This week Stan talks with driver John Campbell

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November 15, 2006

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John Campbell receiving the Stan Bergstein Messenger Award in 1999 for unparalleled achievement and unmatched accomplishments in harness racing.

  

 

John Campbell, shown after winning the second Oliver Wendell Holmes division with Took Hanover.  HTA's general counsel, Paul Estok, and executive assistant, Brody Johnson, on hand at The Meadowlands for the trophy presentation on August 5, 2006.

 
 
 

 

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World in Harness will publish selected comments and interview selected listeners.

 

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Hi Mr. Bergstein,

 

Having witnessed firsthand the carnage of the battle over Issue 3 here in Ohio, I can tell you that a lot of what defeated it, in addition to the “making nine rich guys richer” approach, was various ads mentioning the horrible sin of gambling, and how having slot machines in racetracks would lead to hordes of shabbily-dressed people standing around for hours and days on end, gambling their money and lives away while their children starved.  It pounded home the idea that crime rates, prostitution, etc. would rise if slots came in.

 

Never mind the hordes of shabbily-dressed people already standing in line at the convenience store to spend money they shouldn’t be spending on lottery tickets, gambling their money and lives away while their children starve.  None of the politicians seem to have a problem with that.

 

I’m just a wee bit bitter about all this, as you can well imagine.  People in this state are, in my opinion, unbelievably stupid and shortsighted.  Bah!

 

Corky Visminas

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The sport needs a John Campbell  and I believe he would make a excellent choice as a promotional spokesperson to work with a marketing team. I believe he has the personality, intelligence and background to bring a more knowledge and  positive spin to the public regarding our sport.  I have never spoken to anyone, who believes that anything to accomplish this is being attempted.It is time for racetracks, the U.S.T.A. and horsemen to act in proactive not reactive mode.

RC Feldman

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Dear Mr. Bergstein,

 

I remember the days of you and Spencer Ross bringing to my living room racing from Roosevelt and Yonkers. ( I miss the good old days). The problem with our sport is NO PUBLIC RELATIONS...How about a National TV program or Harness Racing Channel on Cable?

 

I am a standardbred owner with VIP Internet Stable and it infuriates me when I can't bring my daughters to the paddock to show them the behind the scenes. I understand the dangers and insurance issues (I'm an insurance agent) but how does our industry expect to bring new fans if we don't expose our kids and grand kids to the horses.

 

I'm hoping that reopening of Yonkers Raceway will give the desperately needed jolt for public relations and awareness to our sport.

 

Paul Rosen

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How about a show on the real issue which is performance enhancing drugs and the inconsistent performances of horses, trainers & drivers. You have to face the reality that harness racing as of today is no different
then professional wrestling.
 

Rich Laurenzano

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I am a Harness Owner, and am amazed at the lack of publicity the Harness racing produces .

 

My local paper in Staten Island no longer provides weekly handicapping, only the entries, and it is such an unknown to this borough that I am at a loss for words .

 

How do you support a sport when no body knows or cares about it ?

 

The OTB channel 71 shows Yonkers/Meadowlands, and various other tracks, but if you have DirectTV, even the local channels it offers does not carry this channel. They say the reason is that the feed is not strong enough for the Satellite carrier to receive. So this product does not get to DirectTV subscribers.

 

Also, Yonkers used to have between races, Frank Drucker interviewing Owners/Trainer/ Drivers, a great product. For some reason, they stopped it.

 

I again, am at a loss for words on how Harness Racing as a sport is being presented to the public; no new fans are coming on, which is obvious with the lack of support they are publicizing and Harness racings future will then only be another form of betting at the tracks/ converted Racino's ...

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Whenever the T-breds have airtime (which I admit to watching) they always seems to have some great "human interest" features, whether it be a paralyzed trainer, a 94 year old owner, a jockey fighting weight problems, or addiction, or whatever.

 

From a personal point of view, couldn't we do something like, "a day in the life of a harness trainer (or driver or groom), or whomever. There always seems to be great little blurbs on the USTA website about the 91 year old driver, and other tidbits, that I believe could be turned in to something fascinating, and a one hour show, that might draw some attention.

 

FYI, I started attending the races in 1960 at Yonkers, and was fortunate enough to witness the peeks of the 1960's and 70's.  I was at Roosevelt the night that 55,000 people attended the International trot, and many other great evenings.

 

 

Jay Hechtman