by JAY BERGMAN
for the Hambletonian Society
In 1975, Joe DeFrank was hired by the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority to shape the future of harness racing in the multi-million sports complex planned for the swamps of Jersey. DeFrank stayed in that position for 30 years until his retirement. He passed away in 2020, and the Meadowlands management and Hambletonian Society honored DeFrank by titling the summer Grand Circuit meet that culminates in Hambletonian Day the Joe DeFrank Championship Meet.
History
depends a lot on who tells the story. In the case of the origin of The
Meadowlands Racetrack, which opened on September 1, 1976 much has been
dramatized in a “Field of Dream” scenario. “If you build it they will come,” is
a glorified way of looking at it since the crowd that evening was enormous and
stretched the limits of expectations.
The back story of history is far different than the one portrayed and one needs to look at the larger landscape that surrounded a barren area of New Jersey at the time great minds came together and imagined a New Jersey Sports and Exposition Complex. From strictly a harness racing perspective those who envisioned a “one-mile” track located close to metropolitan New York, anticipated dual use of the surface putting a course in that thoroughbreds would use as well. There was certainly enough land to fit the larger scale track but the wisdom of opening to harness racing at a time when half-milers at Yonkers and Roosevelt were the standards for the industry, came with great risk.
History never quite fully sees the big picture as specific events, such as the amazing first night, lay the foundation for tales large and small of how things first got started.
Joe DeFrank may have been a lot of things to a lot of different people but above all he was a dynamic visionary and a leader of men and, yes, horses too. The celebration of his life and legacy currently underway at The Meadowlands Championship Meet extends from his passion to bring the best horses to East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Inclusive among the many stakes events he added to his program is the 96th Hambletonian that will be contested on August 7 and of course The Meadowlands Pace, a signature event that he constructed by convincing horse owners to pay a series of escalating fees for nomination and then sustaining fees to help create a larger purse.
In today’s vernacular it was a “Go Fund Me” page contributed to by owners hungry to race for purses formerly unknown to this industry.
While all of the stakes races DeFrank helped conceive and flourish are certainly enough to put him in the harness racing Hall of Fame they pale in comparison to the actual work he and his intense and devoted staff put in to overcome extraordinary obstacles and create something magical. What has been forgotten to many is not lost on this observer who attended the opening night and fell in love with a new and exciting racing product that carried with it endless betting opportunities.
The half mile track racing at Yonkers Raceway not only drew strong crowds as they offered a winning product with just eight horses in a race and easy viewing of the entire field with or without binoculars. Gambling to those who made it a regular thing was then a science of understanding the movements of the regular driving colony as well as the nuances of ABC class racing. It was simple and easy to digest for regulars since the racing secretary determined the class and the betting public didn’t have to factor it in. Racing on half-mile tracks at the time was patterned far differently than we see today with fields generally four-in-four-out with a half a mile remaining. The challenge DeFrank and his associates faced at the time was somehow getting people to travel cross state lines number one, then convince them to wager on mile track racing, which before DeFrank’s Meadowlands typically featured eight horses following single file into a quarter-mile stretch before any actual activity took place.
“Product” familiarity was another serious issue on DeFrank’s plate and he clearly recognized that while he couldn’t duplicate the exact scenario Yonkers and Roosevelt regulars had become accustomed to, he could create something bigger and better. The track itself would be a larger scale and many of the drivers and trainers that first came to The Meadowlands would be unfamiliar to many locals.
That DeFrank was somehow able to convince a broad swath of North America’s top training and driving talent to ship large stables to New Jersey was no small feat. Most of those successful stables were leaders in their own states and provinces and were venturing to new territory with expectations may not necessarily be fulfilled.
The Meadowlands had to be a racing/gambling success in order to fund the promised overnight purses promised. Had DeFrank failed to attract a large ontrack audience, one that was not just willing to show up at the track, but also had to wager heavily -- then the powers at Yonkers and Roosevelt would still be laughing today.
That turned out not to be the case, yet it wasn’t just about new drivers and new trainers and new horses at a new racetrack. That was just a mirage to what was really going on behind the scenes and more specifically on the racetrack. DeFrank appealed to horsemen on one end of the equation but also appealed to gamblers by increasing field size from eight over the half mile track to 10 at The Meadowlands. He knew in 1976 that larger fields offered more variables and eventually would lead to better prices.
While Yonkers and Roosevelt held the stage prior much of its nightly racing was patterned by speed tickets where the horses racing first and second from the start would finish that way. That’s why DeFrank’s abandonment of the ABC class system was revolutionary to many and ran the risk of asking too much from gamblers that lived and breathed it their entire careers. Yet that’s exactly where his true genius as a racing secretary comes in. In offering a system based on earnings DeFrank was appealing to horsemen from all parts to come to a track open to prosperity. The thought at the time was that many trainers would be able to show up with quality horses and have them primed to win at realistically reduced levels. It was all the inducement DeFrank needed to attract the horsemen who would provide the foundation for The Meadowlands.
With horsemen in place, it may look as if DeFrank’s job was successful just by putting together a few racing programs and of course the overwhelming presence of racing fans in the stands, but that’s only where he began the journey towards creating the most competitive brand of harness racing this country has ever seen.
DeFrank knew from day one that his mile track racing could not prove competitive at the highest level if horsemen proved reluctant to use their horses before the quarter-mile stretch run. He understood what he was facing in trying to capture and captivate gamblers to wager on larger fields if the bettors never got to see their horses in the picture contending for the win. DeFrank understood gamblers and gambling and he recognized he would lose more fans than gain them if the racing product was unnecessarily boring.
Word has it that DeFrank in his very first meeting with the horsemen let it be known that his mile track racing at The Meadowlands was going to be different. He told all drivers and trainers that he wanted to see movement and if horses were on the outside they best be moving forward. DeFrank was not the type to be “asking” any favors of anyone. His request to the drivers was a demand and over the course of the first years at The Meadowlands those who failed to follow his demands found themselves racing at other tracks. DeFrank held the keys to the stable area and if a particular driver or trainer failed to follow his strict racing guidelines there would be no rooms at the “inn” for their horses in the following seasons.
Of course, there was grumbling on the horsemen’s side at the time as many were not accustomed to being questioned about their behavior on the racetrack by anyone but the judges. In DeFrank horsemen quickly found out that he was someone who didn’t go home after the races were drawn. DeFrank watched the races and had his associates report to him about what they saw or didn’t see in each race every night. For some this would inevitably lead to being summoned to his office following a night’s work and being issued a stern warning.
DeFrank’s leadership may have been tough love to some, but it would lead to some core values that helped propel The Meadowlands brand as the ideal blend of opportunity for horsemen and gamblers alike. That’s not something that could easily be achieved without a stern force at the helm.
While there
was certainly a learning curve for horsemen and gamblers alike adjusting to the
conditioned racing program DeFrank was mindful of not being played by horsemen
who might be looking for a drop in class of their own making. The nuances
required to understand this dynamic are often missed by many in the sport, but
DeFrank was sharp and simply would not allow a horse or horsemen entry into a
particular race if he believed there was any kind of lack of effort involved in
getting there.
What’s fascinating looking back in time at the early days of The Meadowlands is just how intuitive DeFrank and his staff were when it came to putting together a complete card of racing. This was not simply drop in the box and draw for DeFrank, as he meticulously went over all the entries. Over time there proved to be a “DeFrank effect” when there were two separate divisions of the same class on a given program. To understand the subtle nature of DeFrank’s impact say 20 horses that were all non-winners of $8,000 in their last six starts entered for a particular card. DeFrank and his associates would attempt to take the best 10 from the group and place them in one division and the other 10 in another race. In doing so DeFrank was assuring himself and the gamblers two solid competitive fields to wager on. His expertise was from years of experience and a keen eye. The horsemen would complain about this from time to time as not being fair, but for DeFrank the business of the Meadowlands and its ultimate success was more important than hurt feelings of a few.
When history judges Joe DeFrank’s Meadowlands legacy, it will recognize a strong personality with great conviction towards success. At times he led with an iron hand and while there may have been critics, his leadership was the single element in creating a brand of racing unseen before and in some ways missed today.
