by Frank Cotolo

Part 1 ishere.

Part 2 ishere.

In the 1990s, it was my job keeping up with the standardbred business as an editor at TIMES: in harness. Having a broad publication platform allowed me to follow through on the Caligula Angle [sic] for another major sports promotion. My idea approaches introducing harness racing to younger generations (most of which are unaware it exists in the present). I intended to bury the direct Caligula inspiration (due to historic and pop-culture controversy) as well as remain silent about my penchant for the graphic chariot races in the Ben-Hur movie (which in and of itself is barely known). Also, my best weapon was simplicity.

To launch the fresh campaign as a member of the industry’s Fourth Estate it was obvious where to start: the Harness Horse Youth Foundation (HHYF). Years before there was a TIMES: magazine there was the HHYF. Its creed is, “To provide young people [and their families] information and experiences with harness horses in order to foster the next generation of fans [and participants].” The brackets are mine since I wanted to focus on fans (vis a vis future pari-mutuel players).

HHYF was the of my boss, TIMES: CEO/publisher David Dolezal. He handed the foundation to Margot Taylor. Dolezal said, “I started HHYF but Margot gave it life.” By the time I joined the initial staff of TIMES: Taylor already created programs (hands-on youth camps, et al) and fundraised and cooperated with other youth organizations to give the HHYF a profound industry presence. I met Taylor during the final years of her tenure. I immediately respected her upstanding presence and knowledge.

After Taylor passed in 1994 the perfect predecessor for the tasks took over, her daughter Ellen. I got to know Ellen Taylor well as TIMES: continued as a promotional leg for HHYF and I agreed with the industry voices saying Ellen knew “how to get things done and her accomplishments go way beyond the HHYF.” During her trips from Indiana to Pennsylvania she became closer to my family. This was also the time when Callie Davies-Gooch emerged as TIMES: most productive marketing manager (after a stream of failures).

Working with Davies-Gooch on a daily basis made easier the pressures of maintaining a robust publication in an industry barely able to support the competition. She handled the tedious marketing tasks at the magazine while being an essential HHYF confrere. This is the duo I approached to volunteer my skills and produce an official HHYF booklet — using my Caligula angle — designed to catch the favor of kids. Ellen was open to the new approach the project was approved.

HHYF offered a library of educational booklets. They were filled with educational games, puzzles and generic information on the breed and breeding practices. The target audience was individuals 11 years old and up. The new booklet was called, Studying The Standardbred/The Basic Stuff.

It employed 11 pages with six deft sections presenting harness racing with a fan emphasis. A dozen pages of easy-to-read texts (with graphics) addressed dramatic elements of the sport theretofore missing in any past booklets for promotional attempts. I wrote the copy opening with the headline: Is harness racing cool?

“Up close, harness racing is big, loud, dangerous and fast… including the pounding of eight or more horses’ legs as they smack the track, kicking up dirt as their hooves slice the surface…” and “You can realize more about the excitement and danger of harness racing if you were at a racetrack watching and listening and feeling the vibrations when a field of harness horses fly down the stretch pounding the earth…” and “If there is an accident… you would have the unfortunate experience of seeing how things could go wrong… you would experience something that is unlike any description anyone ever gave you about harness racing… you would know how skillful, how powerful, how exciting harness racing really is. Is that not cool?”

More emphasis on standardbreds followed with a comparison to thoroughbreds. The text referred to harness horses as “monster horses… more durable than thoroughbreds…” a harness horse “can fall and tumble in one race and be ready to go in another on the same day… You would never see a thoroughbred racing more than once a day and if a thoroughbred fell during a race, you might never see that horse race again, no less see it back next week and maybe even win.”

In the next Among Ourselves episode, I will transcribe the remainder of the booklet (and describe its graphics) along with suggesting ways to update it as a promotion to present to the crowded-social media atmosphere.