Page 14 - The Donald Rankin Family and Harness Racing

ISSUE : Issue 45

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1987/6/1

one mile.) They'll move out at the half and start going. The best place to be then is second over--is be out on the outside with a horse in front of you. So he's cut? ting the wind for you, and you're follow? ing him along. And then at the head of the stretch, or down the backstretch, you can pull three wide to get around them. That's the ideal spot. If you could pick a spot every night to be, would be second over at the half! (When it comes to that final stretch, can you push things, can you make things hap? pen? Can you force an opening in any way?) You're not supposed to, no. You can't in? terfere with anybody either. Like there's lots of times that you're caught 2 on the rail, and there's a fellow up on the out? side of you. You can't push him over. He's got that spot. All you can hope for is the horse on the rail will go ahead far enough that you can get out ahead of him. Or you've got to take back behind him and go out around him, in back of him. You can't push him over. Or you can sit there and wait--if you've got patience enough--and wait in the hope that when the horses get tired, they usual? ly drift one way or the other. They'll start bearing out or bearing in. And if he's caught out there for awhile, he might get tired and bear. So if he starts to bear out, then you'll get an opening to go up through. But you're not supposed to push a fellow out. They'll set you back for it anyhow. (But some fellows do do some pushing.) Oh yeah. (Have you ever got accused of that?) Oh yeah. Lots of times. Well, you try not to do it but, like, sometimes you do it, you know what I mean. But it's not the right thing to do. (They refer to you as"an aggressive racer. Do you feel you are?) Yeah. I like to win. Or I like to get as much as I can. Well, people are betting on you, so you're not doing it for yourself, you're doing it for them, too. You've got to follow the rules when you're doing it. Like everything else, you know, you do things that you shouldn't do. (Sometimes you get away with them.) Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don't. (It's a bet.) Yeah. (Let's say you're in that position again. You're on the rail, you're the #2 horse, there's a horse at your side. You're com? ing to that straightaway. What are you go? ing to do if you're aggressive?) You're go? ing to try and edge out, edge out, and edge out and edge out, and try to get through. (Everything's going very fast out there. Do the bicycles ever touch?) Oh yeah. That's not too serious, the bikes touching. A lot of times your wheel will hit another horse's leg or something, and cause him to make a break. Then it can get serious. A bike can come in and hook your horse's leg and knock him down. It gets serious then. It's not real serious if you touch bikes. (I'm just trying to see whether there's anything going on between the racers while they're racing.) Oh yeah. If I was in there, I'd be trying to get out. And if I was on the outside, I'd be trying to keep him in, hoping that I could get up and beat. Whereas I know that if he gets out, I'm never going to beat him. (What's another kind of thing that you're not allowed to do, besides tap bikes, and push? What else are you not allowed to do?) Well, they get in underneath you. Like a bad situation is to be up, that your horse's legs are on this fellow's wheel, and him wanting to get out. Then he's go? ing to try coming out. And you know if the horse touches the wheel or hits the wheel, he could go down, he could hurt himself or whatever. So you're trying to keep him off of the wheel, and you're trying to keep the fellow in, so it's kind of a bluffing game. You're using the horse, then, to keep him in. There's different decisions you make lots of times that's wrong. (And these deci? sions are made at high speed.) That's right. You've got a few fractions of a sec? ond to make them, or a few seconds. (Were you ever in an accident?) Oh, lots of them. I got dumped off one night. A fel? low pushed me up on top of the rail and I got dumped off. Two horses ran over me. One horse, he couldn't get right over me. He kept hitting me ahead of him, and then catching up, and hitting me, and catching. He must have carried--I don't know--200' feet or 300 feet or something. I had a crushed vertebra in my back, 2 broken ribs, cracked jaw--that's where I lost that tooth--dislocated shoulder,... (Any horses ever hurt here?) Oh yeah. Years ago, Little Brown G, there was an ac? cident and the bike got all smashed up, and he ran away and the shaft of the bike (14). WHERE TOMORROW'S STYLES ARE FEATURED TODAY Jacobscn's Ladies' Wear Imports from h .g around the World ' Famous Canadian Designers 330 CHARLOTTE STREET * PHONE 564-8132 SYDNEY Jacobson's Tweed & Hickory SERVING CAPE BRETON FOR OVER 55 YEARS 263 CHARLOTTE STREET * PHONE 564-6308

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