I personally love harness racing. It is the area of horse racing that has seen growth in the last while. New tracks at Colonial Downs, Georgian Downs and Grand River attest to the popularity of the sport while thoroughbred racing has seen steep declines over the last twenty years. There has not been a new thoroughbred track built in many years. In Ontario, there are only Woodbine and the perennially-troubled Fort Erie tracks, whereas there are twenty-seven or twenty-eight harness tracks.
While harness is still considered the poor cousin of the two, purses at the prime harness tracks at Woodbine/Mohawk, Meadowlands and Chicago have been climbing steadily, due mainly to the addition of slot machines on the premises. The lack of slot machines at the Meadowlands has clouded that track's future, however. Still, the Meadowlands Pace, the North American Cup, the Metro Stakes and the Hambletonian will exceed $1 million each in purses.
As for the North American Cup, I am partial to Bob McIntosh's barn, particularly his trio of three-year-olds that he likes to parade around Ontario.
As the owner of the prolific Camluck, he seems to get the best of the best colts and fillies.
