100th running of the Hambletonian marks a century of the biggest event in harness racing

Growing up in a family of horsemen in Ontario, John Campbell knew how prestigious the Hambletonian was. Then he saw good friend Ray Remmen win the first to take place at the Meadowlands in 1981.

“It was beyond a big deal,” Campbell said. “It was something special.”

On Saturday, the biggest event in harness racing celebrates a centennial anniversary with the 100th running of Hambletonian. While harness racing, like its thoroughbred equivalent, no longer holds the same prominence it once did in the U.S. sporting landscape, the storied history of the Hambletonian and its evolution to grow interest in Europe are responsible for its longevity.

“To have this big event still going on 100 years, it’s something that I’m sure they didn’t even envision when it was formed,” said Campbell, a Harness Racing Hall of Fame driver who won the Hambletonian a record six times and participated a record 32 consecutive times from 1983-2014. “It's the consistency of it. They raced it no matter what, through the Depression, through World War II, so it was always there.”

Campbell is now president and CEO of the Hambletonian Society that has shepherded the race named for the founding sire of standardbred horses through changing times. The purse is the sport's richest at $1 million, a long way from the nearly $75,000 on the line during the inaugural rendition in 1926 at the New York State Fair in Syracuse.

The Hambletonian bounced around to Lexington, Kentucky; Goshen, New York and Du Quoin, Illinois, before finding a home in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

“Even during the war, they did have to because of gas rationing take it to Yonkers,” said Tom Charters, who worked at the Hambletonian Society from 1984-2017, including a lengthy stint as president. “That’s part of the charm of it, I think: the multiple venues and where it’s gone and where it’s been.”

Another charm? The winning horse gets to drink out of the trophy. That is something Charters saw pictures of and made sure would become part of the Hambletonian ceremony — with the name of the race and the horse logo always facing the cameras.

“It’s become as symbolic as drinking milk at Indianapolis, for me, anyway,” Charters said, referring to the Indy 500 tradition.

Campbell has his favorite memories, notably, he said, “Winning." His first victory with Mack Lobell in 1987 and winning with Tagliabue— trained by his brother, Jim, and named after longtime NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue — in '95 stand out as special, along with 2006 with Glidemaster to revitalize his career after injury.

Chris McErlean, who worked at the Meadowlands from 1992-2007, remembers filly Continentalvictory beating the colts in ‘96, amateur Malvern Burroughs winning with Malabar Man in ’97 and Swedish owner/trainer/driver Stefan Melander taking the race in 2000 with Scarlet Knight following efforts to encourage European participation.

“It made it a big international sensation,” McErlean said. "He had a lot of international interest.”

It has garnered so much interest across Scandinavia and even France that of the 10 horses in the Hambletonian this year, nine have European trainers.

Moira Fanning, who has worked at the society since 1987 and has been chief operating officer since 2017, expects more than $9 million to be wagered worldwide on the 100th Hambletonian. Fanning credits crossover horse betting from Saratoga Race Course and national television for keeping the event in the spotlight internationally, even though the on-track attendance is now expected to be 8,000-10,000.

At its height in 2005, a crowd of 31,000 packed the old Meadowlands — and the current limit is roughly a third of that.

“Harness racing is a niche kind of regional sport. It has lost ground. Tracks have closed,” Fanning said. “Racing had a wonderful 200-year gambling monopoly that it no longer has, so it has taken a lot of work to keep it prominent and keep it on national TV and keep the big days big.”

Essentially the Kentucky Derby of the harness world, Fanning said the Hambletonian might be the one trotters race known in the mainstream public. Inside the industry, it remains a big deal and something special.

“Even though the sport in general’s been challenged and it maybe is not at the peaks it used to be, the Hambletonian is still the biggest thing, the biggest prize out there,” McErlean said. “It almost has as much international cache as it does prominence over here because of its longstanding history and being the richest race, being the biggest race on the calendar.”

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FILE - Muscle Massive drinks from the Hambletonian trophy cup after winning the Hambletonian harness horse race Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010 at Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

FILE - Tagliabue, with driver John Campbell, wins the $1 million Cadillac Hambletonian at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N.J., Saturday, Aug. 5, 1995. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

FILE - Pinkman (2), driven by Brian Sears, leads Mission Brief (4), driven by Yannick Gringras, and The Bank (1), driven by Johnny Takter, on the way to winning the Hambletonian harness horse race Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

FILE - Malvern Burroughs celebrates after crossing the finish line with Malabar Man to win the $1 million Hambletonian at Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N.J., Saturday, Aug. 9, 1997. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer, File)

FILE - Broad Bahn drinks out of the cup after winning the Hambletonian harness horse race Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011, at Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N. J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

FILE - Glidemaster (8), driven by John Campbell, pulls away from Chocolatier (10), driven by Doug R. Ackerman and Blue Mac Lad (2), driven by George Brennan, to win the Hambletonian harness race Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006 at Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Afghanistan's neighbors met in Iran and agreed to deepen regional coordination to address political, economic and security challenges, as well as calling for sanctions on Afghanistan to be lifted. The only absent party? Afghanistan itself.

China, Pakistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan all joined the talks organized by Iran, as did Russia, according to a statement released after the meeting on Sunday.

Afghanistan was invited but decided not to attend. Its Taliban-led government was tight-lipped on the reasons, with the foreign ministry saying only that it would not participate because Afghanistan “currently maintains active engagement with regional countries through existing regional organizations and formats, and has made good progress in this regard.”

The statement from the talks in Iran stressed the importance of maintaining economic and trade ties with Afghanistan to improve living conditions and called for the country’s integration into regional political and economic processes.

The Taliban were isolated after they retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021, but in the past year, they have developed diplomatic ties. They now raise several billion dollars every year in tax revenues to keep the lights on.

However, Afghanistan is still struggling economically. Millions rely on aid for survival, and the struggling economy has been further impacted by the international community not recognizing the Taliban government's seizure of power in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops in 2021. Natural disasters and the flow of Afghans fleeing Pakistan under pressure to return home have underlined Afghanistan’s reliance on foreign aid to meet essential needs.

The countries at the talks also voiced security concerns and pledged cooperation in combating terrorism, drug trafficking and human smuggling, while opposing any foreign military presence in Afghanistan. They underscored the responsibility of the international community to lift sanctions and release Afghanistan’s frozen assets, and urged international organizations to support the dignified return of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries.

The participants backed efforts to reduce tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which have been particularly strained, with border clashes between the two sides killing dozens of civilians, soldiers and suspected militants and wounding hundreds more.

The violence followed explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9 that Afghan authorities blamed on Pakistan. A Qatar-mediated ceasefire has largely held since October, although there have been limited border clashes. The two sides failed to reach an overall agreement in November despite three rounds of peace talks.

Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former special representative for Afghanistan, said the Taliban government’s decision to skip the meeting reflected a “lack of political maturity.” Writing on X, Durrani said the move reinforced concerns that the Taliban were unwilling to negotiate, instead adopting an “I don’t accept” stance that he said would do little to resolve serious regional problems.

Mohammad Sadiq, the current Pakistani special representative for Afghanistan who attended the talks, wrote on X that the Afghan people had already suffered enough and deserved better.

Only an Afghanistan that does not harbor militants would inspire confidence among neighboring and regional countries to engage meaningfully with Kabul and help unlock the country’s economic and connectivity potential, he wrote.

Participants agreed to hold the next meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries as soon as possible in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and welcomed Pakistan’s offer to host the next round of special envoys’ talks in Islamabad in March.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, on Sunday said that the meeting had not been held for about two years and marked the first such gathering attended by special envoys on Afghanistan from neighboring countries as well as Russia. Russia and Uzbekistan sent the special envoys of their presidents, while Pakistan was represented by a delegate from the prime minister’s office.

Landlocked Afghanistan is sandwiched between the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia, making it strategically located for energy-rich and energy-hungry nations.

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Associated Press journalists Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Elena Becatoros in Athens and Abdul Qahar Afghan in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report.

FILE - Boys stay on a hilltop overlooking Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)