[Hero Man]

I think so. So much strategy in harness racing (parked out, boxed in, first over, etc) Runners basically go flat out start to finish.

[Foxx]

I would think yes, but given that, the better jockeys are more likely to be way overbet as it it is such an obvious factor.

[mcaulay777]

One 100 percent a Harness Driver has much more control then a Jockey i would think.You can still google.I remember when Harness Racing came to Fairplex in the mid 80s the meet ran for 2 and a half season a article came out in the LA Times that somethin like 80% of the races were fixed because there were no simulcasting back then,

[littlekona]

I think so. So much strategy in harness racing (parked out, boxed in, first over, etc) Runners basically go flat out start to finish.

think you are incorrect.... Standardberds you ca just point and go left line and they out they are trained like machines they are more push button esp with ear plugs. Way more difficult being a Thoroughbred Jockey esp judging pace of the race

[Hero Man]

One 100 percent a Harness Driver has much more control then a Jockey i would think.You can still google.I remember when Harness Racing came to Fairplex in the mid 80s the meet ran for 2 and a half season a article came out in the LA Times that somethin like 80% of the races were fixed because there were no simulcasting back then,

LOL And I suppose they had some proof of that accusation.

[Hero Man]

think you are incorrect.... Standardberds you ca just point and go left line and they out they are trained like machines they are more push button esp with ear plugs. Way more difficult being a Thoroughbred Jockey esp judging pace of the race

Jockeys are definitely more the athlete and I agree it is more difficult to be a jockey than a harness driver, but the harness driver has a lot more strategy to decide on in order to win a race and is therefore more important to the outcome.

[Hero Man]

I would think yes, but given that, the better jockeys are more likely to be way overbet as it it is such an obvious factor.

As are the better drivers.

[Hero Man]

LOL And I suppose they had some proof of that accusation.

Who were some of your favorite drivers at Fairplex?

[Snowball]

the answer is SUPPOSED TO BE NO.

[mcaulay777]

harness racing l.a. Newspaper reports of widespread race fixing

[mcaulay777]

Harness races in Southern California are regularly "fixed" by drivers who purposely lose while betting on other horses, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The problem is serious enough that four Las Vegas betting parlors handling sporting events nationwide quit taking bets on California harness races last year, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner reported. The paper's investigation was based on interviews with 76 people in the industry, one-third of whom said they knew of races that had been fixed. "From all the information I get, there's no question that's what's going on," said Raymond Seeley, a member and former chairman of the California Horse Racing Board. Rigging races is most common at Fairplex Park in Pomona and Los Alamitos in the Orange County city of that name, the paper said, while Cal-Expo track in Sacramento is the state's cleanest. According to harness drivers and others quoted anonymously by the paper, the most common way drivers cheat is to bet on another horse while holding theirs back from a full effort. Others will hold a good horse back for several races to boost the odds, then bet on their own horse and run a strong race, the paper said. A motive may be declining attendance at races, which leads to smaller purses for winners. The average purse per race in 1986 was about $4,000, but some were as low as $1,000 this year. Since drivers collect only 5 percent of the purse, the winning rider may get as little as $100.

[mcaulay777]

That part of the article i found on the internet!

[mcaulay777]

One more thing Looks like it was the old Hearld Examiner not the LA Times.

[Hero Man]

How does that equate to 80% of the races being fixed?

[mcaulay777]

I was just going off My Memory it was just a statement im trying to remember a article from what 37 years ago! Plus, that was just a excerpt of the article it was much bigger!

[Hero Man]

Makes no sense to me. Why would a driver stiff the horse going for bigger purse money (Los Alamitos, Fairplex) and then try hard for the smaller purse money (Sacramento)? Also, without specifics it is all hearsay...interestingly though. 2/3rds of respondents never heard of a fixed race....makes that the more likely scenario.

[dollarbill]

If only the horse could talk…

[slewfan]

I think the Harness guys need a great deal of upper strength.. They have to hold back on the reins for the entire race to keep the horses from breaking.

[Statman]

Given what's been going on in thoroughbred racing with the indictment of several trainers such as Jorge Navarro and eventually Jason Servais, it would nice to get the FBI involved in conducting a review on the harness racing side. Both industries need to be cleaned up.

[str]

IMO, I cannot see how a harness driver could possibly be more important than a jockey. The number of decisions a jockey could have to make far outweigh that number of possible decisions that could come up for a harness driver. That said, harness drivers have plenty of circumstances to deal with themselves.

As for the race fixing stuff, those two words do not at all identify the various things that could go on in a race. Is it fixing the outcome of a race, stiffing a particular horse, ganging up as a team on one particular horse? There are many scenarios, those are just a few.

And rather than get into a thousand word explanation, which I did do in my Q. and A. thread here, many years ago
( which if you are interested simply go to my thread, click on thread search and put in key words like fix, stiff, or whatever and you should find it), I will point out that terribly small purses create fixing and stiffing situations in some instances. Not all but certainly some. When the winner can barely pay the bills for 2-3 months while the losers go broke, that format is ripe for corruption. Sad but true. That has nothing to do with drugs. Drugs is a whole different situation. Again, much more of that as well in the Q. and A. thread. Once you have seen it, if your question is not answered, feel free to ask one. I will respond with an answer that is harder and harder to find these days.

The truth.

All the best.

[OldBill]

ok wow if so many are fixed why do i keep winning but the tracks you all mention i never played havent bet ponies in a long time because i go late night to casinos that simulcast races harness and flats