Quote from Lonnie on August 23, 2026, 12:53 PM

If you aren't on Facebook, or if you are and haven't seen Nancy Takter's follow up, here it is:

Who Can Create the Change We Need?

The response to my open letter has been overwhelmingly encouraging. So many people recognize the same problems facing harness racing. But recognizing the problems isn’t enough. The next question has to be: Who can actually create the change we need?

I don’t believe we lack talented people. Harness racing has an incredible amount of untapped talent.

There are owners, trainers, breeders, gamblers, executives and fans who have built successful careers outside of racing—in technology, finance, marketing, entertainment, hospitality, media, data and countless other industries.

Instead of continually asking the same small group of racing people to solve every problem, why aren’t we identifying the experts already within and around our sport and putting their knowledge to work?

If we agree on the five basic priorities I outlined, let’s put the right people around each one.

1. A Coordinated National Racing Schedule

Bring together racetracks, horsemen, owners and racing secretaries with people who understand logistics, scheduling, data and consumer behavior.

The objective cannot be protecting everyone’s individual territory. It has to be creating the strongest possible national wagering product.

 

2. A Truly Great Wagering Experience

We need serious gamblers at the table alongside technology, gaming, app development, data and customer-acquisition experts.

Ask one simple question: If we were inventing harness racing wagering today for someone sitting on their couch with an iPhone, would we build what we currently have?

Of course we wouldn’t.

Let’s find the people capable of building what we would create today.

 

3. Turn Our Major Race Days Into Major Events

Our biggest days should feel like major sporting events.

Bring in people who understand marketing, professional sports, hospitality, sponsorships, social media, television and event production.

These days should showcase everything great about harness racing—the horses, personalities, owners, competition and lifestyle—and create experiences people actually want to attend.

 

4. Make Ownership Our Growth Engine

Our business ultimately depends upon people wanting to buy horses.

Without buyers, sales suffer. Breeders suffer. Trainers suffer. Eventually, the entire ecosystem contracts.

We need successful owners alongside people from finance, sales, customer service and marketing examining fractional ownership, partnerships, owner experiences and better ways to introduce successful people to racing.

We spend enormous energy trying to create fans. We should spend just as much energy creating owners.

 

5. Make Racing Sustainable for the People Who Work in It

The people actually living the racing schedule need a voice in designing it—grooms, trainers, drivers, officials, racetrack employees, veterinarians and owners.

We have somehow reached a point where everyone is exhausted while simultaneously worrying that our industry is shrinking.

That should tell us something isn’t working.

More isn’t necessarily better. Better is better.

 

So Who Leads This?

Maybe the answer isn’t another committee filled with the same titles representing the same organizations.

Create five small working groups—one for each objective. Put five or six highly capable people on each. Mix racing experience with outside professional expertise. Give them a clearly defined problem and 60 or 90 days to return with specific, actionable recommendations.

Then publish those recommendations for the entire industry to see.

That brings me to something I believe must be non-negotiable going forward:

 

Transparency.

Major decisions affecting people’s businesses, investments, employees and livelihoods should not continually be made behind closed doors, with everyone else finding out afterward.

Not every conversation can happen publicly, but the process must be transparent. People should know who represents them, what major decisions are being considered, why they are being made and how their representatives voted.

Future governing bodies should have clearly defined representation, with legitimate elections or selection processes where appropriate. There should also be term limits.

Leadership should rotate. New people bring new ideas, and representatives must remain accountable to the people they represent.

 

Transparency. Representation. Accountability. Term limits.

Those should be fundamental principles of whatever comes next.

 

Now We Need the People

This is where I would really like to hear from people.

If you are involved in harness racing and have professional experience in technology, app development, gambling, marketing, finance, hospitality, entertainment, media, data, scheduling, customer acquisition, governance—or another area you believe could help—reach out.

Tell me what you do, what expertise you can bring to the table and which of these five problems you believe you can help solve.

I am probably not the person who has the time to spearhead this entire effort. I have a large stable to run. But I am absolutely willing to start the conversation, get the ball rolling and help put the right people together.

If enough capable people step forward, perhaps we can create a real group—not another committee that meets, talks and disappears, but people with different expertise focused on producing actual solutions.

Harness racing already has many of the people we need. We simply haven’t organized their talents around a common objective.

My first letter asked whether we could do things differently.

After seeing the response, I believe the answer is yes.

Now let’s find the people who can help us do it.

 

Want to Help Move Harness Racing Forward?

If you have expertise, ideas or professional experience that could help with any of these five priorities, I want to hear from you.

Tell me what you do, what you can bring to the table and where you believe you can help.

Contact: harnessracingforward@gmail.com

Let’s identify the right people, bring them together and start turning ideas into action.