Harness racing's mainstage has and will continue to be the Grand Circuit. The concept -- which is a series of races that travel from track to track across North America -- carries with it the highest prize money, the most history and thus the greatest prestige in the industry. At least, these races did offer the best prize money. The introduction of racinos shifted the trajectory of racing in nearly every jurisdiction, boosting purse accounts and bringing revenue harness racing otherwise struggled to generate just to keep the doors open. With this new cash flow, state programs for racing had a wider wallet to pull from, and much of the money went not only into everyday purse accounts but also was continuously reinvested into the state's Sires Stakes programs. In the present day -- even accounting for inflation -- horses can earn much more money racing in Sires Stakes compared to 20 years ago. So now we have competition in the marketplace. A little competition is not harmful necessarily, but the ramifications presented with choice have gradually been making themselves evident in the entry box of some Grand Circuit races. "It's certainly competition for Grand Circuit races for sure," said John Campbell, current President of the Hambletonian Society, in a phone interview. "And let's be honest, Grand Circuit races from a value standpoint - of what you pay in and race for - cannot compete with most of the Sire Stake programs. Having said that, it depends on which Grand Circuit races you're speaking about. It certainly doesn't affect the Hambletonian, the Meadowlands Pace or the North America Cup. I think some of the middle-of-the-road Grand Circuit races are affected." The value point Campbell talks about touches on the staking process between the Grand Circuit events and the state programs. For example, a Kentucky-eligible 2-year-old only has to make three payments of $300 to be eligible for any Kentucky Sires Stakes division on the board. Compare that with, say, the Governor's Cup -- a race for 2-year-old pacing colts and geldings. To be paid into the Governor's Cup, owners have to pay a nomination fee, three sustaining payments and a declaration fee upon entering the race. These fees for Grand Circuit races are what build a large portion of the purse while Sires Stakes programs are funded mostly off of state subsidies. In total, owners are paying $4,900 to be eligible for a race that carries an estimated $400,000 purse versus in Kentucky where owners can pay $900 to race up to four times in $80,000 preliminaries and then in a $400,000 final. This also doesn't include breeding bonuses paid to horses bred by a Kentucky stallion and mare. "[Nobody's ever] come up with another alternative that would fund it the same way so we would have the purses we do," Campbell also said. "The system is what it is and, as I said, I think it's unfair to owners, but nobody's come up with a better alternative. Sires Stakes certainly are an alternative, to a certain extent. However, when you look at what the Grand Circuit brings, it's a different thing when you bring all the top horses from all over to a Grand Circuit race as opposed to just regional horses. And the one thing that the Grand Circuit does over and over again is increase handle. And obviously you look at the Hambletonian, but that's our biggest date. If you look at races at Northfield when they put on the Battle of Lake Erie, Western Fair Raceway when they put on the Camluck Classic . . . Grand Circuit racing brings increased handle to race tracks of all calibers and all handles -- it's a bump. And I'm not sure they get the same bump just from Sire Stakes. It's certainly not as significant, put it that way." Nonetheless, as much as betting is the driving figure to the health of harness racing, it unfortunately does not determine which horses decide to go in which races. Trainers have a greater number of opportunities now, but burdens come with the ability to choose which races to map for their horses' calendars. On one hand, more lucrative regional races give trainers the chance to choose between going for prestige on the Grand Circuit or trying some smaller ponds in big-purse Sires Stakes. But as already mentioned above, more races can have an impact on some historic events in the sport just with giving additional choice to horse people on their targets. I talked with trainer Linda Toscano on this matter and her philosophy on how she approaches scheduling her horses' starts with the increasing options presented to owners and trainers. Toscano says, in her approach, that she stakes her horses to their respective Sires Stakes program immediately because "that's the least expensive way to keep them eligible for good money." ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter She expounded: "And then depending on how they're training down, I'm not a big believer -- and I know I will take criticism for this -- of just going down the line [in the stake schedule] and saying 'Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...' Initially, my clientele didn't warrant doing that kind of stuff. So I try to decide based upon how they're training, I give every horse a chance to make a lot of money and yet at the same time I realize I can't dance every dance. "So when I put the schedule together, the Kentucky schedule is really a good schedule because once you get them situated there, if they're good enough with the three-tier system, they can make money without having to travel. So it saves on expenses as far as shipping and also saves on the wear and tear on the horse. The Kentucky thing has been a godsend. Now having said that, some are Pennsylvania bred so you may want to follow the Sires Stakes circuit there, and you have others that you hope are going to be Grand Circuit [caliber]. So you just find the best schedule for the horse instead of putting them all in one thing and just going that route. It's hard, there's no question about it." Toscano also touched on Sires Stakes programs including that in Indiana, where many horses do not have to travel far to race for large purses consistently. Incentives like decreasing travel can impact the route in the scheduling for certain horses. "I tease my owners when they say 'Well we could go here and we could go there.' I go 'You sit in your living room and change the channel. Every time you change the channel that could mean 10 hours in a truck for a horse,'" said Toscano. What makes the choices for trainers even harder is the timing of certain races. All Grand Circuit races are coordinated annually at a meeting of harness race secretaries from across the country. However, these are races administered internally from the industry through organizations like the Hambletonian Society or the racetracks hosting their respective races. But Sires Stakes are administered by the state that funds them, and -- as was the case last year -- some states did not provide information for how they planned to schedule their programs. "It is a headache, and I will tell you when you go to those race secretaries meetings to schedule the races it's like a puzzle getting them all figured in so there's not an overlap of divisions," John Campbell said. "What makes it even more complicated and difficult, the fact that we don't have all the Sires Stakes dates when we're putting that puzzle together in December is very frustrating and, to be perfectly honest, it's counterproductive." At the annual meeting of race secretaries, president of the American Harness Race Secretaries Nick Salvi said "There are states that are always represented at the meetings, and there are some states that are not. And those positions are largely political; people that are designated to run some of the programs are not necessarily well-versed in what we're trying to do -- some of them are, some of them aren't. "We're a little handicapped by the racetrack's schedules," Salvi also said. "So if Oak Grove is going to have money to have races of consequence, their dates are when they are going to be and they're probably not going to change because The Red Mile is not going anywhere. Then there will be conflicts. Can we make those conflicts more tolerable? I plan to talk to Kenny [Jackson with the Kentucky Sires Stakes] about how we can make it work better for both of us, because it doesn't do them any good to have five-, six-horse fields occasionally running off the card." This lack of communication causes instances where certain large-purse state races conflict with major events on the Grand Circuit. A recent example came this month with the 2-year-old trotting colt division where the Peter Haughton Memorial, which only drew 11 for a single elimination to lose one horse, had its final fall on the same weekend as preliminaries for Kentucky's breeding series. Whether this conflict verifiably influenced the number dropped into the box for the Grand Circuit race is unmeasurable, however I asked Linda Toscano how she would hypothetically approach choosing between those two races. "First of all, I live in Jersey," Toscano said. "So if I have a colt good enough to race in the Peter Haughton -- knowing that he's going to be performing on the world stage and racing for good money -- I'm going to keep him home. But the second thing I'm going to do is I'm going to take into consideration who is going to be in the Peter Haughton. You know how fast they're going to go at The Meadowlands and you know how fast they're going to go on that day. And you know you have to have a really good one to compete. Sometimes, if they all want to dance the big dance, I'm going to head west and I'm going to race for $80,000 and allow my colt to be the big fish in the small sea. Ultimately, I'm going to pick the best race for the horse to shine because you cannot sacrifice how important it is for a colt to win a race. Not only does the colt gain confidence, but the horse also gets respect from the other things, and that goes a long way. If you can sneak an eighth or a quarter in a race going forward, that comes from a horse being good. And that's really important to me also." All in all, the market for races is treading in unknown territory. Gone are the original days of the Grand Circuit where nomadic horsemen would bring their fleet from town to town across many state lines for races they may or may not have belonged in as a strong competitor. States supplying large subsidies to support their regional programs have evolved the general business of making money for the horse owner to a system where many horses can thrive while barely stepping onto a shipping van. Of course, the Grand Circuit remains a value maker for creating black-type stallions and establishing broodmares of class. But in a game where the end goal is to make money, the landscape of added dollars in numerous other avenues has naturally muddled the way trainers approach certain races on the Grand Circuit. Maybe it's a case of too much racing, maybe it's a case of uncoordinated planning, or maybe neither matter as much in an era of low foal rates. The order is rapidly fading, and the times are just a changin'.