Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem Oct. 10, 2022

A good Monday morning to you all! Writing you from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State today, as I took a little holiday from my announcing holiday. But I did get to spend most of the weekend watching the races on TwinSpires, and, man, what a slate of events. I suppose the most surprising race of the weekend was actually in the world of harness racing, where Bulldog Hanover tasted defeat at the Red Mile. 

I’ve been following Bulldog Hanover this summer, as I’m friends with a lot of people in harness racing, and whenever a star pops up in that side of the sport I always enjoy following along. I think one of the great things about harness racing is that you get to see the horses race many weeks in a row. My old boss at Portland Meadows used to own harness horses, and I always thought it seemed like so much fun compared to the Thoroughbreds because you got action every week!

Watching the coverage before the race, it seemed as though the analysts were planning another coronation. It wasn’t if Bulldog Hanover was going to win; that was pretty much a given. Rather, they mostly just described his place in history and whether or not he would lower the world record that was already his. Red Mile announcer Gabe Prewitt made the comment, “If Bulldog gets through three quarters in 1:20 or less, I think we’ll see a new record.”

Well, Bulldog did do that. He hit the three quarters in 1:19.1, and you could hear the gasp and cheers from the crowd on the broadcast signal. But there was a problem. Allywag Hanover was sitting in the pocket behind and kicked out and blew past Bulldog Hanover to win in 1:46. The winning co-owner Adam Bowden even said, “I feel like Marylou  Whitney after the 2004 Belmont Stakes and have to apologize to the crowd.”

It was a shocking upset and to me, major upsets present one of the most unique feelings in sports and in racing. In sports, though, we often have hours to realize that the game is shaping up a certain way and the upset is possible. In horse racing, it goes from a no-doubt-about-it winner to an upset in a minute or two. The din around a racetrack when a huge favorite in a big race goes down is one of the more surreal feelings at the races. It’s this weird mix of shock and confusion. You have people mad because their tickets are all dead. You have the very few who are excited because they went against the winner. It’s just peculiar.

I’ll never forget calling Maximum Security in his first race after the Kentucky Derby DQ. I had a line scripted to use at the wire, and it was pretty subdued because it was obvious he was going to win this race fairly easily, and it wasn’t even a graded stakes. That day, King for a Day played the upsetter, and I knew at about the 5/16ths pole that my scripted line was gone. So we had to improvise. Monmouth is an open-air announcer’s booth, and I still can remember the sound of that grandstand after Maximum Security lost that day.

Since we’re talking harness racing on this column, I’d be remiss not to mention the sad passing of Dave Brower this past weekend. I was heartbroken to read he had died, and as expected there were so many wonderful tributes made to him online and on the Red Mile broadcast from friends and industry co-workers.

I talked with Dave once on my podcast and met him at the Meadowlands back in 2019. He was as kind as he seemed on camera and even let me have some of his and Gabe’s Swedish Fish stash. He was an incredibly talented and professional broadcaster, and his love for harness racing seemed to know no bounds. Rest in Peace, Dave.