The state of harness racing.
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- Key People:
- John D. Campbell
- Hervé Filion
- Billy Haughton
- Related Topics:
- sulky
- Hambletonian Stakes
- Grand Circuit
- trotting
- pacing
By 1980 harness racing seemed to have no limit to its growth in purse amounts, attendance, stud fees, and prices paid for horses. The $1,000,000 earning horses were topped by $2,000,000 winners. A pace at Meadowlands in 1980 had a purse value of more than $2,000,000 with more than $1,000,000 going to the winner. Drugs used on horses for medication complicated the problem of controlling corruption. There was over-racing (a day’s card was normally ten races). Harness racing and flat racing serve different constituencies, but a determined horseplayer could leave after the ninth race at a flat-course track and have time for a meal before the evening’s harness racing began.