summer interns, who have been such a big part of our staff. Every quarter we welcome students from The Ohio State University, who are selected from Comm 602, the magazine writing class I teach at OSU. Ian, Justynn, Matt, Jonathan and Catlin have made up a super intern class—working hard on stories, interviews, race coverage, etc. We are grateful for their efforts and look forward to our new interns, Samantha, Kristen and Whitney starting up in the fall.

Have a great day,

Nicole

 

First night at Adrenaline

I'm here in Sarnia, Ont., with Rich Johnston, our multimedia coordinator. Last night we went to opening night of the Adrenaline Festival, but getting here was somewhat of an adventure.

We didn't know it, but our hotel is so close to the U.S. that we can see the border crossing from our room. Naturally, we drove past it and we were driving past Hiawatha Horse Park before we realized our mistake. We turned around on the 402 and started to head back.

And that's when the rain hit.

In a matter of moments, it was a blinding rainstorm and we were stopped on the freeway. Later I found out from festival organizer Mark Hetherman that the rain had flooded the paddock and Standardbred Canada CEO Ted Smith there were some power outages in the area. This was three hours before the event was scheduled to begin. By the time we reached the hotel the rain had stopped completely.

We got at the track around 5:15 p.m. with the opening ceremonies set to begin at 6:30. We hadn't been to Hiawatha Horse Park before, but were impressed by the cleanliness and layout of the plant. We went outside and saw that an entire area was set up further down the stretch with rib vendors, a climbing wall and a stage, but the rain and the fact that it was Thursday night may have kept the crowds down.

We talked to several interesting and engaging people on the Canadian harness racing scene, too. In addition to Smith, we talked to Hector Cloutier, the executive director of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association, and Chris Roberts, who at Georgian Downs introduced Xtreme Horsepower racing to Canada. Check out the videos on ustrotting.com to see what they have to say.

For me, Xtreme Horsepower was the highlight of the night. The concept is a series of odd-distance races, from an eighth of a mile to 1-1/4 miles. The eighth-mile race was over before it started (12.4 seconds), but I liked the 1-1/4-mile races--until the horse I picked managed to get parked for more than a mile!

I can't wait to get back out there tonight. It's Friday night, and with the band challenge, I think the crowds will be out. Rich will produce a video that will air next week, so if you couldn't make it out, he'll be sure you felt like you were there.

Adrenaline Fest

The September issue will be ready to go by Monday, so now I'm getting ready to head up to Sarnia, Ont., Thursday to check out the new Adrenaline Festival. I'm excited to see all the attractions and events they have planned, and how it will be integrated with the harness racing.

The event kicks off Thursday night and will run through Sunday. The first three days will be geared toward 20-30-somethings (which is my age demographic), with Sunday being the designated Family Day. I think it's great that Standardbred Canada has devised and gone through with this idea--we can only hope now that the weather will cooperate!

Stay tuned for coverage in the USTA newsroom, along with exclusive video courtesy of our resident A/V expert, Rich Johnston. There will also be something about my experiences in the October issue of Hoof Beats.

Cheers,

TJB

Post Race, Post Haste

There are few more stimulating times around the Hoof Beats offices then the week after the Hambletonian, where we rush home to write stories, select photos, and put it all together for the September magazine.

I started writing the main race story during the nine-hour car ride home (those Pennsylvania tunnels were a challenge), and finished it up Monday, then wrote eight sidebars by Tuesday afternoon.

But I am just one cog in this wheel—T.J., Chris Tully, Ken Weingartner and all of our interns have also been churning out the work in high gear.

One of my favorite elements we put together today—a photo of the paddock crowd just minutes before the horses head to the track. As many people as we could identify were asked one question: What were you thinking at this moment in time. I bet some of their answers surprise you!

For the first time in my tenure (I can’t speak for any earlier editors), we are also having a contest to select the cover of the September issue. We have three very different shots of Muscle Hill, and the one that gets the most votes will be the cover photo. In the first few hours we had 250 responses, but I can’t tell you who is winning—it’s that close! Be sure to have your vote counted before the deadline next week.

One of the wonderful parts of Hambletonian week is seeking so many friends—those I have known for years, and those I meet that day. I cannot thank enough everyone who asked me about the health of my husband, Brian, who is in remission from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Your good thoughts got us through the tough times, and they make these good times even better. I am so grateful to report that Brian’s six-month CAT scan, taken Wednesday, showed no sign of cancer. It was a wonderful Hambletonian indeed!

Me and Sam McKee

Got a chance to talk to Meadowlands announcer Sam McKee today for a sidebar to our Hambletonian coverge in the September issue. I caught him as he was driving to Alabama to drop his kids off at school. Let me say, Sam is a class act all around.

He has been calling races at the Meadowlands for 10 years now in a platoon system with Ken Warkentin. This year, Ken worked as an on-air analyst for the NBC broadcast, so Sam got a chance to do something that he couldn't even dream of as an aspiring race caller growing up in Michigan--he called the Hambletonian final. When I spoke with him before the race, I could tell that he was excited.

Sam already has called some of the most memorable races in recent memory--including Art Official's upset of Somebeachsomewhere in the 2008 Meadowlands Pace and the raceoff of the 2007 Kentucky Filly Futurity when Ron Pierce waved at fellow driver Trond Smedshammer when he passed by with Passionate Glide--but he said calling the Hambo was a special thrill that will be hard to top. He's so humble, yet so personable, that I walk away in a better mood whenever I speak with him.

A huge reason why I'm such a huge Sam McKee fan goes back to the day I met him. It was 2006, and I was covering the Hambo as part of the team at the Horseman & Fair World. I was introduced to Sam during a break in his nightly TV broadcast when he said, "Didn't a relative of yours race a son of Crash at Sports Creek?" Yes, Sam, my uncle Kelly Burkett raced Supreme Battle p, 2:00f ($22,087), a son of Crash, at Sports Creek Raceway--in 1984! I was stunned that he would remember such a thing about my family, especially since my family's involvement in the sport has been so sporadic. This unbelieveble memory pull endeared him to me for life.

(Side note: I looked it up on PATHWAY, and that year, Supreme Battle made 19 starts, with 16 wins, two seconds and a third, and earned $3,139! I guess we were racing for the love of the game.)

After our formal interview was done today we began to chat. Sam started out calling county fair races in Michigan and Ohio in 1976. I grew up and raced at fairs in Michigan as well, so we shared a common bond in how far we've come from the Michigan county fair circuit to the bright lights of the Meadowlands Racetrack, even if it's just "on the fringe of the sport," as he so eloquently put it.

When I was 15, I remember how my dad and I would finish the fair racing season and ship out to catch the last two months at Hazel Park Raceway. When I would get to warm up on the big five-eighths-mile Detroit oval I thought I had hit the big time, so to get to do what I do now is just over and above any of my wildest expectations. Sam told me about a similar situation when he was driving in qualifiers at the old Wolverine Raceway to get his driver's license, and he "thought he was the cheese!"

I think these humble beginnings keep us both earnest and excited about harness racing. TJB

Winning Relationship

We’re back in Columbus after spending all of Sunday driving back from New Jersey. It’s good to be back home and now it’s time to get to work on putting together all the stories, photos and videos we gathered while we were out at the Hambletonian.

I spent some of the day working on a Hoof Beats story about Hambletonian Oaks winner Broadway Schooner. I found out that Jim Campbell, who conditions Broadway Schooner, also trained her sire, Broadway Hall, and dam, Pine Schooner. It really speaks to Campbell’s longtime relationship with owner/breeders Arlene and Jules Siegel that he is now training champions of champions under the Fashion Farms banner. Campbell said it was a special win for him and the Siegels, who also won the 1995 Hambletonian with Tagliabue.

I’m excited about the September issue, which will be packed with extensive Hambletonian coverage and a Little Brown Jug preview section that I’m sure you’re going to like.

Cheers,
T.J.