Why is it that Harness racing gets very little mainstream coverage in this market? Yesterday at Flamboro Downs, a bright little half mile track several miles north of Hamilton, the superstar of pacing, Somebeachsomewhere abused all his opponents to take the Confederation Cup in two ridiculously easy heats. In the final, driver Paul MacDonell encouraged ‘Beach’ to a world record time (for a half mile) of 1:49.2, even though the three year-old was unchallenged, hitting the wire four stress-free lengths ahead of the next one.

Somebeachsomewhere is a great story. He is owned by Schooner Stables of Nova Scotia; this is a collection  of mostly small investors who really hit the jackpot with this one. Somebeachsomewhere has won 14 of his 15 lifetime races -his only loss was by a head in the Meadowlands Cup and that race was run in 1:47, also a world record.

Somebeachsomewhere is partly owned and fully trained by Brent MacGrath of Truro N.S. and while MacGrath exudes enormous pride and enthusiasm for his colt, he doesn’t come across like the excessively egocentric Richard Dutrow, the trainer of Big Brown. MacGrath is a great example of the little guy hitting it big, a guy who puts his horse’s welfare above all other temptations. Three months ago, preparing a story for Down The Stretch ( Canada’s most entertaining and comprehensive racing paper), I had the pleasure of spending an hour in MacGrath’s barn in Campbellville, face to face with the charasmatic Somebeachsomewhere who, by the way, knows how important he is. 

When Beach races at Mohawk, the attendance is usually about double normal. They jam the rail to see a superstar in his prime. After winning a recent race at Mohawk, MacDonell brought Somebeachsomewhere back down the track for an encore and the happy crowd roared with approval.

Many horse racings stories don’t resonant with mainstream media, perhaps because of the betting that is attached to the game ( though that doesn’t seem to compromise the NFL).

I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I did a dozen sportscasts this morning on 680News. You’d think I’d find someplacesomehowsometime to mention Somebeachsomewhere. I didn’t.

My own rigid conformance notwithstanding, this is a real sports star. It is almost certain that by the end of the year, Somebeachsomewhere will set a time record pacing a prompted mile faster than any other gaited horse. It will make his value as a stallion spectacular.

Maybe it’s time for the media to jump on his sulky. 

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