The Big M Blasts Off the Gate

The Meadowlands raceway rose like the proverbial Pheonix from the ashes on the opening weekend of its winter meet. On-track wagering was up 55% opening (Friday) night ($380,499 vs. $245,139) and 40% on Saturday night over the $316,205 wagered the previous year. 

There was a buzz surrounding the newly-banked turns. It seems opening weekend was a rousing success. But the Pheonix known as Big M wouldn’t have so much flapped a single wing had it not been first pulled out of the ashes by Jeff Gural, the driving force behind the resurrection of a track commonly referred to as “The Mecca” of harness racing facilities. The new manager was clearly pleased with fan interest: “It’s very satisfying,” Gural said as the night neared an end. “We got lucky with the weather; it looks like there’s a good crowd, people seem to be having fun, so I think we’re off to a good start. Maybe we’re on to something. I think people will figure out that we’re trying. All you can do is try to make it more fun and give people what they want.“Friday was free admission and free programs,” he continued, adding with a laugh, “I’m sure people were shocked when someone handed them a program for free.”

Gural, who also owns Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs in New York, took over management of the the track on a 31-year lease has kept the track in the news by making significant changes, some of which are not without controversy. Gural has “excluded” certain trainers - the most prominent of which is Yonkers leading trainer Lou Pena and perennial Big M leader Richard Banca-from racing horses at the track. Gural alluded to the “exclusions” is a recent press release he issued after he won a “Railbird Recognition award” voted on by harness racing fans, (although no specific accusations were made): “One thing I can promise is to do everything I can to make sure that everyone is racing on a level playing field. I want to make it perfectly clear that in no way would I have invested all this time, effort and money to simply provide a place for dishonest people to race their horses. I would like to believe that the vast majority of the participants in the sport are honest and all I ask is please don’t ship a horse to race at the Meadowlands that has received any form of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Let’s just all race on a level playing field.” Pena was excluded from Yonkers raceway last year and was subject of a month-long investigation which included blood tests on 58 of his horses and scrutinization of the horses’ feed and veterinary treatments. The test returned only two minor infractions. Red flags were raised based on the astonishing clip at which Pena was winning races at Yonkers. In 2011, he led all trainers with 246 winners from 628 starters - an unheard of 39.2% winning percentage over the course of an entire year.

But Pena, who has not had any major drug positives on his record the past year, is suing The Meadowlands for the right to be able to race horses at the track. The suit alleges that Gural wants Pena banned "for no apparent reason other than that Pena is winning so many races." Gural replied , "Of course not" to that charge, adding that Pena was one of "a handful" of trainers who would not be permitted at the track under his management."My interest is as a businessman, and whether I think that having a person racing is advantageous for our company," Gural said.

There is another major controversial initiative that Gural has shaken the sports purists with. In an effort to increase fan interest, Gural has instituted a rule that no horse that retires to stud at the end of its 3-year-old season will have its progeny eligible for the Big M’s major stakes races. In other words, if you owned Somebeachsomewhere and retired him at the end of his sophomore season, his offspring would not be allowed to participate in the same stakes he did as a 3YO at The Big M. Based on posts on a lot of the interenet message boards and responses to stories on the subject it appears the industry is split on this rule, although most fans (myself included) favor it because it will alllow them to see racing’s biggest stars compete for at least one more season. The Woodbine Entertainment Group, which operates the Woodbine/Mohawk circuit has stated recently that they will follow suit and incorporate the same rule as Gural regarding retiring 3YO and stakes eligibility. (Read more on this in my archived blog post titled “Woodbine makes a bold move to keep it's stars on the track”). Gural and WEG have also received a major shot in the arm from the owners of 2011 North American Cup winner Up The Credit who have said they will race AND breed the pacing colt in 2012 (his 4YO season). “He (Up The Credit) had a knee problem all year and he's over it and better now than he's ever been, so we thought we'd bring him back and race him as a 4-year-old and maybe even a 5-year-old,” co-owner and trainer Carl Jamieson told Harness Racing Update recently. Gural seemed quite pleased with the support ““Up The Credit’s return to the races will provide racing fans the opportunity to watch a major stakes winning three year old compete for another season, rather than disappear into the breeding shed,” observed Gural.

“I applaud their decision and am hopeful that others will consider continuing to race their top horses while breeding them in the future.

We encourage breeders to support Up The Credit as it shows that the Jamiesons recognize the current model of retiring our best three year olds is not working and we need to take some chances for the long term benefit of the industry.”

Gural’s moves are not without controversy, obviously. But it appears his motivation is solely to increase an ever-dwindling fan base and, more importantly, give bettors a product that they will see as fair and competitive. The banking of the turns (taken from a suggestion by top driver Tim Tetrick) is intended to give horses that race from behind a better chance and negate the recent “speed-oriented“ nature of the track. His exclusion of certain individuals sends a clear message to bettors that he believes where there is smoke, there’s fire and he intends to put a clean and fair product on the track every night. As a fan of harness racing for more than 3 decades I can tell you these are all changes that the typical bettor and fan applaud-that on-track and overall handle increased opening weekend confirms it. As a writer, Gural is great for me in that he is sure to give me plenty to write about and report on in the upcoming months.

The highlight of opening night was the “We’re Not So Young Anymore Pace” for 10YO and upward which was won by veteran war horse Silent Swing who jogged in 151.4 off a typically tough trip for trainer Mark Ford for his 51st lifetime win. Silent Swing, a former regular on the WEG circuit has competed at the Open level with great success most of his career and has never been a “trip” horse. He is usually up near the lead or on it, or launching a first-over assault on the leaders. Horses like him that try every race and keep coming quickly become fan favorites.

All in all things are looking up at the Big M and so far, 2012 promises to be an exciting season - thanks to Jeff Gural, pilot of “The Pheonix”.

News and Notes: Little Brown Jug winner raced for the final time last night at Pompano in Florida and his predictable win (a 152.2 romp) made him an equine millionaire heading into retirement. The son of Western Hanover will stand at stud at Midland Acres in Ohio in 2012. In his penultimate start at Pomapano, John blazed in 151.1, eclipsing Beach Towel’s track record for 3YO pacing colts which stood since 1990.

Dan Noble won the 2011 dash-winning driving title, eclipsing 2011 U.S.T.A Driver of the Year George Brennan 773-754; and Noble says he’s up to defending the title in ‘12. “It was a long year to pursue this title, and I'm really glad I did it,” Noble told the U.S.T.A “I am ready to go again for 2012. I am going to try and do this again in the New Year -- even if it means being on the road so much and living out of my truck for another year."