Winners Circle
Aaron Johnston of Evans City recently worked a 15½-hour day, but in the end only two minutes really counted.
Johnston started his day at the Big Butler Fairgrounds stables in Prospect arriving before sunrise. He loaded his prize racehorse, Nezblanc, into a two-stall trailer with a bag of feed and bucket of water and headed to Philadelphia for a 4 p.m. harness race.
In less than two minutes the race was over, and Johnston was making the long trek along the Pennsylvania Turnpike back to Butler.
To enter the race, Johnston paid a $400 nominating fee in early spring and another $400 starting fee on race day for an opportunity to compete for a $40,000 purse divided among five overall winners.
“The purses are higher but the competition is a lot tougher than a typical race,” said Johnston, whose horse took fifth place.
Harness racing has changed since Johnston's grandfather, William “Bing” Johnston raced horses at county fairs.
“It was a hobby for dad,” explained Aaron's father, Gary Johnston. “We made it into more like a business.”
The idea for the business started one day in the early 1960s when “Bing” left his home on Morton Avenue in Butler and traveled to The Meadows racetrack to watch harness racing with his brothers, Andy and John.Upon returning Bing, who worked at Armco, and his wife Katherine, “Sis,” decided to pool their money together with Bing's brothers and buy a “baby,” explained Gary Johnston. “That's how it all started.”Today, Gary and two of his sisters have turned harness racing into a full-time business.Gary's sister, Debbie Schoeffel of Evans City, boards horses and named her company after her mom and dad, Bing & Sis LLC.Gary's other sister, Tracy Kropek, owns a stable of horses in Washington, Pa. And Gary operates Johnston Stables with his youngest son, Shawn, while his oldest son, Aaron, operates Aaron Johnston Racing.“When you get a taste of it ... it's in your blood ... there is nothing you can do,” Gary Johnston said.
Training scheduleThe Johnstons jog their horses daily around the fairgrounds track where they stable their horses. “They are like athletes,” explained Gary Johnston.“The trick to training a horse is to be patient,” he said. “They are like a little kid. They are all born with speed. The bloodline is so great anymore, they already know what to do. They know what their job is. It makes training them a lot easier.”Daily care is a must to prevent injury.“You've got to treat them like an athlete,” Gary Johnston said. “Their muscles get sore like humans.”After each practice, he scrapes off mud and applies a “drawing salve” to the take the soreness out of the horses's hooves, and then applies a “ball solution” while wrapping the horse's legs to tighten up the ligaments.Each horse in their stables also requires daily feeding, clean stalls and even bathing when needed.“How you treat and train a horse has a lot to do with the success of the horse on the track,” Gary Johnston said. “You've got to take care of them seven days a week.”“They eat better than I do,” he joked. “Three meals a day and all the hay they can eat.”
In harness racing “size doesn't really matter,” Gary Johnston said. “Small horses can go as fast as a bigger horse. It's all in the heart. It's the size of their heart that matters.“A little one with a heart can beat a big horse that doesn't,” he said.The Johnstons consider The Meadows Racetrack & Casino their home track. There are three harness racing tracks in Pennsylvania: Meadows, Poconos and Chester. Tracks are 5/8th mile in length.According to Kim Hankins, executive director of the Meadows Standard Bred Owners Association, The Meadows allocates $32 million a year for prize money which is generated from the casino's profits.Standardbred horses are used to pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky around the 5/8th-mile track. It costs anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000 to purchase a horse.“It's all in the breeding,” Gary Johnston said.Family pedigree has a lot to do with success, but, as Johnston put it, there is “no guarantee.” Johnston has witnessed horses from a good gene pool never make it to the races. “It's all a gamble,” he said.
Before race day, each entry must qualify the week before the race and requalify every 45 days. According to Hankins, in general, racers can earn anywhere from a $100,000 a year to a $1 million annually. It all depends on the success of the horse. The prize money is divided between the horse's owner, driver, trainer and groomer.Gate positioning is major factor in harness racing and is determined by a “blind draw” before the race, Aaron Johnston explained. “The shortest way around the track is the closest to the rail.”And a little sibling rival never hurts either when both Johnston brothers are on the track at the same time.“I want to beat him (referring to his younger brother, Shawn) as bad as anyone else. I have no qualms in blowing his bridle off,” Aaron Johnston said.“You have to have a plan” before you enter the starting line, he said. “It all happens behind the gate.”However, “once the race starts you don't know what's going to happen ... sometimes your plan works out. Sometimes you have to throw your plan out the door,” Aaron Johnston said.
Once the lead truck pulls the gate away, drivers have to make split-second decisions related to the horse's tempo as well as their position on the track he explained. However, according to Gary Johnston, “ … anymore it's all about speed.”In this business, “all you have to do is buy a horse and you can compete with the top racing stables,” Aaron Johnston said. “One good horse and you are on top of the world.”One of the fastest horses in the Johnston stable this year was “Jessie, Jess, Jessica” owned by Gina Young from Laurel Valley. The horse took first place at The Meadows with a time of 1.54.4 with Shawn Johnston, 26, driving.Aaron and Shawn still wear the same colors their grandfather wore — maroon, gray and green. Most owners and riders know each other said Gary, “It's like a family …”Gary Johnston, who retired from Coca-Cola as a truck driver, sees horse racing as his retirement job.“I miss my customers. I don't miss punching in at 2:30 a.m. It was dark when I started and dark when I came home. I am doing something I love,” he said.
