Post by peterlgross on Mar 3, 2009 9:27:34 GMT -5
I've been thinking a lot more about harness drivers this morning, especially after that horrific eight-horse spill at Woodbine last night. More on that in a minute.
I took my 11 year-old daughter Emily to Woodbine saturday night, because I needed to interview a couple of drivers regarding recent accomplishments. I stood outside the drivers' change room in the new paddock waiting for Mike Saftic and Randy Waples. As I waited, veteran driver-trainer Mike Guitard approached and told me he used to watch me on City Tv in the 70s and 80s, to which I responded that I used to bet on him in the same era. I guess each of us has memories of limited satisfaction as far as that goes.
Mike Saftic was the first to come out of the changeroom. Even though it was less than ten minutes to his drive in the first race, he welcomed the request for an interview. I wanted to ask him about a win he recorded the week before on an 87-1 shot named Stanford Bridge. Saftic was animated and upbeat about winning with the trotter who had five miserable races on his card up to that race, which explained why he went off at such outrageous odds - he paid $177 to win. According to Saftic, the race went perfectly for him. Sandford Bridge started in eighth behind a pace that was probably too hot for the frontrunners. Before the half, in this perfect longshot storm, two of the favourites broke stride and fell out of the race and another favourite suffered broken equipment . When Saftic took his horse four wide at the head of the stretch, Stanford Bridge responded by trotting past all the leaders for the eye-pleasing win.
After the first race, I cornered Randy Waples; the purpose - to ask him to explain how he is the leading driver. Three times in the past he led all the reinsmen at Woodbine and Mohawk - one year he won 430 races, but injuries and other events have taken him down a less smooth road the past six or seven years.
Waples, as indicated in an earlier blogm is an absolute delight to interview. He enjoys the attention and gives an energetic, humourous, sometimes self-deprecating response to the inquisitor's question. His answers are thoughtful and expansive. Waples has had two serious physical problems this decade. A terrible fall three years ago resulted in two broken arms and of all the people to discuss how you perform certain personal tasks with both arms wrapped in casts, Waples is the guy. Lets just say his wife Angela is a special, extremely loving woman. Waples also reminded us that he missed three months one year when his sciatic nerve went nuts, making it painful just to sit in the bike. But, as of this entry, Waples is leading the parade among all drivers and just into the first week of March has earned his owners close to a million dollars in purses, which makes him the country's leading driver according to winnings as well.
My tape machine got 7 minutes of usable stuff, at which point, I thanked Waples for giving me his timem, and then he said something a great majority of pros would not say to a reporter.
"Thanks for keeping track of these things," said Waples.
My daughter had stood patiently and now was begging me to get her a slice of pizza. As we made our way out of the paddock, Waples came running up behind us and handed Emily one of his whips.
"Now I can take care of my brother, Roger " said my delighted daughter, making wild slashing motions with her souvenir.
This morning I came in to 680News and saw the it on the wire - a terrible spill at Woodbine that knocked 8 horses out of the $55,000 Boys Pacing Series Final. I logged on to Horseplayer Interactive which allows speedy downloads of race replays so that I could see this for myself. Mario Baillergeon had the favourite, Warp Speed in third down the backstretch when that horse clearly took a bad step and lurched forward into the track. I think his momentum took him somewhat to the right and because of that, none of the trailing drivers had any chance of avoiding the carnage. Fortunately, this one looks much worse than it was. Every driver behind Warp Speed was thrown from his bike. Baillargeon suffered a broken ankle. Robert Sheppard was taken to hospital with a broken leg and Roger Mayotte has a broken shoulder. The very good news is that none of the horses have any serious injuries; we're told just bruises and cuts.
If you get to watch the video, you will see Jody Jamieson sitting in 8th on HBFs Tommy T...in his attempt to avoid total destruction, Jamieson goes flying off the track and into the infield. Incredibly, he came back to win not only the next race..but the final two on the card for a total of four wins. And Rick Zeron, who was second last at the time of the accident behind Joan's Bad Boy was not only thrown from his bike, but then the trailing horse, Hammingway Hudson, driven by Chris Christoforou actually ran right over him. Zeron, not exactly a softy, fulfilled his obligations on his next two scheduled drives, then, quite understandably, felt too sore to continue. Christoforou also went flying from his bike and was unable to drive the rest of the evening.
As for the official result of the fifth race, only two horses finished - the winner was Windsun Twister driven by Luc Ouellette with Dinner Guest and Randy Waples coming in second. Those two horses were lucky enough to be running first and second when Warp Speed went down.
It is far more dangerous to be a jockey than a harness driver, but last night was a pretty strong example that standardbred racing isn't exactly badminton either.
I took my 11 year-old daughter Emily to Woodbine saturday night, because I needed to interview a couple of drivers regarding recent accomplishments. I stood outside the drivers' change room in the new paddock waiting for Mike Saftic and Randy Waples. As I waited, veteran driver-trainer Mike Guitard approached and told me he used to watch me on City Tv in the 70s and 80s, to which I responded that I used to bet on him in the same era. I guess each of us has memories of limited satisfaction as far as that goes.
Mike Saftic was the first to come out of the changeroom. Even though it was less than ten minutes to his drive in the first race, he welcomed the request for an interview. I wanted to ask him about a win he recorded the week before on an 87-1 shot named Stanford Bridge. Saftic was animated and upbeat about winning with the trotter who had five miserable races on his card up to that race, which explained why he went off at such outrageous odds - he paid $177 to win. According to Saftic, the race went perfectly for him. Sandford Bridge started in eighth behind a pace that was probably too hot for the frontrunners. Before the half, in this perfect longshot storm, two of the favourites broke stride and fell out of the race and another favourite suffered broken equipment . When Saftic took his horse four wide at the head of the stretch, Stanford Bridge responded by trotting past all the leaders for the eye-pleasing win.
After the first race, I cornered Randy Waples; the purpose - to ask him to explain how he is the leading driver. Three times in the past he led all the reinsmen at Woodbine and Mohawk - one year he won 430 races, but injuries and other events have taken him down a less smooth road the past six or seven years.
Waples, as indicated in an earlier blogm is an absolute delight to interview. He enjoys the attention and gives an energetic, humourous, sometimes self-deprecating response to the inquisitor's question. His answers are thoughtful and expansive. Waples has had two serious physical problems this decade. A terrible fall three years ago resulted in two broken arms and of all the people to discuss how you perform certain personal tasks with both arms wrapped in casts, Waples is the guy. Lets just say his wife Angela is a special, extremely loving woman. Waples also reminded us that he missed three months one year when his sciatic nerve went nuts, making it painful just to sit in the bike. But, as of this entry, Waples is leading the parade among all drivers and just into the first week of March has earned his owners close to a million dollars in purses, which makes him the country's leading driver according to winnings as well.
My tape machine got 7 minutes of usable stuff, at which point, I thanked Waples for giving me his timem, and then he said something a great majority of pros would not say to a reporter.
"Thanks for keeping track of these things," said Waples.
My daughter had stood patiently and now was begging me to get her a slice of pizza. As we made our way out of the paddock, Waples came running up behind us and handed Emily one of his whips.
"Now I can take care of my brother, Roger " said my delighted daughter, making wild slashing motions with her souvenir.
This morning I came in to 680News and saw the it on the wire - a terrible spill at Woodbine that knocked 8 horses out of the $55,000 Boys Pacing Series Final. I logged on to Horseplayer Interactive which allows speedy downloads of race replays so that I could see this for myself. Mario Baillergeon had the favourite, Warp Speed in third down the backstretch when that horse clearly took a bad step and lurched forward into the track. I think his momentum took him somewhat to the right and because of that, none of the trailing drivers had any chance of avoiding the carnage. Fortunately, this one looks much worse than it was. Every driver behind Warp Speed was thrown from his bike. Baillargeon suffered a broken ankle. Robert Sheppard was taken to hospital with a broken leg and Roger Mayotte has a broken shoulder. The very good news is that none of the horses have any serious injuries; we're told just bruises and cuts.
If you get to watch the video, you will see Jody Jamieson sitting in 8th on HBFs Tommy T...in his attempt to avoid total destruction, Jamieson goes flying off the track and into the infield. Incredibly, he came back to win not only the next race..but the final two on the card for a total of four wins. And Rick Zeron, who was second last at the time of the accident behind Joan's Bad Boy was not only thrown from his bike, but then the trailing horse, Hammingway Hudson, driven by Chris Christoforou actually ran right over him. Zeron, not exactly a softy, fulfilled his obligations on his next two scheduled drives, then, quite understandably, felt too sore to continue. Christoforou also went flying from his bike and was unable to drive the rest of the evening.
As for the official result of the fifth race, only two horses finished - the winner was Windsun Twister driven by Luc Ouellette with Dinner Guest and Randy Waples coming in second. Those two horses were lucky enough to be running first and second when Warp Speed went down.
It is far more dangerous to be a jockey than a harness driver, but last night was a pretty strong example that standardbred racing isn't exactly badminton either.